Society has long been fascinated with the freakish, shocking and strange. In this book Gary Cross shows how freakish elements have been embedded in modern popular culture over the course of the 20th century despite the evident disenchantment with this once widespread cultural outlet. Exploring how the spectacle of freakishness conflicted with genteel culture, he shows how the condemnation of the freak show by middle-class America led to a transformation and merging of genteel and freak cul...

For American teenagers, getting a driver’s license has long been a watershed moment, separating teens from their childish pasts as they accelerate toward the sweet, sweet freedom of their futures. With driver’s license in hand, teens are on the road to buying and driving(and maybe even crashing) their first car, a machine which is home to many a teenage ritual—being picked up for a first date, “parking” at a scenic overlook, or blasting the radio with a gaggle of friends in tow. So importa...

2024 Outstanding Academic Title, given by Choice ReviewsThe history of leisure time, from the earliest societies to the work-from-home eraFree time, one of life’s most precious things, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park for hours to “doomscrolling” on social media for thirty minutes?Today, despite the promise of modern industrialization, many people experi...

The unqualified victory of consumerism in America was not a foregone conclusion. The United States has traditionally been the home of the most aggressive and often thoughtful criticism of consumption, including Puritanism, Prohibition, the simplicity movement, the '60s hippies, and the consumer rights movement. But at the dawn of the twenty-first century, not only has American consumerism triumphed, there isn't even an "ism" left to challenge it. An All-Consuming Century is a rich...

Adam Sandler movies, HBO's Entourage, and such magazines as Maxim and FHM all trade in and appeal to one character-the modern boy-man. Addicted to video games, comic books, extreme sports, and dressing down, the boy-man would rather devote an afternoon to Grand Theft Auto than plan his next career move. He would rather prolong the hedonistic pleasures of youth than embrace the self-sacrificing demands of adulthood.When did maturity become the ultimate tab...

Providing a global perspective on the development of American technology, Technology and American Society offers a historical narrative detailing major technological transformations over the last three centuries. With coverage devoted to both dramatic breakthroughs and incremental innovations, authors Gary Cross and Rick Szostak analyze the cause-and-effect relationship of technological change and its role in the constant drive for improvement and modernization. This fully-updated...

Disrespect in the Contemporary workspace, and Protagonist Marlene discovering her sexuality. Disrespect in 1972 when US Army Vietnam Veterans returned from War, and tossed their ribbons in protest. The US Army represented my workspace, and the Airborne Soldiers (101st, 82nd, 173rd) really felt disrespected. I present the reader with a Contemporary workspace and how Females like our Airborne Soldiers are disrespected.

Retired Major John Tiltborough was enjoying his time in the high mountain ranges in the snow and cold hunting for deer. Unbeknown to John, he was about to stumble across a massive child abduction and pornography organisation. After saving three young teenage children he now has to get his old team on side to develop a mission to save hundreds of children. Along the way he encounters romance, and forbidden pleasures from his new Mossad wife. Then the race truly begins to see if John’s exten...

During the first part of the twentieth century thousands of working-class New Yorkers flocked to Coney Island in search of a release from their workaday lives and the values of bourgeois society. On the other side of the Atlantic, British workers headed off to the beach resort of Blackpool for entertainment and relaxation. However, by the middle of the century, a new type of park began to emerge, providing well-ordered, squeaky-clean, and carefully orchestrated corporate entertainment. Con...

AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4A SPECTATOR BEST OF THE YEAR - AS CHOSEN BY REVIEWERSThe year is 1742. Goody Brown, saved from drowning and adopted when just a babe, has grown up happily in the smuggling town of Winchelsea. Then, when Goody turns sixteen, her father is murdered in the night by men he thought were friends.To find justice in a lawless land, Goody must enter the cut-throat world of her father’s killers. With her beloved ...

Do your students struggle to see the point in learning a language other than English? Do you teach in an English-dominant setting? If so, this book is a 'must-read'. It offers international perspectives on CLIL, a revolutionary teaching approach where students study subjects, for example physics or history, in a language which is not their own. Informed by research carried out by the authors, it addresses the issues of developing CLIL in Anglophone contexts and shows how to implement this ...

A " delightful, honest, and entertaining" memoir by an Air Force One pilot and member of Lyndon Johnson's inner circle (Bill Moyers).When Lyndon Baines Johnson wanted to go somewhere, there was no stopping him. This dynamic president called for Air Force One as others summon a taxi—at a moment's notice—whatever the hour or the weather. And the man who made sure that LBJ got his ride was General James U. Cross, the president's hand-picked pilot, top...