20th century
A01=Margot A. Henriksen
atom bomb
atomic age
atomic bomb
Author_Margot A. Henriksen
beat poetry
black humor
Category=JBCC
Category=JHM
Category=NHK
Category=NHTB
civil rights movement
cold war
cultural revolution
culture of consensus
dark humor
dissent
dr strangelove
elvis
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
film noir
flower power
history
hitchcock
i have a dream
martin luther king jr
mass media
music
nonfiction
nuclear bomb
nuclear power
nuclear war
pop art
popular culture
rebellion
rock and roll
science fiction
social change
stanley kubrick
Product details
- ISBN 9780520083103
- Weight: 816g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 28 Oct 1997
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Did America really learn to 'stop worrying and love the bomb', as the title of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film, "Dr. Strangelove", would have us believe? Does that darkly satirical comedy have anything in common with Martin Luther King Jr.'s impassioned 'I Have a Dream' speech or with Elvis Presley's throbbing "I'm All Shook Up"? In Margot Henriksen's vivid depiction of the decades after World War II, all three are expressions of a cultural revolution directly related to the atomic bomb. Although many scientists and other Americans protested the pursuit of nuclear superiority after World War II ended, they were drowned out by Cold War rhetoric that encouraged a 'culture of consensus'. Nonetheless, Henriksen says, a 'culture of dissent' arose, and she traces this rebellion through all forms of popular culture. At first, artists expressed their anger, anxiety, and despair in familiar terms that addressed nuclear reality only indirectly. But Henriksen focuses primarily on new modes of expression that emerged, discussing the disturbing themes of film noir (with extended attention to Alfred Hitchcock) and science fiction films, Beat poetry, rock 'n' roll, and Pop Art.
Black humor became a primary weapon in the cultural revolution while literature, movies, and music gave free rein to every possible expression of the generation gap. Cultural upheavals from 'flower power' to the civil rights movement accentuated the failure of old values. Filled with fascinating examples of cultural responses to the Atomic Age, Henriksen's book is a must-read for anyone interested in the United States at mid-twentieth century.
Margot A. Henriksen is Associate Professor of History at the University of Hawaii.
