Poplorica: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore that Shaped Modern America - Softcover

Smith, Martin J.; Kiger, Patrick J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060535326 ISBN 13: 9780060535322

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks, 2005

Synopsis

An irreverent tour of twentieth-century events, inventions, and individuals that affected modern American culture notes the influences of Betty Ford, super-absorbent disposable nappies, permanent-press clothing, TV dinners, black-velvet paintings, and more. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Martin J. Smith is a journalist and magazine editor and winner of more than forty newspaper and magazine writing awards. He is a senior editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine and is the author of three critically acclaimed suspense thrillers, including Straw Men, a 2002 Edgar Award nominee. He lives with his family in southern California.

From Publishers Weekly:

Who'd have thought that Willis Carrier's "Apparatus for Treating Air," an early air conditioner patented in 1906, would set the stage for the Republican domination of Washington that started with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 (by allowing for a population shift to the hotter Southern states)? Or that 260 tons of leftover turkey would help usher in a profound change in the way Americans eat and socialize with their families (by stuffing the first TV dinners)? Smith (a Los Angeles Times Magazine editor) and Kiger (a freelancer and regular contributor to Discovery.com) share 20 similarly significant milestones in this "Cliff Notes of contemporary culture" chronicling some overlooked but strangely influential moments in American history. A melange of strange occurrences, the book is brisk and frisky, addressing everything from the extracurricular exploits of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey to the way in which former first lady Betty Ford's public struggle with addiction presaged an era that would finally accept drug and alcohol abuse as a disease and not a moral failing. Though its yuckity-yuck style approaches the cornball at times, the book succeeds in placing into context the chosen developments in a breezy, compulsively readable fashion. Thanks to these two research-happy authors, readers may decide it's okay to restore that velvet Elvis to its honored place above the mantle, where it can enjoy a second life as a treasured piece of ironic Americana. All history should be this much fun.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060535326
• ISBN 13: 9780060535322
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304