The definitive biography of Marvel legend Stan Lee, now adapted for young readers. Stan Lee's extraordinary life was as epic as the superheroes he co-created, from the Amazing Spider-Man to the Mighty Avengers. His ideas and voice are at the heart of global culture, loved by millions of superhero fans around the world. In this young adult edition of Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel, award-winning cultural historian Bob Batchelor offers an in-depth and complete look at this iconic visionary. Batchelor explores how Lee, born in the Roaring Twenties and growing up in the Great Depression, capitalized on natural talent and hard work to become the editor of Marvel Comics as a teenager. Lee went on to introduce the world to heroes that were complex, funny, and fallible, just like their creator and just like all of us. Featuring amazingly detailed illustrations by artist Jason Piperberg, the young adult edition of Stan Lee also includes new details from Stan Lee's life, like how he became a pioneer in crafting female and African-American superheroes and his crucial role in establishing one of the world's most popular film franchises in history. Candid, authoritative, and absorbing, this is the biography of a man who revolutionized culture by creating new worlds and heroes that will entertain for generations to come.

Welcome to Pop Culture 2.0. In the 2000s, Generation eXposure, emerged from the marriage of new technology and the nation's obsession with celebrity. Social media technology, such as MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and countless blogs, gave everyman a voice and a public persona that they could share with friends across the street or around the world. Suddenly, it was not enough to imitate Britney Spears or Paris Hilton, technology gave everyone a platform to launch their own 15 minutes of fame. The fixation on self and celebrity acted as a diversion from more serious challenges the nation faced, including President George W. Bush's War on Terror. The wars overseas sharply divided the country, after a moment of national unity after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, which took away one of the world's most recognizable buildings. The era witnessed interest rates dropping to historic lows, but later subprime became one of the most searched terms on Google as the nation teetered on recession. Big was in like never before and suddenly people nationwide could buy or build their own McMansion-a slice of the American dream. While supersized homes and fast food meals became commonplace, the electronics and transportation advances proved that good things came in increasingly smaller packages. Apple's iPod reinvented how people interacted with music, hybrids changed thoughts on fuel efficiency as a gallon of gas topped $3. Cell phones usage ballooned in our always on society, while physically shrinking to the size of a deck of cards. Yes, me-centric Pop Culture 2.0, which the pundits predicted would some day arrive, burst onto the scene and ultimately transformed the way we interact with one another and the world around us.

Chapters inside the latest volume in the American Popular Culture Through History series explore various aspects of popular culture, including advertising, literature, leisure activities, music visual arts, and travel. Supplemental resources include a timeline of important events, cost comparisons, and an extensive bibliography for further reading.

One of the world's greatest writers, John Updike chronicled America for more than five decades. This book examines the essence of Updike's writing, propelling our understanding of his award-winning fiction, prose, and poetry. Widely considered "America's Man of Letters," John Updike is a prolific novelist and critic with an unprecedented range of work across more than 50 years. No author has ever written from the variety of vantages or spanned topics like Updike did. Despite being widely recognized as one of the nation's literary greats, scholars have largely ignored Updike's vast catalog of work outside the Rabbit tetralogy. This work provides the first detailed examination of Updike's body of criticism, poetry, and journalism, and shows how that work played a central role in transforming his novels. The book disputes the common misperception of Updike as merely a chronicler of suburban, middle-class America by focusing on his novels and stories that explore the wider world, from the groundbreaking The Coup (1978) to Terrorist (2006). Popular culture scholar Bob Batchelor asks readers to reassess Updike's career by tracing his transformation over half a century of writing.

