Book Reviews

Quality Popular Television: Cult TV, the Industry and Fans. Ed. MarkJancovich and James Lyons. London: British Film Institute, 2003.

Mark Jancovich and James Lyons’s edited volume provides originalessays dealing with ‘‘must-see’’ television, or the programs such asFriends, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and miniseries that have becomeessential viewing experiences. The contributors discuss the componentsof ‘‘must-see’’ TV, its function in society, and the assumptionssurrounding this category of programs.

In his essay ‘‘The Changing Face of American Television on BritishScreens,’’ Paul Rixon suggests that analysis of television imports shouldencompass the macro, meso, and micro levels. Considering these threelevels is a useful way to categorize the essays within the text and can bedefined as the industry level (macro); an intermediate level of fans/audience, genre, and so on (meso); and individual programs and/orepisodes (micro).

At the micro level, Andre Willis’s analysis, ‘‘Martial Law and theChanging Face of Martial Arts on US Television,’’ points out thetendency of networks to create a program around a fan audience butslowly change the focus in an effort to pull in more mainstreamviewers. Though Willis traces the history of martial arts on the smallscreen, including The Green Hornet, Kung Fu, and filmic influences suchas Jackie Chan and Jean Claude Van Damme, the essay does not addressthe central thesis of programmatic direction shifts until the finalparagraphs.

Lisa Parks complicates the definition of television violence in ‘‘BraveNew Buffy: Rethinking ‘TV Violence.’’’ She adds self-defense as a

The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 37, No. 4, 2004r 2004 Blackwell Publishing, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, andPO Box 1354, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK

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feminist practice, whiteness, and social alienation to the definition ofviolence while arguing for ‘‘a theory of TV violence that takes intoaccount the ways in which TV networks work to regulate the meaningsof TV violence for maximum financial gain’’ (122). The latter pointcould have been fleshed out by showing if/how the WB networkbenefited from postponing two ‘‘violent’’ Buffy episodes following the1999 Columbine shooting despite producer and fan insistence to thecontrary.

Related to fan interaction with a particular program, in ‘‘Web Wars:Resistance, Fandom, and Studio Resistance,’’ Sara Gwenllian Jonesargues on the meso level that ‘‘Fandom is a profoundly liminaloccupation, one that takes place neither within nor outside commercialculture, creative but also derivative, a celebration of consumerism aswell as a maverick mode of consumption’’ (164). Throughout the essay,Jones successfully navigates two analytical poles that elevate fans to thepinnacle of resistance on the one hand and degrade them as geeks whosimply need to get a life on the other. In addition, Jones traces thetenuous relationship that cult TV fans have with the text and with thestudios, and how the Internet is changing modes of interaction betweenthese groups.

Jennifer Holt’s ‘‘Vertical Vision: Deregulation, Industrial Economyand Prime-time Design,’’ tackles the macro level of television studiosand media conglomerates. Considering the FCC’s recent move tofurther deregulate the industry, that a select few companies control themultiple modes of entertainment is rather timely. Holt effectivelyfocuses on the inadequacy of the current regulatory guidelines in lightof increased channel options, the World Wide Web, and the increasedreliance on global audiences.

Overall, despite a few jarring editorial errors, Quality PopularTelevision provides interesting analyses of ‘‘must-see’’ programs and thefactors leading to their production, distribution, and consumption.Television studies scholars and enthusiasts should have no problemfinding essays that address their fields of interest.

Lisa AlexanderBowling Green State University

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Martha, Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart LivingOmnimedia. Christopher Byron. New York: John Wiley & Sons,2002.

Martha Stewart—Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography. JerryOppenheimer. New York: William Morrow, 1997.

In the last eight years, six books have been published that scathinglycritique domestic doyenne Martha Stewart’s ambition and empire.These include the two titles that are the focus of this review Martha,Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart—Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography, as well as Tom Connor’sbestselling trilogy of parodies: Is Martha Stuart Living? (1995),Martha Stuart Is Better Than You at Entertaining (1996), and MarthaStuart’s Excruciatingly Perfect Weddings (1998). There is no end in sight;Connor’s latest title, Martha, Really and Cruelly: The CompletelyUnauthorized Autobiography, appeared in 2003. Martha Stewart has alsobeen ruthlessly scrutinized on television, including a recent two-hourspecial on Prime Time Thursday by Diane Sawyer, and the made-for-television movie based upon Byron’s book, Martha Inc: The Story ofMartha Stewart, in May 2003.

The rash of negativism that surrounds Martha Stewart in thepublishing world seems curiously absent when it comes to investing inher enterprises—whether that means buying shares of stock in hercompany or subscribing to her magazine—a point with which neitherChristopher Byron nor Jerry Oppenheimer contends. When MarthaStewart took her company public in 1999, a few years after the firstnegative press began, the share price of stock in her corporation roseninety-seven percent during the first day’s trading. In spite of thepublic’s taste for massacring Martha, she remains one of the mostsuccessful businesswomen of all time, and her magazine and bookscontinue to make a profit and bestseller lists. Today, despite herinvolvement in the ImClone scandal (which came to light in December2001), in which Martha reportedly sold her shares of stock in thecompany as a result of illegal insider information, magazine sales andtelevision ratings remain strong.

Although the title of Byron’s book, an easy-to-read potboiler,suggests that it will detail the process through which Martha Stewart

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developed her billion-dollar corporation, Martha Stewart LivingOmnimedia, Byron states in his prologue that his book in fact offers‘‘a portrait of a successful businesswoman and her hidden world ofunfulfilled dreams and deep private torment’’ (3). The chief problemwith this claim is that Byron, a columnist for the New York Post, has noway of knowing Martha Stewart’s dreams because she did not granthim access to her or to her close family members. He concludes hisprologue with the following: ‘‘This is our story here—the story of alittle girl who never got over what life never gave her and wound upinventing for herself a past she had never known . . . by selling theworld all her missing parts. This is the story of what was missing, whyit was missing, and how she turned it into a billion dollars.’’Statements like these—and there are many throughout the book—arepresumptuous and also rife with sarcasm and chauvinism. Byron refersto Ms. Stewart as a ‘‘blonde’’ or as ‘‘a little girl.’’ It is difficult tosurmise what exactly was ‘‘missing’’ from Stewart’s background, giventhat she had a mother, father, and five siblings (many of whom sheemploys). She had the confidence to select the quotation, ‘‘I do what Iplease and I do it with ease’’ for her senior yearbook page, andgraduated from Barnard College. Because Byron did not have the accessto his subject necessary to conduct a psychologically probing interview(and because he is not a psychologist), he relies mainly on scornedcolleagues from Martha’s past to obtain information—not the mostobjective sources.

After the survey of her childhood, Byron launches into Martha’sprofessional life, which began in 1968 when she earned a broker’slicense. Despite Martha’s successful career for seven years as a NewYork City stockbroker, Byron’s narrative remains laced with sarcasm.Martha performed her job exceedingly well, earning from $135,000 to$250,000 a year throughout the late 1960s, yet Bryon concludes:‘‘What was Martha’s job? The same job any good-looking youngwoman got in the 1960s in a world dominated by men: Walk into theroom, sit down, and cross her legs’’ (67).

