Containing America Cultural Production and Consumption in 50s America [Paperback]

The postwar period in America witnessed a tremendous consumer boom that introduced 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.

AcknowledgementsIntroduction, Nathan Abrams (Birkbeck, University of London) and Julie Hughes (Matthew Boulton College, Birmingham)1. Othering conformity in post-war America: intellectuals, the new middle classes nd the problem of cultural distinctions, Mark Jancovich (University of East Anglia)2. 'Don't fight it. You can't whip Mickey Mouse': Disneyland's America 1955-59, Emma Lambert (University of Birmingham)3. Beauty shops and bouffants: the political uses of beauty, style and domestic space, Julie A. Willett (Texas Tech University)4. Zoot suit: breaking the Cold War's dress code, Candida Taylor (Univeristy of Birmingham)5. Mother's Old-Fashioned Gefilte Fish, Nathan Abrams (Birkbeck, University of London)6. 'Not on his wavelength': experiments with radio by John Cage, Ben Andrews7. 'Only one way to fight a toxin': the poison and progress of radioactivity in The Incredible Shrinking Man, Kyle Smith8. Muscular manhood and salacious sleaze: the singular world of the 1950s macho pulps, Bill Osgerby (London Metropolitan University)9. Containing Batman: rereading Frederic WlÕ