| Description |
274 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Sketch -- The Dustbin of History in a World Made Fresh -- History Lesson -- The Mask of Dimitrios --Myth and Misquotation -- A Single Revelation: On Peter Handke's Short Letter, Long Farewell --Gotterdammerung after Twenty-One Years: On Nazi-Hunting Thrillers -- You Could Catch It: On Guy Debord's Panegyric -- Dylan as Historian: On "Blind Willie McTell" -- Happy Endings: On E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime and Robert Altman's Nashville -- Cowboys and Germans: On Wim Wenders's Emotion Pictures -- Cowboy Boots and Germans: On A Susan Sontag Reader -- The Bob McFadden Experience: On The Beat Generation CD Box Set -- The Expanding Vacant Spot: On Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson's And Their Children after Them --Jan and Dean as Purloined Letter: On Dead Man's Curve: The Story of Jan and Dean -- Dead Man's Curve: On American Hot Wax -- When You Walk in the Room: On Robert Johnson -- Cretins, Fools, Morons, and Lunatics: On Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum |
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Old-Time Religion: On Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae -- A Change in the Weather: On The Book of J -- Lost and Found: On the Exhibition Ice Age Art --Escape from New York: On Herschel Chipp's Picasso's "Guernica" -- A Dream of the Cold War: On The Manchurian Candidate -- John Wayne Listening --Germany in a Second Language: On Peter Schneider's The Wall Jumper -- The Deborah Chessler Story -- Think We Might Get Some Rain? |
| Summary |
Again and again Marcus skewers the widespread assumption that history exists only in the past, that it is behind us, relegated to the dustbin. Here we see instead that history is very much with us, being made and unmade every day, and unless we recognize it our future will be as cramped and impoverished as our present sense of the past |
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It is the history in the riff, in the movie or novel or photograph, in the actor's pose or critic's posturing - in short, the history is cultural happenstance - that Marcus reveals here, exposing along the way the distortions and denials that keep us oblivious if not immune to its lessons. Whether writing about the Beat Generation or Umberto Eco, Picasso's Guernica or the massacre in Tiananmen Square, The Manchurian Candidate or John Wayne's acting, Eric Ambler's antifascist thrillers or Camille Paglia, Marcus uncovers the histories embedded in our cultural moments and acts, and shows how, through our reading of the truths our culture tells and those it twists and conceals, we situate ourselves in that history and in the world |
| Analysis |
Arts, American 20th century |
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Arts, Modern 20th century |
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History, Modern 20th century |
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Popular culture History 20th century |
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Popular culture History 20th century United States |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [253]-259) and index |
| Subject |
Arts, American -- 20th century.
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Arts, American.
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Arts, Modern -- 20th century.
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History, Modern -- 20th century.
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Popular culture -- History -- 20th century.
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Popular culture -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
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| LC no. |
95008876 |
| ISBN |
0674218574 (alk. paper) |
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0674218582 |
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