When Stewart left Wall Street for Westport, Connecticut, in theearly 1970s to stay at home with her young daughter, she opened asmall catering business and soon began her publishing career. Her firstbook, Entertaining (1982), was a bestseller, followed by nearly a book ayear throughout the rest of the 1980s. In spite of her publishingsuccess, Byron remains disparaging: ‘‘[The books] launched Martha on

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her way to becoming America’s preeminent marketer of daydreamsand fantasies for women. It was the beginning of Martha’s auto-biography, served up a coffee spoon at a time, of her life as NancyDrew, with Martha herself as the ultimate daydream believer’’ (119).The problem with Byron’s assertions is that there was nothing‘‘daydream-like’’ about Martha’s world; as he shows, Martha Stewartworked harder than most people around her and produced books thatbecame bestsellers.

Byron continues to assert throughout his work that Martha’s careerconsists of serving up daydreams and ‘‘fantasies’’ for women. It seemsodd that Martha’s advice on cooking and gardening, home decorationand restoration, should be considered fantasies or daydreams when theyare in fact real tasks. American women have long penned advice booksand manuals on domestic organization and beautification, and withoutreproach. Perhaps the problem arises when a male journalist tackles thesubject of a female tastemaker who has succeeded not only as atrendsetter but also as a journalist, television personality, and CEO of abillion-dollar company.

Byron also makes much of the fact that Martha’s marriage ended indivorce and that she and her daughter are not particularly close, as if tosuggest that because of these personal problems, her books, magazine,and television show propagate the ‘‘fantasy.’’ But the private lives ofsuccessful individuals often leave much to be desired, and many atastemaker and writer from Harriet Beecher Stowe to Edith Whartonhas lived a life different from the one proposed in her publications.Still, something about Martha seems to incur the wrath of popularculture critics; this holds true not only for Christopher Byron but forJerry Oppenheimer as well. Oppenheimer’s book, another potboiler,clearly provided some of the source material for Byron’s, and theyare very similar in content. Once again, Martha is referred to inunflattering ways (as ‘‘a snake,’’ ‘‘a sadist,’’ and ‘‘a wild creature’’), andagain the accusations remain unsupported by the actual events ofMartha’s career. For example, when media giant Time Warner conductsa ‘‘highly secret and in-depth background investigation to find outwhat her personal lifestyle was all about’’ (335), the corporation’s chiefexecutives presumably do not talk to the same people Oppenheimerdoes. They offered her a magazine deal, and the first issue of MarthaStewart Living, published by Time Warner, hit the newsstands inNovember 1990.

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After reading these two books, the reader cannot help but wonderif envy has infected the authors. Perhaps Martha Stewart would farebetter in the hands of a female biographer, perhaps not. The bestsolution may be for Martha Stewart to write her own story; we alreadyknow that she can do this very well.

Elif S. ArmbrusterBoston University

Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American BlackMarket. Eric Schlosser. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

Since the Reagan Administration, American public policy hasreflected an unwavering commitment to the concept of deterrence, theprevention of crime through mandatory sentencing guidelines, harshcriminal penalties, and the enlargement of prosecutorial discretion,particularly at the federal level. Eric Schlosser’s fascinating new booknot only takes issue with the efficacy of deterrence but also demon-strates how highly profitable black markets paradoxically emergewithin our economy as a result of strict enforcement strategies. Withan ethnographer’s eye, Schlosser carefully delineates the inconsistenciesbetween the ideological beliefs that govern public policy and thepublic’s insatiable appetite for illegal commodities. Divided into threesections, his book explores the unpredictable patchwork quilt of druglaws, particularly those surrounding the use and distribution ofmarijuana; the often tragic lives of illegal aliens laboring in California’sstrawberry fields; and finally, the obscene profits of the pornographyindustry that have increased exponentially with the rise of the Internet.Schlosser’s trenchant discussions of these illegal commodities contri-bute both to our insights into the underground economy that shadowslegitimate business interests and to the public’s own complicity in itsperpetuation.

In the broadest economic terms, Schlosser wishes to identify theproblematic nature of free market logic, which, following Adam Smithand Wealth of Nations, argues for the pursuit and gratification ofconsumers’ private passions. Schlosser contends that Adam Smith’sinvisible hand inadvertently produces a largely invisible economy,

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secretive and well hidden, with its own labor demand, price structure,and set of commodities. But Schlosser does not merely deliver asuccessful philosophical jeremiad against capitalism’s darker side. Healso provides a great deal of evidence—some of it statistical, someanecdotal—that the burgeoning of illegal profits coincides with theenactment of severe laws (such as three-strikes legislation and theRICO statutes) that lawmakers intended to blunt the explosion inillegal profits. By one estimate, within the last thirty years, theseprofits total more than $1.5 trillion. This astonishing sum forcesSchlosser to conclude that our zero-tolerance crime policies have failedmiserably and must be re-evaluated in the light of drastic reform. Inthe case of marijuana-related convictions, for example, Schlossersuggests that decriminalizing simple possession of marijuana, repealingmandatory minimum sentencing, amending asset forfeiture laws, andmore careful monitoring of government informants would permit thereallocation of millions of dollars of resources to drug treatment andprison facilities that house truly violent offenders.

In addition to his analysis of the state and federal criminal justicesystems that unwittingly abet the underground economy, Schlosserinvestigates the cultural and social ethos that stimulates these blackmarkets. At the same time, he indicts the general public’s greedyconsumption of the very commodities that they wish to remain illegal.The soaring profits that result from the intrusion of designer narcoticsinto the lives of the social elites, the influx of illegal aliens into theworkforce who help maintain cheap food prices, and the unstoppableproliferation of pornographic materials into mainstream video storesattest to a hypocritical population that assails these threats to thepublic good even as they tolerate and benefit from their presence.

Though not as balanced or as consistently drawn as Fast Food Nation,Schlosser’s caustic account of the fast food industry, Reefer Madnessnonetheless remains compelling. Writing that the underground is agood measure of the progress and the health of nations, Schlosserforcefully reiterates his belief that we must honestly examine the ethicsof our nation’s getting and spending, for [w]hen much is wrong, muchneeds to be hidden. From Schlosser’s perspective, our nation must resolvethese legal ills before we can reconcile public and private morality.

Jeffrey CassTexas A&M International University

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Daniel Boone: An American Life. Michael A. Lofaro. Lexington:University Press of Kentucky, 2003.

Few popular culture icons evoke the representative American hero aswell as Daniel Boone (1734 – 1820), the subject of the finely craftedbook, Daniel Boone: An American Life by Michael A. Lofaro. The author,who teaches American studies at the University of Tennessee, breathesnew life into this old subject, reconsidering the prototypical hunter,trapper, pioneer, politician, scout, slave owner, spy, and soldier knownas Daniel Boone. Film buffs may recall George O’Brien’s portrayal inDaniel Boone (1936), or Bruce Bennett in the title role of Daniel Boone:Trail Blazer (1956), and baby boomers remember Fess Parker’stelevision series Daniel Boone (1964 – 1970). However, Boone, the firstKentucky colonel, was the subject of a bestselling biography by 1784and a dozen movies from 1906 to 1981, and the Boone bibliographyLofaro provides is impressive.

Why so much interest? Henry Nash Smith, a founding father ofAmerican studies, attempted to separate the myth from the Boonereality in his landmark Virgin Land (1950), yet the frontiersmancontinues to intrigue us. Audubon (1810), Chester Harding (1820),and George C. Bingham (1851) painted Boone, and HoratioGreenough sculpted him (1836). Boone inspired James FenimoreCooper’s hero Hawkeye and was the model for Dan Beard’s BoyScouts of America (1909). In 200 elegant pages, Lofaro demonstrateswhy his importance cannot be overlooked; Boone is the ‘‘epitomeof the American frontiersman, a near ideal representative of thewestward movement’’ whose ‘‘paradoxical relationship to the wild-erness’’ reflects Americans’ ‘‘inner conflict between civilization and thewilderness’’ (ix).