Bob Dylan transcends music. He has established himself as one of the most important figures in entertainment history. This biography examines the life and work of the iconic artist, including his groundbreaking achievements of the last two decades. In this thematically organized biography, cultural historian and prolific biographer Bob Batchelor examines one of the most important yet elusive figures in modern history. Rather than taking an exhaustive and cumbersome chronological approach to Bob Dylan's 50-plus year career, the author focuses on the most significant aspects of his life and accomplishments. This work examines the musician's life and career by placing him in the context of contemporary American history and culture. Dylan's music and lyrics are at the center of the analysis, while attention is also paid to how his image transformed as he moved from being the "voice of a generation" during the 1960s to becoming a bonafide rock and roll icon. Readers will appreciate the book for its in-depth, scholarly coverage that remains readable and engaging, and gain a full appreciation for Dylan's place in American history and cultural evolution. Provides extensive cultural and historical context that demonstrates Dylan's lasting impact on American history Supplies a comprehensive analysis of Dylan's iconic standing and influence on popular culture that readers will find fascinating, as well as underscores his status as more than just a singer, songwriter, or musician Brings together disparate elements of biographical information, song and album analysis, and historical and cultural context not found in other works

Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, edited by Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, is an edited collection that explores how different genres of popular music are branded and marketed today. The book's core objectives are addressed over three sections. In the first part of Rock Brands, the authors examine how established mainstream artists/bands are continuing to market themselves in an ever-changing technological world, and how bands can use integrated marketing communication to effectively "brand" themselves. This branding is intended as a protection so that technology and delivery changes don't stifle the bands' success. KISS, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Phish, and Miley Cyrus are all popular musical influences considered in this part of the analysis. In the second section, the authors explore how some musicians effectively use attention-grabbing issues such as politics (for example, Kanye West and countless country musicians) and religion (such as with Christian heavy metal bands and Bon Jovi) in their lyrics, and also how imagery is utilized by artists such as Marilyn Manson to gain a fan base. Finally, the book will explore specific changes in the media available to market music today (see M.I.A. and her use of new media) and, similarly, how these resources can benefit music icons even after they are long gone, as with Elvis and Michael Jackson. Rock Brands further examines gaming, reality television, and social networking sites as new outlets for marketing and otherwise experiencing popular music. What makes some bands stand out and succeed when so many fail? How does one find a niche that isn't just kitsch and can stand the test of time, allowing the musician to grow as an artist as well as grow a substantial fan base? Elizabeth Barfoot Christian and the book's contributors expertly navigate these questions and more in Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture.

Popular culture helps construct, define, and impact our everyday realities and must be taken seriously because popular culture is, simply, popular. Communication Perspectives on Popular Culture brings together communication experts with diverse backgrounds, from interpersonal communication, business and organizational communication, mass communication, media studies, narrative, rhetoric, gender studies, autoethnography, popular culture studies, and journalism. The contributors tackle such topics as music, broadcast and Netflix television shows, movies, the Internet, video games, and more, as they connect popular culture to personal concerns as well as larger political and societal issues. The variety of approaches in these chapters are simultaneously situated in the present while building a foundation for the future, as contributors explore new and emerging ways to approach popular culture. From case studies to emerging theories, the contributors examine how popular culture, media, and communication influence our everyday lives.

As portrayals of heroic women gain ground in film, television, and other media, their depictions are breaking free of females as versions of male heroes or simple stereotypes of acutely weak or overly strong women. Although heroines continue to represent the traditional roles of mothers, goddesses, warriors, whores, witches, and priestesses, these women are no longer just damsels in distress or violent warriors. In Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture, award-winning authors from a variety of disciplines examine the changing roles of heroic women across time. In this volume, editors Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, and Bob Batchelor have assembled a collection of essays that broaden our understanding of how heroines are portrayed across media, offering readers new ways to understand, perceive, and think about women. Contributors bring fresh readings to popular films and television shows such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kill Bill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Weeds, Mad Men, and Star Trek. The representations and interpretations of these heroines are important reflections of popular culture that simultaneously empower and constrain real life women. These essays help readers gain a more complete understanding of female heroes, especially as related to race, gender, power, and culture. A companion volume to Heroines of Comic Books and Literature, this collection will appeal to academics and broader audiences that are interested in women in popular culture.

