Pop Culture

 

Somewhere, likely in the depths of my parent's basement, nestled amongst the discarded Furbies, random Tamagotchis, Pokémon Cards, plastic Smurfs, naked Troll dolls, and random VHS, (and possibly Beta) tapes, should be my 90's Time Capsule Trivial Pursuit.  I had asked for this game with the hopes that people would actually play with me; this only happened a couple of times.  I haven't played Trivial Pursuit in years. All of that pop-culture knowledge I've acquired is collecting dust in my mindscape as I await perfect opportunities to share a quip, quote, song lyric, or movie line with an unsuspecting audience.  The disappointment that comes from that audience giving me a blank look afterward is profound.  This tends to happen when the audience is younger than me. 

I am thrown off by those lacking pop-culture knowledge from any era that pre-dates their formative years.  I, being a child of the '80s, existed on a diet of Cheerios and re-runs.  I started my mornings with Gilligan and ended my day with Mr. Ed.  I sang along with The Monkees, until my brothers took over the television, (Once upon a time the M in MTV was Music).  My oldest brother played guitar, loved heavy metal, and rocked Slash's hair.  When he would ask if there was anything I wanted him to play, the answer was always the same: The Munsters theme.  

I remember being highly excited when I realized the Judge from My Cousin Vinny was Herman Munster.  I was ecstatic when Grandpa Munster showed up in Gremlins 2.   "Where do I know this Celebrity from" is one of my favorite games, it also causes a lot of blank looks.  Murder She Wrote reruns are a treasure trove of guest appearances, by celebrities long gone and who my children have no appreciation for.  When the teenager was drawing a blank as I shouted "Leslie Neilson!"  I felt like a failure.

That said, I am absolutely behind on current pop culture.  Some I have absorbed from having to suss out what my kids actually mean when they say suss or any other current or recent slang.  My kids are kind enough to tolerate my responding to them with phrases such as "totally awesome", "CHILLAX", "wiggity wiggity wack", and the occasional "BACK OF MY GRILL SON!"  I do get some dead-pan stares at times though.  

Historically, popular culture has its roots in the Industrial Revolution.  A new socio-economic class, i.e. the middle class, and urban population growth led to the creation of new trends and traditions. Transportation became more developed.  Advancements allowing for the mass production of newspapers, and magazines,  better education opportunities and standards, led to a higher rate of literacy.  The ingredients: 1. Industrial means to mass-market goods 2. Mass-marketing of newspapers and magazines means advertisements. 3. A rise in literacy rates means that the gross population is now a target audience for advertisements of goods and services. Now add the technological advancements that brought about radio, film, and television, and pop-culture is born.  

When it comes to the definition of pop-culture, we are looking at what is popular amongst the general population. Broadly shared ideas values and beliefs found in books, art, television, movies, music, fashion, and language, make popular culture. 

Book descriptions featured are provided by the publishers.

The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood by Brown, Box

"Powered by the advent of television and super-charged by the deregulation era of the 1980s, media companies and toy manufacturers joined forces to dominate the psyches of American children. But what are the consequences when a developing brain is saturated with the same kind of marketing bombardment found in Red Scare propaganda? Brian "Box" Brown's The He-Man Effect shows how corporate manipulation brought muscular, accessory-stuffed action figures to dizzying heights in the 1980s and beyond. Bringing beloved brands like He-Man, Transformers, My Little Pony, and even Mickey Mouse himself into the spotlight, this graphic history exposes a world with no rules and no concern for results beyond profit."--Amazon.

Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television by Glassman, Thea

An entertainment journalist examines how seven revolutionary teen shows--The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, My So-Called Life, Dawson's Creek, Freaks and Geeks, The O.C., Friday Night Lights, and Glee--transformed television and our culture.