Although popular culture is replete with western heroes, Lofarodubs them mere ‘‘versions of or variations upon Boone’s own life’’(183). Despite notable studies by Richard Slotkin (1973) and JohnMack Faragher (1992), this slim volume offers readers solid research inprimary sources and astute scholarly insights. A quite readable book, itoffers much more than the legendary Indian fighter of old Kentucky.We learn that Boone, the son of an English immigrant to Pennsylvania,moved west with (or perhaps ahead of ) the nation to North Carolina,Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, Kansas, and Missouri. He may have been

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one of the first explorers of the Yellowstone and even dreamed ofCalifornia. Anticipating the two hundredth anniversary of theLouisiana Purchase in 2003, Lofaro recalls the pathfinder who launchedthe nation toward a coast-to-coast future and personified that mostAmerican of impulses, Manifest Destiny.

Many readers will find the last chapter the most original; Lofaroexplores the hero’s legend and legacy and the ‘‘power and appeal ofBoone as an emblematic man, one who was a true representative ofAmerican ideals and dreams’’ (179). Celebrated as a civic-mindedexplorer by age fifty, Boone overcame suspicions that he was a Tory inthe Revolutionary War and endless lawsuits rising from his somewhathaphazard work as a surveyor and semiliterate record keeping. His fameexpanded rapidly after his death at age eighty-six, and Boone becamean American icon in the antebellum era. As migration became almostuniversal, millions of Americans and immigrants identified withBoone’s restless spirit. This outstanding biography, which rescuesBoone’s influential role from stereotype, may find a useful place inAmerican history and popular culture courses and with any readers whoprefer historical context with their national mythology.

Peter C. HolloranWorcester State College

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling inSunnydale. Ed. James B. South. Chicago: Open Court, 2003.

Volume four of Open Court’s Popular Culture and Philosophy series,which brings philosophical insight to such phenomena as the televisionseries Seinfeld and The Simpsons, now sheds light on the television seriesBuffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS). Ending in fall 2002, the series ran for amarathon seven seasons. This book reviews the first six seasons in acollection of essays by various scholars and is edited by James B. South.This impressive book, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear andTrembling in Sunnydale, analyzes the witty dialogue and carefully craftedcharacters in the long-running series that applied everything fromPlato to Nietzsche to feminist theory.

As an avid viewer of the program from the first episode of the firstseason to the final episode of the last season, I was intrigued by the

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prospect of academic study on a series like this. Based on a not-so-popular movie of the same title, it featured a pretty blonde cheerleadertype fighting all sorts of evils, mostly vampires, and really kicking bad-guy butt! Lots of girl power, to be sure, but the underlining eye candyof the actress playing Buffy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, should not be anunderestimated influence in the cult following the show maintainedamong male viewers. The first codex has five separate essays dealingwith feminist theory in the program. All show analysis was wellresearched and well written. After reading the entire first codex, I feltlike I was home. Each author recognizes and accurately describes thingsin the show that I had thought about but would never have discussedwith colleagues. For instance, Mimi Marinucci, in her essay, ‘‘Feminismand the Ethics of Violence: Why Buffy Kicks Ass,’’ discusses how Buffyperforms a type of rape reversal on her vampire assailants by pushing aphallic stake forcefully into the body of the usually male vampire (73).Ironically, although not accidentally, Buffy has a name for her phallus-like wooden stake: Mr. Pointy.

The importance of the text itself, and the larger series by OpenCourt, should be easily recognized by academics everywhere. If popularculture is everything that a student population absorbs and reflects,such a powerful force in our society is worthy of careful deconstructionand heavy suspicion. Producers of shows like this are not justputting any old show on televisions across America. There is anagenda. The influence of this show must be understood, notdismissed as B-television on a second-rate broadcast system like theWB or UPN. However, the entire text edited by South is not withoutfaults.

The final codex ends with an overly Freudian view of Buffy—describing Giles as the father and Buffy as the child—and thecomplexities therein (308). It is too much analysis for this reviewer. Bydissecting the series with a Freudian scalpel, authors Levine andSchneider take the fun out of the television series. After all, the funpart of such a series must exist or not be included as a popular part ofpopular culture. Although I agree with the authors that the not-so-serious nature of the series is part of what makes Buffy so popularamong teens, I rather doubt that teenagers are working through‘‘narcissistic revenge’’ or ‘‘good girl/bad girl dichotomies’’ whilewatching the bubbly, blonde Buffy stake her vampire victims(298).

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Overall, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling inSunnydale is worth reading. The text is intriguing on many levels. As afast, enjoyable read with much thought-provoking substance relevant topopular culture—what’s not to like?—the publishers deserve praise forthis Popular Culture and Philosophy series, and many readerswill look forward to reading the next Open Court publication on Lordof the Rings.

Rebecca HouselRochester Institute of Technology

The Culture Concept: Writing and Difference in the Age of Realism.Michael A. Elliott. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,2002.

Examining American writing at the turn into the twentieth century,Michael Elliott provides a fascinating study of the intersection betweenliterary realism and anthropology’s ethnography. These two genresattempted to capture group-based difference, an effort he dubs‘‘culturalist’’ writing (xiii). The parallels between realism andethnography become clear, as both genres depended upon dedicatedobservation and recording, and Elliott terms this convergence ‘‘culturalrealism’’ (xviii). Focusing on writing by and about ethnic and racialminorities, he explores culturalist texts by African American, NativeAmerican, and European American writers, including Franz Boas, PaulLaurence Dunbar, Charles Chesnutt, James Mooney, Francis La Flesche,Zitkala-Sa, Charles Eastman, and Zora Neale Hurston. Elliott beginsby reviewing how anthropologist Franz Boas helped to establish the‘‘culture concept.’’ A ‘‘cultural particularist’’ (24), Boas differentiatedrace from culture and argued against a hierarchy of cultures, especiallycultural evolution theory, which held that people advanced throughstages of culture over time. Rather, Boas insisted on representing eachculture accurately in its own terms, a goal that other culturalist writersshared. As Elliott reveals, science intersected with popular culturethrough cultural realism, bringing a broad readership significant detailabout American cultures.

Nuanced and engaging, Elliott’s study illustrates how the scientificand aesthetic aspects of culturalist works operate together, yet shows

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how authors approached the culture concept differently. Some acceptedthe passing of a culture into history, some argued for the resilience of aculture, and others challenged the idea of a unified culture in need ofsalvage. For instance, cultural realism created greater interest in thetexts of African American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872– 1906),the ‘‘incomplete separation between concepts of biological race andsocially constructed culture’’ (68), which readers, including WilliamDean Howells, perceived limited Dunbar’s voice. Elliott suggeststhat Native American author Francis La Flesche (1857– 1932)fared better, building upon a folkloric tradition that emphasizedcultural particularism over cultural evolution. La Flesche managedto convey a ‘‘cultural integrity’’ (159) persisting despite someassimilation.

