Title: Containing America : cultural production and consumption in Fifties America /
Authors: Abrams, Nathan.; Hughes, Julie.
Publisher: University of Birmingham Press,
Year: 2000
Subjects: Cold War Social aspects United States; Mass media United States History; United States Civilization
Abstract: "The postwar period in America witnessed a tremendous consumer boom that introduced a thousands of new items into the mass market. The contributors to Containing America challenge our conceptions of Cold War culture by examining a range of such products - clothes, food, television, magazines, radio, and other forms of entertainment - in order to shed light on how Cold War discourses actually influenced the practices of ordinary behaviour. Their essays address very different sectors of American society - in terms of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender - thus emphasising the multiplicity, diversity, and differing nature of the voices that emerged in cultural production and consumption during the 1950s. Containing America points out directions for further research and provides a fresh approach for scholars, students, and others interested in the culture of the Cold War of the 1950s."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: Introduction / Nathan Abram and Julie Hughes -- Othering conformity in post-war America : intellectuals, the new middle classes and the problem of cultural distinctions / Mark Jancovich -- 'Don't fight it. You can't whip Mickey Mouse': Disneyland's America 1955-59 / Emma Lambert -- Beauty shops and bouffants : the political uses of beauty, style and domestic space / Julie A. Willett -- Zoot suit : breaking the Cold War's dress code / Candida Taylor -- Mother's Old-Fashioned Gefilte Fish / Nathan Abrams -- 'Not on his wavelength' : experiments with radio by John Cage / Ben Andrews.