Glassman believes that revolutionary teen shows shaped the course of modern television and the pop cultural landscape forever. These hormone-soaked shows, happening inside the fictional hallways of high schools across America, redefined comedy and pushed genre boundraries. Here Glassman goes behind the scenes of seven of the most culturally significant series of the last three decades, showing how they launched the careers of superstars, took young people seriously-- and remained firmly entrenched in our culture long after they finished airing. -- adapted from jacket

Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion by Krishnamurthy, Sowmya

"A cinematic narrative of glamour, grit, luxury, and luck, Fashion Killa draws on exclusive interviews with the leaders of the fashion world to tell the story of the hip-hop artists, designers, stylists, and unsung heroes who fought the power and reinvented style around the world over the last fifty years. Set in the sartorial scenes of New York, Paris, and Milan, journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy's reporting on the intersecting histories of hip-hop and contemporary fashion focuses on the risk takers and rebels--the artists, designers, stylists, models, and tastemakers--who challenged a systemic power structure and historically reinvented the world of haute couture. Fashion Killa is a classic tale of a modern renaissance; of an exclusionary industry gate-crashed by innovators; of impresarios--Sean "Diddy" Combs, Dapper Dan, Virgil Abloh--hoisting hip-hop from the streets to the stratosphere; of supernovas--Lil' Kim, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion--allying with kingmakers--Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, and Ralph Lauren; of traditionalist fashion houses--Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Saint Laurent--transformed into temples of rap gods like Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Travis Scott. Krishnamurthy explores the connections between the DIY hip-hop scene and the exclusive upper-echelons of high fashion. She tracks the influence of music and streetwear on the most exclusive (and exclusionary) luxury brands. At the intersection of cultural commentary and oral history, Fashion Killa commemorates the contributions of hip-hop to music, fashion, and our culture at large"--. Provided by publisher.

60 Songs That Explain the '90s by Harvilla, Rob

"A companion to the #1 music podcast on Spotify, 60 SONGS THAT EXPLAIN THE '90s takes readers through the greatest hits that define a weirdly undefinable decade. The 1990s were a chaotic and gritty and utterly magical time for music, a confounding barrage of genres and lifestyles and superstars, from grunge to hip-hop, from sumptuous RB to rambunctious ska-punk, from Axl to Kurt to Missy to Santana to Tupac to Britney. In 60 SONGS THAT EXPLAIN THE '90s, Ringer music critic Rob Harvilla reimagines all the earwormy, iconic hits Gen Xers pine for with vivid historical storytelling, sharp critical analysis, rampant loopiness, and wryly personal ruminations on the most bizarre, joyous, and inescapable songs from a decade we both regret entirely and miss desperately"--. Provided by publisher.

The Nineties: A Book by Klosterman, Chuck

In The Nineties, cult author Chuck Klosterman makes a home in every element of 90s culture: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, the changes regarding race and class and sexuality, the yin/yang of Oprah and Alan Greenspan. In perhaps no other book ever written could the sentence, 'The video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was not more consequential than the reunification of Germany' make complete sense. Chuck Klosterman has written a multi-dimensional masterpiece, a work of synthesis that's equal parts smart and delightful.

Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction by Moss, Gabrielle

"Every twenty- or thirty-something woman knows these books. The pink covers, the flimsy paper, the zillion volumes in the series that kept you reading for your entire adolescence. Spurred by the commercial success of Sweet Valley High and The Babysitters Club, these were not the serious-issue YA novels of the 1970s, nor were they the blockbuster books of the Harry Potter and Twilight ilk. They were cheap, short, and utterly beloved. Paperback crush dives in deep to this golden age with affection, history, and a little bit of snark"-- Publisher's description.

Let's Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World by Friedman, Danielle

For much of the twentieth century, sweating was considered unladylike and girls grew up believing physical exertion would cause their uterus to literally fall out. It was only in the sixties that women began to move en masse. Friedman reveals the hidden history of contemporary women's fitness culture and shows how exercise evolved from a beauty tool pitched almost exclusively as a way to "reduce" into a path to mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Each chapter uncovers the birth of a fitness movement that laid the foundation for working out today-- and how fitness can create a more powerful sisterhood. -- adapted from jacket

Don't Make Me Pull Over! : An Informal History of the Family Road Trip by Ratay, Richard

Explores the history of the family road trip, how its evolution mirrored the evolution of the United States, and why road trips have largely disappeared.

Game on! : Video Game History from Pong and Pac-man to Mario, Minecraft, and More by Hansen, Dustin

Find out about the fast and furious growth and evolution of video games (including how they are quickly taking over the world!) by looking at some of the most popular, innovative, and influential games ever, from Pong, the very first arcade game ever, to modern hits like Uncharted.