Elliott intersperses discussions of professional ethnographers, well-known writers, and lesser-known ethnic American writers to emphasizethe interchange among writers of varying statuses and approaches.Francis La Flesche embodies multiple authorial positions, starting asethnographic informant, moving to anthropologist/ethnographer, andexpanding to literary memoirist, and so combines textual perspectivesexplicitly. Zora Neale Hurston (1901 – 1960) charts a similar course,becoming the subject of one of Elliott’s most intriguing chapters.While Elliott traces some familiar ground in describing Hurston’smultigenre approach as informant, ethnographer, and fictionalist, andher anticipation of postmodernist questions concerning the authority ofwriter and text, he offers a new angle on her work by suggesting thatshe records culture as a ‘‘realm of tension as well as of harmony’’ (168).While the other culturalist texts Elliott addresses focus on conflictbetween cultures, Hurston’s work, which appeared later than that ofthe other writers, focuses on conflict within a culture. According toElliott, Hurston demonstrates that ‘‘dissonance not only exists withinculture, but is fundamental to the way that group-based identity isconstituted’’ (176). Taking Janie from the novel Their Eyes WereWatching God as a main example, Elliott suggests that an individual atodds with culture may face reprisals, yet also may transcend thatculture.

Elliott concludes that scholars must shift attention ‘‘from culturaldifference as a subject of representation to culture as a subject ofimagination’’ (187). He argues compellingly that culturalist texts‘‘emphasize group-based identity as a social construction’’ and form

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part of ‘‘the larger constructivist intellectual history’’ (187). The CultureConcept is a significant resource for readers interested in therepresentation of group-based difference at the turn into the twentiethcentury and beyond.

Lori JirousekNew York Institute of Technology

Blue-Collar Hollywood: Liberalism, Democracy, and Working People inAmerican Film. John Bodnar. Baltimore: John Hopkins UniversityPress, 2003.

It’s a Wonderful Life, perhaps; it’s a complicated one, certainly.What John Bodnar says in his section on Frank Capra is true forthe whole of his book. Capra’s films, he argues, ‘‘were imprecisespeculations that seeped over and around conventional boundarieslike class and gender . . . they occupied a common ground thatraised as many questions as they answered’’ (36). The reason for thisimprecision is that commercial films concentrate on individual dreamsand desires. Inevitably, perhaps, their impulses are less neat andoverarching than the visions of unions, religious groups, even politicalparties.

Bodnar surveys popular American films from 1930 to 1980, andreveals that their portrayals of ordinary folk were complex politicalbattlegrounds on which no one approach prevailed. Early on, rampantindividualists, like James Cagney in Public Enemy, slugged it out withdemocratic idealists, such as James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes toWashington. During the Second World War, Ginger Rogers in TenderComrade expressed the need for women to support their men in thestruggle of a united nation. In the 1970s, by contrast, as concepts ofindividual rights fragmented the body politic, Shaft spoke of AfricanAmerica’s dream of greater power, while Looking for Mr. Goodbarquestioned whether ‘‘liberalism could work in a society marked bybrutality and emotional unrest’’ (204).

It is a pattern of currents and crosscurrents. For Bodnar, the unifyingthread is the idea that mass culture was not a political sedative injectedinto the audience by conservative Hollywood moguls. On the contrary,

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the very nature of the business required producers to create porousstories that could contain the competing visions of their differentcustomers. These outlooks varied over the years: the concerns of theGreat Depression were very different from the countercultural stormsof the 1960s. Nevertheless, as this book shows convincingly, thethemes of individualism and democracy, and the difficulties inreconciling the two, run consistently through the ribbon of Americanfilms. They were, it seems, a cacophony of secret voices whispering ofdoubt and yearning while traditional politics carried on regardless. Infact, films were sometimes ahead of the game—in their portrayal ofwomen, for example.

As all of this suggests, Blue-Collar Hollywood is a challenging book,especially because Bodnar, who is a historian by trade, has all thecontexts and detail at his fingertips, and therefore makes his pointswith authority and force. Any difficulties are rooted in what might becalled wider cultural imponderables rather than in any deficiencies onhis part. He believes, for instance, that the individual-based concerns ofmass culture had a crucial impact on the politics of the twentiethcentury, but he can’t pin this down. Film reviews are quoted asexamples of contemporary reactions, but, admirable though BosleyCrowther may have been, he never spoke for the worthy citizens ofHoboken, New Jersey. In consequence, the big question of what filmsdo to audiences’ political perceptions is left unanswered, probablybecause no answer exists.

Nor do we get much sense of the emotional texture, and hence thefull persuasive power, of Hollywood’s efforts. Once On the Waterfrontand West Side Story have been filleted for their political content, theyseem curiously the same. This flattening tendency matters, becausehow a film feels may be central to what it means.

Even so, this is an impressive study. Despite a slight blandness ofstyle and the excruciating misuse of ‘‘disinterested’’ and ‘‘infer’’throughout, it is inviting and informative, especially for non-Americanreaders eager to know more about the complex chords that underscoreAmerica’s song of freedom.

David LancasterUniversity of Leeds

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Horse Opera: The Strange History of the 1930s Singing Cowboy. PeterStanfield. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002; Singing inthe Saddle: The History of the Singing Cowboy. Douglas B. Green.Nashville, TN: Country Music Foundation Press and VanderbiltUniversity Press, 2002.

‘‘Westerns are history!’’ The death-knell for cowboy films hassounded many times, but the Western has proven phoenix-like in itsability to rise from the ashes and reinvent itself for new audiences. Atno time was this truer than during the early 1930s. Commentatorswere suggesting that Westerns were finished: with their emphasis onshoot-’em-up action rather than dramatic dialogue, they would nottransition well from silents to sound. But critics reckoned without theSinging Cowboys, balladeer heroes who rescued a genre in distress.

Within a few years, eager audiences were consuming hundreds ofSinging Cowboy films annually, and Gene Autry and Roy Rogersbecame household names. With their flashy costumes, good looks,wholesome ways, and problem-solving abilities, Singing Cowboys hadbecome heroes. Their movies typically included smart horses, comicsidekicks, pretty (but not to be kissed) girls, absurd escapist plots, andlots of music. The whole made for an irresistible package that capturedthe hearts of rural and working-class America.

Scholarly studies of the Singing Cowboys have been few and farbetween. It is refreshing, then, to see two university press publicationsappear on the topic in the same year. Douglas B. Green is better knownto many as Ranger Doug, founder of Riders in the Sky, the premierWestern musical group of the modern era. Green, a guitarist, vocalist,and expert yodeler, is also a well-respected music historian. Throughhis involvement with the Country Music Foundation’s Oral HistoryProject in the mid 1970s, and as a performer with Riders in the Skyfrom 1977 to the present, Green has met and listened to many of theSinging Cowboys and members of their circle. His interviews form partof an impressive list of source materials that also includes documents,record album liner notes, and songbooks. Firsthand quotations addcolor to the narrative and enhance the author’s thoughtful insights.

Green’s painstaking work clearly is a labor of love, and heacknowledges that Singing Cowboys are his heroes, yet that does notdetract from his ability to cast a critical eye over his subjects and their

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material. Singing in the Saddle covers the entire history of the SingingCowboys, including their roots in folk music and cowboy songs, andtheir radio shows, recordings, motion pictures, TV shows, personalappearances, and product endorsements during their heyday from 1934to 1956. He traces their decline, recent revival, and influence onCountry and Western music. He pens fascinating biographical portraitsorganized chronologically within chapters, presenting an encyclopedicresource on the recording and film careers of the Singing Cowboys.Green fully explores the careers of Autry, Rogers, Tex Ritter, and theSons of the Pioneers, but he also rescues many other obscure or long-forgotten Western performers from oblivion, laying the groundworkfor future studies. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs ofperformers, songbooks, and movie posters, most from the collections ofthe Country Music Hall of Fame and the author. A timeline for 1822 –2002, a useful bibliography, and a thorough index supplement the text.