Despite the increasing number and variety of older characters appearing in film, television, comics, and other popular culture, much of the understanding of these figures has been limited to outdated stereotypes of aging. These include depictions of frailty, resistance to modern life, and mortality. More importantly, these stereotypes influence the daily lives of aging adults, as well as how younger generations perceive and interact with older individuals. In light of our graying population and the growing diversity of portrayals of older characters in popular culture, it is important to examine how we understand aging. In Aging Heroes: Growing Old in Popular Culture, Norma Jones and Bob Batchelor present a collection of essays that address the increasing presence of characters that simultaneously manifest and challenge the accepted stereotypes of aging. The contributors to this volume explore representations in television programs, comic books, theater, and other forms of media. The chapters include examinations of aging male and female actors who take on leading roles in such movies as Gran Torino, Grudge Match, Escape Plan, Space Cowboys, Taken, and The Big Lebowski as well as The Expendables, Red, and X-Men franchises. Other chapters address perceptions of masculinity, sexuality, gender, and race as manifested by such cultural icons as Superman, Wonder Woman, Danny Trejo, Helen Mirren, Betty White, Liberace, and Tyler Perry's Madea. With multi-disciplinary and accessible essays that encompass the expanding spectrum of aging and related stereotypes, this book offers a broader range of new ways to understand, perceive, and think about aging. Aging Heroes will be of interest to scholars of film, television, gender studies, women's studies, sociology, aging studies, and media studies, as well as to general readers.

Author Michel Chabon is acutely attuned to life in contemporary America, providing insight into the history of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in novels such as The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), Wonder Boys (1995), and Telegraph Avenue (2012). The Pulitzer prize winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Chabon follows in the footsteps of past stylists, writing across multiple genres that include young-adult literature, essays, and screenplays. Despite his broad success, however, Chabon s work has not been adequately examined from a critical perspective. Michael Chabon s America: Magical Words, Secret Worlds, and Sacred Spaces is the first scholarly collection of essays analyzing the work of the acclaimed author. This book demonstrates how Chabon uses a broad range of styles and genres, including detective and comic book fiction, to define the American experience. These essays assess and analyze Chabon s complete oeuvre, demonstrating his deep connection to the contemporary world and his place as a literary force. Providing a context for understanding the author s work from cultural, historical, and stylistic perspectives, Michael Chabon s America is a valuable study of a celebrated author whose work deserves close examination."

As portrayals of heroic women gain ground in film, television, and other media, their depictions are breaking free of females as versions of male heroes or simple stereotypes of acutely weak or overly strong women. Although heroines continue to represent the traditional roles of mothers, goddesses, warriors, whores, witches, and priestesses, these women are no longer just damsels in distress or violent warriors. In Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture, award-winning authors from a variety of disciplines examine the changing roles of heroic women across time. In this volume, editors Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, and Bob Batchelor have assembled a collection of essays that broaden our understanding of how heroines are portrayed across media, offering readers new ways to understand, perceive, and think about women. Contributors bring fresh readings to popular films and television shows such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kill Bill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Weeds, Mad Men, and Star Trek. The representations and interpretations of these heroines are important reflections of popular culture that simultaneously empower and constrain real life women. These essays help readers gain a more complete understanding of female heroes, especially as related to race, gender, power, and culture. A companion volume to Heroines of Comic Books and Literature, this collection will appeal to academics and broader audiences that are interested in women in popular culture.

Despite the growing importance of heroines across literary culture and sales figures that demonstrate both young adult and adult females are reading about heroines in droves, particularly in graphic novels, comic books, and YA literature few scholarly collections have examined the complex relationships between the representations of heroines and the changing societal roles for both women and men. In Heroines of Comic Books and Literature: Portrayals in Popular Culture, editors Maja Bajac-Carter, Norma Jones, and Bob Batchelor have selected essays by award-winning contributors that offer a variety of perspectives on the representations of heroines in today s society. Focused on printed media, this collection looks at heroic women depicted in literature, graphic novels, manga, and comic books. Addressing heroines from such sources as the Marvel and DC comic universes, manga, and the Twilight novels, contributors go beyond the account of women as mothers, wives, warriors, goddesses, and damsels in distress. These engaging and important essays situate heroines within culture, revealing them as tough and self-sufficient females who often break the bounds of gender expectations in places readers may not expect. Analyzing how women are and have been represented in print, this companion volume to Heroines of Film and Television will appeal to scholars of literature, rhetoric, and media as well as to broader audiences that are interested in portrayals of women in popular culture."

