It is estimated that, in 1958, 25 million hula-hoops were sold in the United States. This overpriced plastic hoop is a classic example of a fad—an event, idea, or object that goes through a fast and wild ride to popularity and an... Read More

A biographer has a difficult task. If a person has reached a position interesting enough to warrant a biography, then he or she has surely created a persona that has been as calculatingly shaped as any work of fiction. Tampering with... Read More

Television is more than fifty years old. It is tempting to say that the medium is mature, that its strengths and limitations are understood. The problem with this viewpoint is that it is hard to say exactly what television is. Is it the... Read More

Americans have a long and divided history concerning legal recreational drugs. The twin vices of tobacco and alcohol, paired in the public mind, have lead to a deep cultural divide. Along the fault line created by these substances are... Read More

On a seven-mile-long barrier island at the southern tip of New Jersey lie the four towns of Wildwood Crest, Wildwood, North Wildwood and West Wildwood. These towns are collectively known as The Wildwoods. Here, in the late 1950s the... Read More

The sexual revolution, triggered by the development of the pill in 1960, led to many changes in sexual openness by the 1970s. This openness was particularly noticeable in the popular medium of television. The author, a media critic and... Read More

Many people see technological advances as a smooth linear process. A new product is introduced, commercial applications are discovered, and the new technology is embraced, then improved upon as the price drops to a level where the... Read More

Witty and ironic, entertaining and simple to read, this book is a smart, useful text on how to effectively generate publicity and avoid the common pitfalls of working with the modern information culture. The author, who has worked as a... Read More