Peter Stanfield, a senior lecturer in media arts at SouthamptonInstitute in England, adopts a different approach in Horse Opera. WhileGreen focuses heavily on performers, Stanfield studies performance.Whereas Green’s work is solid narrative history, Stanfield’s is moreinterpretive and theoretical. Horse Opera looks at the historicalprecedents and contexts of the Singing Cowboy of the 1930s. Stanfieldplaces Singing Cowboys firmly within the performance tradition ofblackface minstrelsy. He also discusses the audience for this emergentWestern ‘‘low cultural form’’ (1 – 2): rural or recently urbanizedworking-class families. This audience cared little about narrative logicbut instead valued performance. Part of Gene Autry’s appeal came fromhis becoming a ‘‘New Deal Cowboy’’ and confronting contemporaryproblems, such as the Dust Bowl and unemployment, in his films. TheSinging Cowboy came to represent the fantasies, desires, and ambitionsof those who experienced the economic hardships of the 1930s. Autry’sastounding success stemmed from his relationship with his audience,‘‘that act of integration that suggested he was one of their own’’ (88).

Although he analyzes relatively few of the hundreds of SingingCowboy films, Stanfield also uses information gleaned from pressbooks and exploitation manuals to support his arguments. He drawsconclusions that many readers might find surprising. For example, theSinging Cowboys held enduring appeal to girls and women, whoformed radio’s largest audience and the majority of the record-buyingpublic. The plots and other ingredients of the Singing Cowboy films

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were designed and marketed to appeal to female consumers, as well asmen and boys. The strongest section in Horse Opera is a discussion of thefeminization of the fictional cowboy. This helps explain the pinks,lavenders, and floral designs on Singing Cowboys’ elaborate costumes,but Stanfield also argues persuasively that between literature and film,the cowboy figure shifted from being just a spectacle of description to aspectacle of action.

Stanfield includes fifteen pages of useful notes but no bibliography.Both books may have benefited from discographies and filmographies.But Horse Opera is a promising and pioneering work from an earlycareer scholar. Stanfield presents creative and provocative argumentssupported by new evidence. He also throws down the gauntlet toothers to pursue some of the new avenues for research uncovered by hisstudy. Far from being a nonsensical, ephemeral, or even ‘‘strange’’character in the history of American popular culture, the SingingCowboy ‘‘is one of the most important figures to emerge from thetumultuous years of the Great Depression’’ (3).

Libraries and individuals with interests in Western music, history,film, radio, performance, and popular culture should acquire both ofthese books. Read Green’s survey first and then turn to Stanfield’s morespecialized study. Both are well written, lively, and engaging; Green’sis sweeping and comprehensive, Stanfield’s edgy and assertive. Whileeach makes a significant contribution in its own right, taken together,Singing in the Saddle and Horse Opera represent a quantum leap forwardfor scholarship on Singing Cowboys and the Western.

Kevin MulroyUniversity of Southern California

Time Capsules: A Cultural History. William E. Jarvis. Jefferson,NC: McFarland, 2003.

Artifacts in our lives are both ephemeral and eternal; many willdisappear without traces, and others will live onward for manymillennia (sometimes despite our best efforts). Unfortunately, we donot know which artifacts will indeed provide us and our culture withsome form of legacy. Time capsules are attempts to help make the

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decision as to which items to preserve for posterity and future analysis.William E. Jarvis’s Time Capsules is a remarkable compilation ofanecdotes and historical traces on its topic, along with an enthusiasticand often breathless running analysis. The book is a good read andextraordinarily useful for cultural studies courses.

Time capsule initiatives are generally designed to preserve traces ofour culture for future generations, though some of the capsules are betterequipped for this mission than others. Their storage methods differwidely, from tossing items into a tar pit to preserving objects in vacuum-sealed containers. According to Jarvis, ideal time capsules incorporate‘‘deliberately sealed items scheduled for retrieval on a specified date,’’although many modern time capsules have rather vague time horizons. Anumber of time capsule initiatives have unambitious time frames; manyare designated to be opened in a hundred or a thousand years rather thanexist through the millennia. There are some notable exceptions, however:the Crypt of Civilization project at Oglethorpe University (sealed in1940) was intended to be opened in 8113.

If time capsules are indeed designed for the sake of those who openthem many years into the future, what is the incentive for people tocreate them today? Jarvis’s book captures some of the less obviousrationales behind time capsule development. Time capsules celebratethe present as well as the future; they create a kind of ‘‘instant history’’as their creation and internment is celebrated. This may serve toexplain the popularity of time capsules in a society such as the UnitedStates that recognizes relatively few cultural landmarks in comparisonwith Europe and the Middle East. Time capsules are a ‘‘technologicalfix’’ that can serve to engineer a form of historical legacy. Creation andsealing of time capsules are often associated with a major ceremony,with suitable societal representatives (generally men) available to blessthe occasion with their presence. Jarvis’s fascinating photographcollection chronicles a wide assortment of these occasions. However,the large number of time capsules that are subsequently ‘‘lost’’ beliessome interesting cultural nuances; perhaps our compact with the futureis not as firm as it appears at first blush. The International TimeCapsule Society has a registry of time capsules along with locationalcoordinates so as to eliminate some of these lapses in memory.

Time capsules have used an enticing mix of images, which maymake this book of interest to those involved with visual rhetoric. Jarvisexplores the metaphors that undergird some time capsule efforts,

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including that of the ‘‘tunnel.’’ He describes how many jettisonedsubway plans inadvertently created kinds of time capsules, sealing awaythe artifacts of particular periods for future analysis. Time capsuleperspectives were apparently wrought during peacetime and celebra-tion, as well as in times of danger and angst, but some militaryimagery (such as that related to missiles) has become common in timecapsule efforts.

Time capsule projects can be additions to popular culture courses.Students can store and send messages to future generations by selectingvarious artifacts for inclusion in the capsule; selection of what artifactsand symbols to include can stimulate discussion on a variety of levels.In courses on particular topics (such as computer technology), thisactivity could include the choice of the current technologies (cellphones, perhaps?) that students feel reveal the most salient aspects ofthe way we run workplaces and live our everyday lives. Jarvis alsodescribes ‘‘imaginary time capsule’’ projects in which the time capsulethat is assembled is purely part of a thought experiment. What wouldwe preserve for the future? Such creative exercises may yield differentresults from those constrained by reality, with large-scale and fancifuladditions to the compilation, as well as mundane ones. Jarvis’s bookcan be used to enhance coursework and research relating to the futureand the past, and imaginary and pragmatic creative efforts.

Jo Ann OravecUniversity of Wisconsin–Whitewater

The Dawn of the New Cycle: Point Loma Theosophists and AmericanCulture. W. Michael Ashcraft. Knoxville: University of TennesseePress, 2002.

Ashcraft identifies three cultural influences converging at PointLoma: Western esotericism, American Victorian culture, and nine-teenth-century American communitarianism. Theosophy, in general, isthe belief in a secret divine wisdom available to intermediaries ormasters who filter their understanding of the ultimate to humanity. AtPoint Loma, the California Theosophists used their connectedness tothe esoteric secret of the universe as a means to improve American

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Victorian society. Yet despite their intention to improve society,Ashcraft carefully describes the Theosophical approach to reform as‘‘more quietist than activist, more metaphysical—indeed, esoteric—than either liberal Protestants or secular Progressives’’ (7). Settled asthey were upon transforming society ‘‘by means of a new humanityraised on Theosophical ideals,’’ Ashcraft convincingly describes theinhabitants of Point Loma as ardent subscribers to the ‘‘limitations’’ ofmiddle-class Victorian culture in America. These TheosophicalVictorians, nevertheless, succumbed to the communitarian impulse ofthe late nineteenth century, minus the cooperativist tendency toinsulate the community from American culture. The resultant ‘‘highersynthesis’’ of American and Theosophical values formed Point Lomainto an ideal place for ‘‘a hoped-for heaven on earth’’ (14).

