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The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip
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The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism Paperback - 1998 - 1st Edition

by Thomas Frank

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Most people remember the youth counterculture of the 1960s, but Thomas Frank shows that another revolution shook American business during those boom years. He shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined--and even anticipated--by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. Halftones & tables.

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From the publisher

While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined--and even anticipated --by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business.

"[Thomas Frank is] perhaps the most provocative young cultural critic of the moment."--Gerald Marzorati, New York Times Book Review

"An indispensable survival guide for any modern consumer."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Frank makes an ironclad case not only that the advertising industry cunningly turned the countercultural rhetoric of revolution into a rallying cry to buy more stuff, but that the process itself actually predated any actual counterculture to exploit."--Geoff Pevere, Toronto Globe and Mail

"The Conquest of Cool helps us understand why, throughout the last third of the twentieth century, Americans have increasingly confused gentility with conformity, irony with protest, and an extended middle finger with a populist manifesto. . . . His voice is an exciting addition to the soporific public discourse of the late twentieth century."--T. J. Jackson Lears, In These Times

"An invaluable argument for anyone who has ever scoffed at hand-me-down counterculture from the '60s. A spirited and exhaustive analysis of the era's advertising."--Brad Wieners, Wired Magazine

"Tom Frank is . . . not only old-fashioned, he's anti-fashion, with a place in his heart for that ultimate social faux pas, leftist politics."--Roger Trilling, Details

First line

For as long as America is torn by culture wars, the 1960s will remain the historical terrain of conflict.

Details

  • Title The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism
  • Author Thomas Frank
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 322
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 1998-12-01
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index
  • ISBN 9780226260129 / 0226260127
  • Weight 1.01 lbs (0.46 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.04 x 5.98 x 0.73 in (22.96 x 15.19 x 1.85 cm)
  • Category Business / Economics / Finance
  • Library of Congress subjects United States - Social conditions - 1960-1980, United States - Social conditions - 1980-
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 97017556
  • Dewey Decimal Code 381.309

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