"The story of the making of a colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film...and the humble comic book that inspired it. PART ONE of this story takes place in 1947. A troubled soldier, returning from the war, meets his talented five-year-old nephew, leaves an indelible impression, and then disappears for 23 years. Cut to 1970: The nephew, now drawing underground comic books in Oakland, California, reconnects with his uncle and,...

Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon-one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, Jacoby surveys an antirationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media,...

"This book is a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards through all seven seasons. It takes longtime fans to a place where they ache to go again. It guides new viewers on their first trip to 1960s Madison Avenue. It lets us think about the show the way a TV critic does. Around and around and back home again, to a place where we know why it's loved."--Jacket.

This book explores American life in the 1940s through personal profiles of individuals and families and their lives at home, at work and in the community; includes lists of significant events and milestones for America, from technical advances and political events to new products and popular movies, and lists of recorded popular songs in the United States; and 1940 Census summary and comparison data.

A look back at the 1950s chronicles the tensions and innovations that lay behind the decade's more placid surface during a time of prosperity and contradiction.

"If the true test of a great country is its capacity for self-renewal, the United States of America stands apart. Throughout its history, when many heralded its decline, America overcame its circumstances and forged a better future. Following the Great Depression and World War II, the United States helped shape a world of unprecedented peace and prosperity. When the launch of Sputnik signaled the Soviet Union outpacing American ingenuity, we put a...

In these essays the author speaks to questions at the root of the contemporary experience, from the search for authenticity and interpersonal connection in a society defined by consumerism and media; to the disenchantment of working in a "glamour profession"; to the catastrophic effects of living among New York City's terminal hipsters.

"While it may be catnip for the media to play up America as a has-been, Josef Joffe, a ... German commentator and Stanford University academic, [proposes] that Declinism is not a cold-eyed diagnosis but a device in the style of the ancient prophets ... Gloom is a prophecy that must be believed so that it will turn out wrong. Joffe [posits that] 'economic miracles' that propelled the rising tide of challengers flounder against their own limits. Hardly...

"In a culture trapped in the present tense, how can we keep the past from disappearing? When we lose sight of the past, our ability to understand ourselves on both a national and personal level is inhibited. While exploring the darker constants in modern American life - violence, militarization, rapid technological change, inability to be truly attentive - and the disorientation these elements induce, Colette Brooks examines how the past disappears...