Individual leadership contributed to the establishment and perpetua-tion of Theosophy. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, a Russian aristocratturned enlightened master, founded the Theosophical Society in 1875.Ashcraft identifies Blavatsky’s major religious and philosophicalinfluences as Western occultism and esotericism, Hinduism, Buddhism,Freemasonry, and Spiritualism. ‘‘Religiously liberal but culturallyconservative’’ middle-class Americans were especially compelled to jointhis ‘‘dynamic religious alternative’’ (23). During the late nineteenthcentury, William Quan Judge acted as national leader of AmericanTheosophy, while Katherine Tingley (1847–1929) acted as PointLoma’s ‘‘world-mother’’ and ‘‘hero-sage’’ (33). More than any otherTheosophical leader, Tingley contributed to the feminist and millennialconceptions of Point Loma inhabitants. In 1898, she chose Point Loma(near San Diego, California) as ‘‘the center from which a new humanitywould emanate, saving the United States and the world from its lowernature and the materialistic pull of the previous cycles’’ (50).

In preparation for the ‘‘Dawn of the New Cycle,’’ Point LomaTheosophists cultivated a highly regimented community thatembraced the ideas of American Victorianism. Ashcraft demonstratesthe Point Lomian synthesis of Theosophy and Victorianism byanalyzing the community’s conception of gender. Women, despitethe ‘‘proto-feminist’’ leadership of Tingley, remained in the spheres ofdomesticity and education. Child-rearing was the central occupation ofwomen. Children grew up in communities separated by gender andfrom their biological relations. The community mothers emphasizedaltruism and discipline as a means to enable the children to make

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significant contributions to society. Male adults subscribed tothe Victorian conception of masculinity by serving Point Lomaas businessmen and community leaders. Therefore, contrary toBlavatsky’s politically liberal notions of womanhood, Ashcraftconcludes that ‘‘rarely, if ever, did an entire Theosophical organizationofficially delineate gender distinctions as completely as Point Loma’’(112).

As a parallel to the acceptance of Victorian culture, members of thePoint Loma community also pledged a ‘‘higher patriotism’’ for both theUnited States and the ‘‘brotherhood of humanity’’ (147). Ashcraftconcludes his book by describing this ‘‘blending of conventionalpatriotic images with Theosophical ideals’’ (147). Point Lomianscelebrated civil holidays, supported the Spanish-American War andWorld War I, and mourned the deaths of American soldiers. Theysuccumbed to the idea of America as an exceptional ‘‘nation/kingdom’’and the birthplace of a new world order (149). The example of thePoint Loma mystical cult was meant to prepare America for thisimportant role in the world. It is from this perspective that Ashcraftadmits the Theosophical tendency toward prowar advocacy. His finebook makes clear that they believed that American militaryinvolvement translated into humanitarian assistance.

Michael PasquierFlorida State University

Roy Orbison: The Invention of an Alternative Rock Masculinity. PeterLehman. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000.

This book offers a holistic assessment of Roy Orbison’s career bylooking at each of his contributions to country and rock music.Born in Vernon, Texas, in 1936, Orbison (1936– 1988) venturedinto new ground by representing a masculine persona thatdeviates simultaneously from the hackneyed macho and hypermascu-linized ‘‘black face’’ images in popular culture. Peter Lehman explainsthe origin of representing sensitive men in alternative rockthrough this historical account of the persona and work Orbisioncreated.

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The aesthetic of masochism enabled much of Orbison’s work,according to Lehman. Major features of this masochism are expressedwithin the music. Such features include a surreal texture within themusic, identification with women, and testimonies to pain. WhileLehman addresses each feature of this masochism, he does not explainwhy surrealism, feminine identification, and pain imply masochism.Although he may not interrogate the issue thoroughly, he does providesome historical and literary background.

This argument about the masochist aesthetic involves psycho-analytic terms and applications. Lehman employs the Freudian conceptof the oedipal stage and fascination with the mother figure. Althoughthis analysis should intrigue many readers, it seems incongruous.Accounting for Orbison’s strangely haunting presence by anotherapproach might prove more fruitful.

Despite the critical and analytical stance, Roy Orbison: The Invention ofan Alternative Rock Masculinity celebrates Orbison’s work and payshomage to his innovation and success. Along with the masochistaesthetic, Lehman references the use of an aesthetic of ‘‘weirdness’’ inOrbison’s work (9) and frames his career as a pioneering aestheticproject. The book also traces the role personal tragedy played inOrbison’s music. His black clothing, black sunglasses, vocal intona-tion, and haunting lyrics translate his tragic presence. Lehman explainshow Orbison stood as an anomaly in the face of normative popularculture.

Despite Orbison’s oddity, Lehman establishes the great impactthat he had on popular culture and explains why careful considerationof his artistic contributions reveals his social significance. Lehmandoes not explore Orbison’s role in inspiring more contemporaryalternative representations of masculinity as he might have, buthe may inspire larger and more in-depth projects. Lehman, therefore,provides his readers with the appropriate foreground for futurework in the alternative masculinities represented in popularmusic.

One wonders about the concrete political implications in theapplication of alternative masculinity. Yet another possibility over-looked is Orbison’s influence in punk, industrial, and electronic music.Although Lehman establishes that Orbison created a unique masculinepersona, he does not question whether Orbison’s persona ultimatelyreinforced, challenged, or utterly disrupted normative masculine

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posturing in popular culture. Nevertheless, this book makes a vitalcontribution to gender studies and to the study of alternative aestheticsin popular culture. For these reasons, this book provides applicablematerial for popular culture scholars and for those in feminist studiesand other related academic areas.

Jeanine PfahlertBowling Green State University

The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real.Ed. William Irwin. Chicago, IL: Open Court Publishing, 2002;Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix.Ed. Glenn Yeffeth. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2003; andExploring the Matrix: Visions of the Cyber Present. Ed. Karen Haber.New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003.

In 1999, we witnessed a genuine movie phenomenon whenThe Matrix (directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski) grossed $171.4million in US theaters alone and went on to become one of thebestselling DVDs of all time. This movie influenced fashion trends,introduced the ‘‘bullet time’’ special effect, and created enough buzz onthe street to power up the dreaded A.I. Now, in time for the sequels,it has also inspired several essay collections of varying levels ofscholarship.

The most scholarly of these is The Matrix and Philosophy. No groupthe world over may have benefited more from The Matrix thanphilosophy professors, and with its emphasis on epistemology, editorWilliam Irwin concludes that the film is exactly the pop cultural eventto get the average reader interested in his discipline. The collection isthe perfect introduction to some of the basic questions of philosophy,and no prior knowledge of the discipline is needed to understand orenjoy the essays. Irwin is shrewd; he knows that the mention ofphilosophy can frighten off a potential reader, so he maintains a folksytone and chose essay topics to interest a wide range of readers. TheWachowski Brothers’ messy medley of themes and myths in the filmmeans that while David Mitsuo Nixon and Daniel Barwick aredebating the possibility of a real Matrix simulation (not very likely,

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they conclude), others can address issues as varied as the Marxiansubtext, the nature of freedom, and the reader response to the film.What is also clear is that Irwin’s contributors are having fun. FromMichael Brannigan’s critique of how un-Buddhist Neo actually is toCynthia Freeland’s feminist meditation on the politics of penetratingKeanu Reeves, the essay writers provoke, interrogate, and explore thevarious issues surrounding The Matrix, and all in a way that the novicewill find comprehensible and unintimidating.

