Not the same at all. By Michael Kammen. Alfred A. Knopf. We live in a fog of sensation and wonder what it does for us and to us.
Pop culture is a catchall culprit, blamed for everything from pediatric obesity to global warning.
Michael Kammen writes, ''far more than they spend on health care, or cars and trucks, or on housing. Kammen wrote ''American Culture, American Tastes'' not because he thinks that not enough attention is being paid, but because he believes that the quality of the commentary is poor. As one of our most distinguished American historians, Kammen is particularly concerned that many examinations exhibit a deficient or muddled sense of history. Instead of following the money, then, Kammen has chosen to follow the commentators as they have tried to understand the nature, meaning and impact of commercialized culture during the last century. He is not attempting a history of the culture, but rather, he says, an extended essay on the problem of culture.