Learn about the creators and inspiration (Mario was named after Nintendo's landlord after he barged into a staff meeting demanding rent), discover historical trivia and Easter eggs (The developers of Halo 2 drank over 24,000 gallons of soda while making the game), and explore the innovations that make each game special (The ghosts in Pac-Man are the first example of AI in a video game).

Whether you consider yourself a hard-core gamer or are just curious to see what everyone is talking about, Game On! is the book for you!

It's All A Game: The History of Board Games from Monopoly to Settlers of Catan by Donovan, Tristan

"Board games have been with us longer than even the written word. But what is it about this pastime that continues to captivate us well into the age of smartphones and instant gratification? In It's All a Game, British journalist and renowned games expert Tristan Donovan opens the box on the incredible and often surprising history and psychology of board games. He traces the evolution of the game across cultures, time periods, and continents, from the paranoid Chicago toy genius behind classics like Operation and Mouse Trap, to the role of Monopoly in helping prisoners of war escape the Nazis, and even the scientific use of board games today to teach artificial intelligence how to reason and how to win. With these compelling stories and characters, Donovan ultimately reveals why board games have captured hearts and minds all over the world for generations"-- Provided by publisher.

Military Fiction/Written by Veterans

 

When writing military fiction or any book that heavily references the military, one must be familiar with the ins and outs of not just military life, but the jargon. The type of familiarity that just can't come from Wikipedia.  For the books listed below that knowledge came first hand as all of these books are written by Veterans. 

Book Descriptions featured are provided by the publishers.

A Line In The Sand by Powers, Kevin

A former interpreter in Iraq who lost his wife and child in an assassination attempt discovers a dead body on the beach in Virginia and believes it is connected to his past.

One early morning on a Norfolk beach in Virginia, a dead body is discovered by a man taking his daily swim—Arman Bajalan, formerly an interpreter in Iraq. After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt that killed his wife and child, Arman has been given lonely sanctuary in the US as a maintenance worker at the Sea Breeze Motel. Now, convinced that the body is connected to his past, he knows he is still not safe. Seasoned detective Catherine Wheel and her newly minted partner have little to go on beyond a bus ticket in the dead man’s pocket. It leads them to Sally Ewell, a local journalist as grief-stricken as Arman is by the Iraq War, who is investigating a corporation on the cusp of landing a multi-billion-dollar government defense contract. As victims mount around Arman, taking the team down wrong turns and towards startling evidence, they find themselves in a race, committed to unraveling the truth and keeping Arman alive—even if it costs them absolutely everything.

The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction by O'Brien, Tim

Depicting the men of Alpha Company--Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three--the stories in The Things They Carried opened our eyes to the nature of war in a way we will never forget. It is taught everywhere, from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing, and in the decades since its publication it has never failed to challenge our perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, and courage, longing, and fear.

Matterhorn: a novel of the Vietnam War by Marlantes, Karl

Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones's The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever.

Written by a highly decorated Marine veteran over the course of thirty years, Matterhorn is a spellbinding and unforgettable novel that brings to life an entire world--both its horrors and its thrills--and seems destined to become a classic of combat literature.

Daughter of War: A Novel by Taylor, Brad

"Former Special Forces Officer and New York Times bestselling author Brad Taylor delivers a heart-pounding thriller featuring Taskforce operators Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill as they come face to face with a conspiracy where nothing is as it seems. Hot on the trail of a North Korean looking to sell sensitive US intelligence to the Syrian regime, Pike Logan and the Taskforce stumble upon something much graver: the sale of a lethal substance called Red Mercury. Unbeknownst to the Taskforce, the Syrians plan to use the weapon of mass destruction against American and Kurdish forces, and blame the attack on terrorists, causing western nations to reassess their participation in the murky cauldron of the Syrian civil war. Meanwhile, North Korea has its own devastating agenda: a double-cross that will dwarf the attack in Syria even as it lays the blame on the Syrian government. Leveraging Switzerland's fame for secrecy and its vast network of military bunkers, now repurposed by private investors for the clandestine storage of wealth, North Korea will use Red Mercury to devastate the West's ability to deliver further sanctions against the rogue regime. As the Taskforce begins to unravel the plot, a young refugee unwittingly holds the key to the conspiracy. Hunted across Europe for reasons she cannot fathom, she is the one person who can stop the attack--if she can live long enough for Pike and Jennifer to find her"-- Provided by publisher.