The advantage of Irwin’s collection is its tight focus. Editor GlennYeffeth has opted to be less strict in Taking the Red Pill: Science,Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix. Yeffeth invited essays fromeconomics, literature, and media studies academics, and from computerengineers, inventors, and science fiction writers. Not surprisingly,given this variety, the texture of the collection is somewhat uneven.Some of the essays cover the same philosophical ground as Irwin’scollection, but the strength of this second collection is not in itsreligious or philosophical explorations (both of which are morerigorously, if light-heartedly, done in the The Matrix and Philosophy),but in its addition of the scientific material. A large number of pagesare given over to a debate between computer scientists Ray Kurzweiland Bill Joy about the likelihood of developing artificial intelligenceand what each sees as the consequence of that development. Joy, chiefscientist for Sun Microsystems, worryingly envisions the extinction ofthe human race if we have to face competition from an A.I. species ofour own creation. But even without the ultimate penalty of extinction,Joy can imagine all manner of things that could make our existencemiserable if we do not control our technological hubris. Kurzweil, onthe other hand, refuses to see the future through this catastrophist lens.He anticipates the development of A.I. but envisions a literallysymbiotic relationship between man and machine, a kinder, moreefficient future with less sickness and more longevity, among otherthings. The Joy essay is a reprint of his now-famous jeremiad in theApril 2000 issue of Wired Magazine, but many of us noncomputerpeople will not have come across it, and placed here as it is in adiscussion about simulations, machines, and singularity, it makes foranxious reading. As a sort of coda to this debate, Yeffeth ends thecollection with an essay by philosopher Nick Bostrom, which arguesthat the probability is that we are already living in a Matrix simulation.While these three contributions may only peripherally be about

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The Matrix, they, and the issues they raise, are so interesting that theyprobably merit picking up the book.

The least successful of the collections is Exploring the Matrix: NewWritings on the Matrix and the Cyber Present. As the title implies, thecontributors to this collection, almost all of them novelists, are notstrictly limited to The Matrix as their topic. These are strictlylightweight efforts, the literary equivalent of the toy that comes in aMcDonald’s Happy Meal. While some of these contributors, such asBruce Sterling, are masters of their novelistic domains, the collectionproves why we do not necessarily depend upon our most creative to beour most insightful. Annoyingly, some of the essays are written withthe abbreviated breathlessness of e-mails: an overabundance of hyphensand one-sentence paragraphs. But almost all are written in such a casualconversational tone that, even without the faux-cyber artwork andannoying techie design scheme of the book, a reader would instantly bealerted that this is not a collection to be taken seriously. It is atestament to The Matrix that so many science fiction writers shouldwant to comment on it; unfortunately, these essays do not add anythingto the discussion that has not already been noted in the many onlinefan sites about The Matrix. Considering the sophistication of the officialMatrix Web site (http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/), whichincludes its own collection of philosophy essays, much of what theessayists write in Exploring the Matrix is superfluous. There areexceptions. Joe Haldeman’s essay ‘‘The Matrix as Sci-Fi’’ is a usefuldelineation of the terms science fiction, sci-fi, and SF, and a cogentexplanation of why The Matrix is not properly called science fiction.And Ian Watson does a nice job of locating the film within thecyberpunk literary tradition. For the most part, however, thiscollection is exactly as nontaxing on the brain as is implied by thefact that video stores like Blockbuster are displaying it next to the filmitself; it is strictly for fans who need to be led by the hand throughsome of the film’s underlying themes.

Elizabeth RosenUniversity College London

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Hunting with Hemingway: Based on the Stories of Leicester Hemingway.Hilary Hemingway and Jeffry P. Lindsay. New York: RiverheadBooks, 2000.

On the surface, Hunting with Hemingway is a collection of Leicester‘‘Baron’’ Hemingway’s adventures with his famous older brother. Ifthese tales possess even a seed of truth, it is astounding that Ernest andLes survived these exploits. On a deeper level, this book tells the storyof Hilary Hemingway coming to terms with the death of her father,who, like his brother Ernest, committed suicide.

Upon the death of her mother in 1997, Hilary Hemingway wasgiven a cassette tape of informal interviews conducted by an overeagerEnglish professor identified only as ‘‘Leech.’’ Leech is attempting topersuade Les Hemingway to tell stories that might give insight intothe life of Ernest Hemingway. This seems to annoy Les, but he obliges,telling story after story of fantastic adventure, ranging from viciousattacks by feral ostriches, tigers, and komodo dragons to the attempt tocapture a Nazi U-boat.

The authors spend much time attempting to determine the veracityof these tales. Perhaps, given the protagonists of the stories, whetherthey are true does not matter. ‘‘Truth,’’ Les Hemingway said, ‘‘is astrange thing’’ (315). Ernest Hemingway was a man who was largerthan life, perhaps even larger than his work. Much myth has developedregarding his life. Nevertheless, this is not a book aimed at theacademic market; in fact, Les Hemingway has a great deal of contemptfor scholars who all seem to want a piece of the Hemingway myth inorder to gain tenure. Coauthor Lindsay (Hilary Hemingway’s husband)calls these scholars ‘‘Hemingleeches’’ (273), which makes one suspiciousof Professor Leech’s name. Les dismisses stories of his brother’s six-toedcats in Key West as totally inaccurate and speculation that Ernest mighthave been homosexual as absurd and insulting. The perception ofliterary academics by the Hemingways is funny and at times painfullyaccurate. This is criticism that academics perhaps have reason to heed.

On the book jacket, Les Standiford opines that Hunting withHemingway is ‘‘part old-fashioned adventure tale, part fable, part journeyinto self-awareness.’’ He is correct, but it is not equally successful in allof these aims. As adventure, it excels. There is something wonderful in agood yarn well told, and this book has these in abundance. This book

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also makes a contribution to the growing body of myth that surroundsthe Hemingway family. Through the eyes of an adoring little brother, itmakes Ernest Hemingway seem a bit more human. Where it falters is inthe inward journey of self-awareness that Hilary Hemingway embarksupon. Hilary Hemingway’s cloyingly emotional denouement in Biminiis quite annoying. Regardless, the tales of Papa and Baron make thereader’s journey well worth the trip. In addition to providing a fun read,Hunting with Hemingway provides a fascinating insight into the psychesof Ernest and Les Hemingway.

Marc SealsUniversity of South Florida

To Hear Only Thunder Again: America’s World War II Veterans ComeHome. Mark D. Van Ells. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2001.

Professor Mark Van Ells has undertaken a study of a much neglectedsubject: namely, how veterans of World War II adjusted to civilian life.Few scholars have investigated this particular issue. Social historians andpopular culture scholars of the military have focused on soldiers’lives, their attitudes, clothing, and even their sex lives. But oncethe servicemen are discharged, the military historians tend to dismissthem as well.

To Hear Only Thunder Again addresses the various problemsencountered by military veterans in returning to civilian life. Thesecond goal of the study is to discuss the political response to thereturning veterans. What makes the case of World War II veterans sointeresting is the varied nature of the government programs thatemerged. Unlike past wars, government programs included meaningfulassistance to both the disabled and able-bodied veterans.