In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald produced his third novel, a slim work for which he had high expectations. Despite such hopes, the novel received mixed reviews and lackluster sales. Over the decades, however, the reputation of The Great Gatsby has grown and millions of copies have been sold. One of the bestselling novels of all time, it is also considered one of the most significant achievements in twentieth-century fiction. But what makes Gatsby great? Why do we still care about this book more than eighty-five years after it was published? And how does Gatsby help us make sense of our own lives and times? In Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel, Bob Batchelor explores the birth, life, and enduring influence of The Great Gatsby-from the book's publication in 1925 through today's headlines filled with celebrity intrigue, corporate greed, and a roller-coaster economy. A cultural historian, Batchelor explains why and how the novel has become part of the fiber of the American ethos and an important tool in helping readers to better comprehend their lives and the broader world around them. A "biography" of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, this book examines The Great Gatsby's evolution from a nearly-forgotten 1920s time capsule to a revered cultural touchstone. Batchelor explores how this embodiment of the American Dream has become an iconic part of our national folklore, how the central themes and ideas emerging from the book-from the fulfillment of the American Dream to the role of wealth in society-resonate with contemporary readers who struggle with similar uncertainties today. By exploring the timeless elements of reinvention, romanticism, and relentless pursuit of the unattainable, Batchelor confirms the novel's status as "The Great American Novel" and, more importantly, explains to students, scholars, and fans alike what makes Gatsby so great.

The eighties are seen by many as a time of excess and extremes. From Boy George to Madonna, metal heads to valley girls, and workout clothes to shoulder pads, many pushed the boundaries of what was was conventional. After a decade of war, disillusionment of the government, advances in civil rights, and disco, Americans became status seekers and shopaholics and the "Me" generation was born. Twelve narrative chapters describe the decade of decedence and its impact on popular culture including: the AIDS epidemic, preppies, Miami Vice, the Rubik's Cube, E.T., hair bands, the advent of the personal computer, malls, Ronald Reagan, Pac-Man, Cheers, Stephen King, Michael Jackson, the shuttle Challenger explosion, Bonfire of the Vanities, music videos, Roseanne, the power suit, Less Than Zero, rap music, and The Cosby Show, among many others. Chapters on "Everyday America" and the "World of Youth" describe the important changes in American society, from Ronald Reagan's "War on Drugs," to latch-key kids, to Black Monday. The following ten chapters explore the many aspects of popular culture-everything from advertising to fashion, literature to music, travel to the visual arts-that influenced Americans in the eighties. Supplemental resources include a timeline of important events, an extensive bibliography for further reading and a subject index.

Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, edited by Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, is an edited collection that explores how different genres of popular music are branded and marketed today. The book's core objectives are addressed over three sections. In the first part of Rock Brands, the authors examine how established mainstream artists/bands are continuing to market themselves in an ever-changing technological world, and how bands can use integrated marketing communication to effectively 'brand' themselves. This branding is intended as a protection so that technology and delivery changes don't stifle the bands' success. KISS, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Phish, and Miley Cyrus are all popular musical influences considered in this part of the analysis. In the second section, the authors explore how some musicians effectively use attention-grabbing issues such as politics (for example, Kanye West and countless country musicians) and religion (such as with Christian heavy metal bands and Bon Jovi) in their lyrics, and also how imagery is utilized by artists such as Marilyn Manson to gain a fan base. Finally, the book will explore specific changes in the media available to market music today (see M.I.A. and her use of new media) and, similarly, how these resources can benefit music icons even after they are long gone, as with Elvis and Michael Jackson. Rock Brands further examines gaming, reality television, and social networking sites as new outlets for marketing and otherwise experiencing popular music. What makes some bands stand out and succeed when so many fail? How does one find a niche that isn't just kitsch and can stand the test of time, allowing the musician to grow as an artist as well as grow a substantial fan base? Elizabeth Barfoot Christian and the book's contributors expertly navigate these questions and more in Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture.

