1940s
A01=Luis Alvarez
academic
african american
american culture
american history
Author_Luis Alvarez
Category=JBCC
Category=JBSP2
Category=NHK
Category=NHTB
cultural history
culture
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
experimental
experimentation
gender studies
interviews
jazz music
jazz musician
jitterbug
lindy hop
mexican american
middle class
minority groups
phenomenon
political
politics
popular culture
race
race issues
racism
regional
scholarly
sexuality
swing music
united states history
urban
urban america
us history
wartime
world war 2
wwii
youth culture
zoot suit
Product details
- ISBN 9780520261549
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 22 Sep 2009
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Flamboyant zoot suit culture, with its ties to fashion, jazz and swing music, jitterbug and Lindy Hop dancing, unique patterns of speech, and even risque experimentation with gender and sexuality, captivated the country's youth in the 1940s. "The Power of the Zoot" is the first book to give national consideration to this famous phenomenon. Providing a new history of youth culture based on rare, in-depth interviews with former zoot-suiters, Luis Alvarez explores race, region, and the politics of culture in urban America during World War II. He argues that Mexican American and African American youths, along with many nisei and white youths, used popular culture to oppose accepted modes of youthful behavior, the dominance of white middle-class norms, and expectations from within their own communities.
Luis Alvarez is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego.