Only The Dead: a thriller by Carr, Jack

In 1980, a freshman congressman was gunned down in Rhode Island, sending shockwaves through Washington that are still reverberating over four decades later. Now, with the world on the brink of war and a weakened United States facing rampant inflation, political division, and shocking assassinations, a secret cabal of global elites is ready to assume control. And with the world's most dangerous man locked in solitary confinement, the conspirators believe the final obstacle to complete domination has been eliminated. They're wrong. From the firms of Wall Street to the corridors of power in Washington, DC, and Moscow, secrets from the past have the uncanny ability to rise to the surface in the present. With the odds stacked against him, James Reece is on a mission generations in the making. Unfortunately for his enemies, the former SEAL is not concerned with odds. He is on the warpath. And when James Reece picks up his tomahawk and sniper rifle, no one is out of range.

Arctic Storm Rising: a novel by Brown, Dale

After a CIA covert mission goes badly awry, U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Nicholas Flynn is exiled to guard a remote radar post along Alaska's Arctic frontier. This dead-end assignment is designed to put his career permanently on ice, but Flynn's not the type to fade quietly into obscurity...

As winter storms pound Alaska and northern Canada, Russian aircraft begin penetrating deep into friendly airspace. Are these rehearsals for a possible first strike, using Russia's new long-range stealth cruise missiles? Or is some other motive driving the Kremlin to take ever-increasing risks along the hostile Arctic frontier separating two of the world's great powers?

When an American F-22 collides with one of the Russian interlopers, things go south fast--in seconds, missiles are fired. There are no survivors. Despite horrific weather, Flynn and his security team are ordered to parachute into the area in a desperate bid to reach the crash sites ahead of the Russians. It's now obvious that the Pentagon and CIA are withholding vital information, but Flynn and his men have no choice but to make the dangerous jump.

Soon they're caught in a deadly game of hide-and-seek with Spetsnaz commandos operating covertly on American soil. It seems that the F-22s and their Russian counterparts aren't the first aircraft to have gone missing in these desolate mountains. The Kremlin is hunting for the first prototype of its new stealth bomber--which vanished on what was supposed to be a test flight...while loaded with nuclear-armed stealth cruise missiles.

As Russia and the U.S. square off on the brink of all-out-war, it's up to Nick to find the missing bomber...and prevent a potential nuclear holocaust.

The Deserter by DeMille, Nelson

When Captain Kyle Mercer of the Army's elite Delta Force disappeared from his post in Afghanistan, a video released by his Taliban captors made international headlines. But circumstances were murky: Did Mercer desert before he was captured? Then a second video sent to Mercer's Army commanders leaves no doubt: the trained assassin and keeper of classified Army intelligence has willfully disappeared.

When Mercer is spotted a year later in Caracas, Venezuela, by an old Army buddy, top military brass task Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor of the Criminal Investigation Division to fly to Venezuela and bring Mercer back to America--preferably alive. Brodie knows this is a difficult mission, made more difficult by his new partner's inexperience, by their undeniable chemistry, and by Brodie's suspicion that Maggie Taylor is reporting to the CIA.

With ripped-from-the-headlines appeal, an exotic and dangerous locale, and the hairpin twists and inimitable humor that are signature DeMille, The Deserter is the first in a timely and thrilling new series from an unbeatable team of True Masters: the #1 New York Times bestseller Nelson DeMille and his son, award-winning screenwriter Alex DeMille.

The Art of War by Coonts, Stephen

The Chinese dragon is flexing its muscles. As its military begins to prey on neighbors in the South China Sea, attacking fishing vessels and scheming to seize natural resources, America goes on high alert. But a far more ominous danger lurks closer to home: A nuclear weapon has been planted in the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia--site of the biggest naval base on the planet. The target: a secret rendezvous of the Atlantic Fleet aircraft carriers and their battle groups. When the CIA director is assassinated and Jake Grafton is appointed to take his place, Jake gets wind of the conspiracy but has no idea when or where the attack will occur. Meanwhile, a series of assassinations--including an attempt on the life of the President of the United States--shakes the nation and deliberately masks a far more sinister objective. Can Jake and his right hand man, Tommy Carmellini, prevent a catastrophe far more devastating than Pearl Harbor and stop a plot to destroy the U.S. Navy?