the so-called quiet decade of 1900-1910 was anything but quiet. Spurred by the energy and progressive attitude of President Theodore Roosevelt and millions of immigrants flooding into our cities, American life saw tremendous cultural and technological change. A healthy economy gave workers more spending money and leisure time to enjoy hobbies, travel, and pastimes, including a new and revolutionary entertainment-the movies.

Providing an exciting picture of American life at the dawn of the 20th century, this volume covers:

Innovations in technology, such as the airplane and the automobile

The advent of modern architecture

The proliferation of advertising aimed at the new middle class

Fads, games, sports, and hobbies

Changes in fashion and cuisine

This book also features the burgeoning of the arts, including the school of realism and naturalism in literature, the first truly American music-jazz-and the new performing art that played to American tastes: vaudeville. A wealth of facts, information, and interesting sidelights not available elsewhere makes this a treasure trove for students and interested readers.

The definitive biography of Marvel legend Stan Lee, celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth. Stan Lee's extraordinary life was as epic as the superheroes he co-created, from the Amazing Spider-Man to the Mighty Avengers. His ideas and voice are at the heart of global culture, loved by millions of superhero fans around the world. In Stan Lee: A Life, award-winning cultural historian Bob Batchelor offers an in-depth and complete look at this iconic visionary. Born in the Roaring Twenties, growing up in the Great Depression, living and thriving through the American Century, and dying in the twenty-first century, Stan Lee's life is a unique representation of recent American history. Batchelor examines Lee's fascinating American life by drawing out all its complexity, drama, heartache, and humor, revealing how Lee introduced the world to heroes that were just as fallible and complex as their creator-and just like all of us. An up-close look at a legendary figure, this centennial edition includes completely new material to give the full measure of a man whose genius continues to mesmerize audiences worldwide. Candid, authoritative, and absorbing, this is the biography of a man who dreamed of one day writing the Great American Novel, but ended up doing so much more-revolutionizing culture by creating new worlds and heroes that have entertained generations.

The Amazing Spider-Man. The Incredible Hulk. The Invincible Iron Man. Black Panther. These are just a few of the iconic superheroes to emerge from the mind of Stan Lee.

From the mean streets of Depression-era New York City to recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Lee’s life has been almost as remarkable as the thrilling adventures he spun for decades. From millions of comic books fans of the 1960s through billions of moviegoers around the globe, Stan Lee has touched more people than almost any person in the history of popular culture.

In Stan Lee: The Man behind Marvel, Bob Batchelor offers an eye-opening look at this iconic visionary, a man who created (with talented artists) many of history’s most legendary characters. In this energetic and entertaining biography, Batchelor explores how Lee capitalized on natural talent and hard work to become the editor of Marvel Comics as a teenager. After toiling in the industry for decades, Lee threw caution to the wind and went for broke, co-creating the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, and others in a creative flurry that revolutionized comic books for generations of readers. Marvel superheroes became a central part of pop culture, from collecting comics to innovative merchandising, from superhero action figures to the ever-present Spider-Man lunchbox.

Batchelor examines many of Lee’s most beloved works, including the 1960s comics that transformed Marvel from a second-rate company to a legendary publisher. This book reveals the risks Lee took to bring the characters to life and Lee’s tireless efforts to make comic books and superheroes part of mainstream culture for more than fifty years.

