Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century

In Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century, Stephen Fenichell takes a fresh, irreverent look at the substance we all love to hate. The book moves from the early astonishment at such inventions as celluloid film and waterproof clothing; to the nylon-stocking riots after World War II; to the revolutionary, yet practical, proliferation of Tupperware in the '50s. Fenichell's sweeping assessment of the social and economic revolutions brought on by plastic extends from the sublime to the absurd, the beautiful to the mundane, demonstrating how scientists, artists, politicians, and the buying public have all molded, and also been molded by, plastic.

Stephen Fenichell was educated at The Riverdale Country School, at Harvard College (where he was an editor ofThe Harvard Lampoon) and at Trinity College, Dublin, from which he holds a Diploma in Anglo-Irish Literature. He is the author of Other People's Money, an anatomy of the largest financial fraud in U.S. business history, and co-author (with Lawrence Charfoos) of Daughters at Risk: A Personal DES History. His articles on popular culture, business and travel have appeared in numerous periodicals, including New York magazine, Cond-eacute;-Nast Traveler, Forbes/FYI, Men's Journal, Lear's, Connoisseur, American-Photo, Mademoiselle, and The Village Voice. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.