Stan Lee: The Man behind Marvel not only reveals why Lee developed into such a central figure in American entertainment history, but brings to life the cultural significance of comic books and how the superhero genre reflects ideas central to the American experience. Candid, authoritative, and utterly absorbing, this is a biography of a man who dreamed of one day writing the Great American Novel, but ended up doing so much more—changing American culture by creating new worlds and heroes that have entertained generations of readers.

From the opening credits that feature a silhouette falling among skyscrapers, Mad Men transcended its role as a series about the Madison Avenue advertising industry to become a modern classic. For seven seasons, Mad Men asked viewers to contemplate the 1960s anew, reassessing the tumultuous era's stance on women's rights, race, war, politics, and family relationships that comprise the American Dream. Set in the heart of the twentieth century, the show brought to light how deeply we still are connected to that age. The result is a show that continually asks us to rethink our own families, lives, work, and ethical beliefs as we strive for a better world. In Mad Men: A Cultural History, M. Keith Booker and Bob Batchelor offer an engaging analysis of the series, providing in-depth examinations of its many themes and nostalgic portrayals of the years from Camelot to Vietnam and beyond. Highly regarded cultural scholars and critics, Booker and Batchelor examine the show in its entirety, presenting readers with a deep but accessible exploration of the series, as well as look at its larger meanings and implications. This cultural history perspective reveals Mad Men's critical importance as a TV series, as well as its role as a tool for helping viewers understand how they are shaped by history and culture. As a showcase in America's new "golden age of television," Mad Men reveals the deep hold history and nostalgia have on viewers, particularly when combined with stunning visuals and intricate writing and storylines. With this volume as their guide, readers will enjoy contemplating the show's place among the most lauded popular culture touchstones of the twenty-first century. As it engages with ideas central to the American experience-from the evolution of gender roles to family dynamics and workplace relationships-Mad Men: A Cultural History brings to life the significance of this profound yet entertaining series.

"Bob Batchelor writes with great eloquence and insight about the Doors, the greatest hard-rock band we have ever had, and through this book, we plunge deeply into the mystery that surrounds Jim Morrison. It is Batchelor's warmth and compassion that ignites Roadhouse Blues and helps explain Morrison's own miraculous dark fire."-Jerome Charyn, PEN/Faulkner Award finalist Shrouded in mystery and the swirling psychedelic sounds of the Sixties, the Doors have captivated listeners across seven decades. Jim Morrison-haunted, beautiful, and ultimately doomed-transformed from rock god to American icon. With each successive generation of fans, the Doors become more popular and transcendent. Yet the band's full significance is buried beneath layers of mythology and folklore. In Roadhouse Blues, Bob Batchelor presents an epic tale of one of rock's (and America's) most significant periods, as the Age of Aquarius gave way to a new age of mayhem, presidential misdeeds, and murder. Batchelor combines cultural history, musical and lyrical analysis, and a broad stroke of pop-culture mythos to give fresh perspective on a pivotal time. Candid, authoritative, and utterly absorbing, Roadhouse Blues is a biography of a man, a band, and an era that set the tone for the contemporary world. Beyond the mythology, the hype, and the mystique around Morrison's untimely death, this book takes readers on a roller-coaster ride, examining the impact the band had on America as the nation veered from decadence to debauchery. "We're gonna have a real good time!"

Despite the growing importance of heroines across literary culture-and sales figures that demonstrate both young adult and adult females are reading about heroines in droves, particularly in graphic novels, comic books, and YA literature-few scholarly collections have examined the complex relationships between the representations of heroines and the changing societal roles for both women and men. In Heroines of Comic Books and Literature: Portrayals in Popular Culture, editors Maja Bajac-Carter, Norma Jones, and Bob Batchelor have selected essays by award-winning contributors that offer a variety of perspectives on the representations of heroines in today's society. Focused on printed media, this collection looks at heroic women depicted in literature, graphic novels, manga, and comic books. Addressing heroines from such sources as the Marvel and DC comic universes, manga, and the Twilight novels, contributors go beyond the account of women as mothers, wives, warriors, goddesses, and damsels in distress. These engaging and important essays situate heroines within culture, revealing them as tough and self-sufficient females who often break the bounds of gender expectations in places readers may not expect. Analyzing how women are and have been represented in print, this companion volume to Heroines of Film and Television will appeal to scholars of literature, rhetoric, and media as well as to broader audiences that are interested in portrayals of women in popular culture.

In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald produced his third novel, a slim work for which he had high expectations. Despite such hopes, the novel received mixed reviews and lackluster sales. Over the decades, however, the reputation of The Great Gatsby has grown and millions of copies have been sold. One of the bestselling novels of all time, it is also considered one of the most significant achievements in twentieth-century fiction. But what makes Gatsby great? Why do we still care about this book more than eighty-five years after it was published? And how does Gatsby help us make sense of our own lives and times? In Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel, Bob Batchelor explores the birth, life, and enduring influence of The Great Gatsby-from the book's publication in 1925 through today's headlines filled with celebrity intrigue, corporate greed, and a roller-coaster economy. A cultural historian, Batchelor explains why and how the novel has become part of the fiber of the American ethos and an important tool in helping readers to better comprehend their lives and the broader world around them. A "biography" of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, this book examines The Great Gatsby's evolution from a nearly-forgotten 1920s time capsule to a revered cultural touchstone. Batchelor explores how this embodiment of the American Dream has become an iconic part of our national folklore, how the central themes and ideas emerging from the book-from the fulfillment of the American Dream to the role of wealth in society-resonate with contemporary readers who struggle with similar uncertainties today. By exploring the timeless elements of reinvention, romanticism, and relentless pursuit of the unattainable, Batchelor confirms the novel's status as "The Great American Novel" and, more importantly, explains to students, scholars, and fans alike what makes Gatsby so great.

On the 100th anniversary of The Volstead Act taking effect comes the epic, definitive story of the man who cracked the Prohibition system and helped inspire The Great Gatsby. "[Batchelor] makes this flashy bootlegger sound like a folk hero...Behold the king."-New York Times Book Review "It's all here: murder, mayhem-and high-priced hooch."-David Pietrusza, author of 1920 In October 1919, Congress gave teeth to Prohibition. But the law didn't stop George Remus from amassing a fortune equivalent to billions today. As one journalist put it, "Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil." The Bourbon King breathes life into America's largest illegal booze operation-greater than that of Al Capone-and a man considered the best criminal defense lawyer of his era. Remus cracked the system by purchasing an empire of distilleries on Kentucky's "Bourbon Trail" and using his other profession, as a pharmacist, to profit off legal loopholes. He stole, bribed, and partied, a roaring lifestyle epitomizing the Jazz Age over which he ruled. That is, before he came crashing down in one of American history's most sensational murder cases in: a cheating wife, the G-man who seduced her and jailed Remus, and the plunder of a Bourbon Empire. Remus murdered his wife in cold blood and then shocked a nation, winning his freedom based on a condition he invented-temporary maniacal insanity. Love, murder, political intrigue, mountains of cash, and rivers of bourbon...the tale of George Remus is a grand spectacle, and a lens into the dark heart of Prohibition and the mastermind behind one of its richest rackets. "Larger-than-life characters take the reins of this story, a rip-roaring good time for any American history buff or true-crime fan."-Publishers Weekly starred review

Popular culture helps construct, define, and impact our everyday realities and must be taken seriously because popular culture is, simply, popular. Communication Perspectives on Popular Culture brings together communication experts with diverse backgrounds, from interpersonal communication, business and organizational communication, mass communication, media studies, narrative, rhetoric, gender studies, autoethnography, popular culture studies, and journalism. The contributors tackle such topics as music, broadcast and Netflix television shows, movies, the Internet, video games, and more, as they connect popular culture to personal concerns as well as larger political and societal issues. The variety of approaches in these chapters are simultaneously situated in the present while building a foundation for the future, as contributors explore new and emerging ways to approach popular culture. From case studies to emerging theories, the contributors examine how popular culture, media, and communication influence our everyday lives.