Why did the government become so involved? Above all, it was thesheer size of the veteran population. Another factor motivating supportfor veterans was the potential threat posed to the social and politicalorder. In particular, the effects of the post-World War I period(especially the Bonus March) and the Great Depression stronglyinfluenced the American political systems.

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In conducting his research, Van Ells focuses on the state ofWisconsin. He believes that dealing with veteran affairs at the statelevel has several advantages, allowing a more detailed look at policiesconcerning veterans at the grassroots level. It also facilitates the studyof state aid and local programs for veterans in comparison with federalprograms. Wisconsin’s population was large and diverse enough tooffer a fair cross section of American society in the 1940s. Organizationof the book allows the reader to follow a typical veteran through his orher readjustment process. The remainder of the study deals with thedevelopment of federal, state, and local services available to veterans.Such topics as the family, marriage, and the emotional state of theveterans are also discussed. The author has examined both the nationalarchives and the state archives of Wisconsin, along with numerousnewspapers and publications of the 1940s.

Social historians and the general reader will find this study quiteinformative. Above all, the author makes a cogent point in assertingthat the process of veterans’ readjustment went so smoothly that manyAmericans came to believe that a nontraumatic postwar period wasnormal. However, veterans of the later wars in Korea and Vietnam didnot enjoy the same level of public support. Thus, it is no surprise thatKorean and Vietnam war veterans did not readjust to civilian life aswell as the men and women who returned from World War II. It is thisimportant subject that requires additional research.

Emmett A. SheaWorcester State College

Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War and the Battle for America’s Heartsand Minds. Melvin Small. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly ResourcesPress, 2002.

Melvin Small’s Antiwarriors, comprising a preface, nine chapters,and a bibliographical essay, is a lucidly written and meticulouslyresearched journey through one of America’s most discordant eras. Theopening line of chapter one, which quotes Abbie Hoffman—‘‘We wereyoung, we were reckless, arrogant, headstrong—and we were right’’—accurately depicts the emotional state of many involved in the antiwar

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demonstrations of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. It is theirhistory that Small so eloquently engages, as well as the war beingwaged against them.

Although the author states that he was sympathetic to themovement, he describes the movement’s positives but also itsnegatives. Through his examination of antiwar organizations and themany other groups who made up this decentralized movement, hedemonstrates that in many ways, the only common ground for thesediverse groups was their adamant anti-Vietnam War stance. The onething that all of the antiwarriors could agree on, whether they wereactive demonstrators or passive sympathizers, was the position thatAmerica had no right to be involved in Vietnam’s civil war.However, much of the popular imagery and history has been basedon the small but radical fringe element who wanted somethingmore extreme.

Small begins the journey by tracing the roots of various groups—many of which were already in place fighting for their respectiveissues—that came together loosely to form the largest demonstrationsin American history. He also provides a helpful list of abbreviations forthe names of many organizations that the casual historian or generalreader may find unfamiliar. His brief history of the conflicts in Vietnamis extremely useful to those who may believe that the Vietnam Waronly began with the United States’ involvement. Chapter one bringsthe reader up to the end of 1964, making sure that all of the ‘‘players’’and events have been carefully identified and explained.

The next seven chapters follow chronologically, with one chapterdevoted to each year of American participation in Vietnam and theconcomitant antiwar actions to stop the war. Interestingly, the antiwarmovement seems to have built slowly, with little action in 1965 and1966; however, Small reveals that these seemingly quiescent years sawa considerable amount of tactical and strategic organizational planningon the part of many groups that were serious about stopping the war.In 1967, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War produced a new typeof protester; it was difficult for administration apologists to call theseyoung men and women ‘‘unpatriotic,’’ or the favorite derogatory termfor those who opposed the war, ‘‘Commie draft-dodgers.’’ Burning ofdraft cards also increased, as did the number of antiwar demonstrations.

The watershed year was clearly 1968. The Tet Offensive in Januaryshocked Americans who had believed President Johnson’s declaration a

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few weeks earlier that the United States was winning the war, and even‘‘the most trusted man in America,’’ CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite,spoke publicly of the need to end the war. By year’s end, RichardNixon, the Republican candidate for president, promised that he had a‘‘secret plan’’ to end the war and was packing his bags for his move tothe White House. It took four more years and another election forNixon to end the war. Antiwar activity, however, peaked in 1969, withthe largest demonstrations in American history.

It is important to note that one of the real strengths of Small’s bookis its emphasis on the average middle-class Americans and nonviolentstudents who protested the war. The television images of destructivecollege students, hippies, and true fringe radicals dominated the mediacoverage of the demonstrations because they were ‘‘news’’ in ways thatwell-dressed, well-behaved protesters were not. Another strength is theclear differentiation among the many antiwar groups that participatedin the demonstrations. Small has written an excellent account of theantiwar movements, and every scholar who is interested in this periodin American culture should own a copy.

J. Brian WagamanPenn State Harrisburg

Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900. Clive Bloom. New York:Palgrave/Macmillan, 2002.

In recent years, academic critics have turned to popular fiction tore-evaluate the ‘‘great divide’’ between high art and mass culture thatpostmodernism deconstructs. Such revisionist projects often usepopular fiction to re-interpret canonical literary works or to captureperiod flavor. In his newest book, Clive Bloom, whose previous worksfocused on specific popular genres like the spy thriller and pulp fiction,tackles a particularly elusive phenomenon: the bestseller. Bloompresents Bestsellers as a ‘‘provisional . . . map of reading’’ of thebestseller in Britain in the twentieth century. In his efforts to write fora general audience, he largely succeeds. Bloom devotes the first half ofthis book to the theoretical problems posed by the bestseller. In the

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second half of the book, Bloom offers entries on individualauthors, including a short introduction outlining their contributionsto their genres and a list of major works. The overview ofthe theoretical problems posed by the bestseller and the historicallyarranged entries on individual authors will prove a valuable resourcefor scholars and students who wish to find their bearings in thisvast field.

In the three theoretical chapters that form the first half of the book,Bloom makes a commendable effort to investigate the bestseller as botha commodity and an art form. Bloom situates the bestseller’s emergencein the congruence of several cultural developments in the latenineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including the modernizationof the publishing industry, the rise of the professional author, and therapidly expanding reading public. The third chapter of the book shiftsgears and considers the evolution of various popular genres. Thischapter is less illuminating than the earlier theoretical considerationsbecause it offers a largely descriptive account of the development ofpopular genres. New genres, Bloom contends, are really justreworkings of older formulae. Despite this historical survey of thevicissitudes of popular genres, Bloom only succeeds in intimating thatthe more things change for the bestseller, the more they remain thesame. Hence, the most popular genres among late twentieth-centuryreaders are the same as those among early twentieth-century readers:romance and detective fiction.

Bloom remains sensitive to the methodological problems thatattend any study of the bestseller. On one hand, the nature of thebestseller seems clear-cut: a book with enormous sales. Bloom,however, quickly reveals how issues of price, format, and unreliablesales figures conspire to complicate this definition. Such definitionalproblems quickly creep into Bloom’s own decisions about whichauthors to include in the entries on individual authors. What results isa frustrating exercise in hair-splitting in the second half of the book.For instance, he excludes all works of children’s fiction from his list,but then includes J. K. Rowling because she also writes to and foradults. He refuses all authors whose popularity stems from theirfrequent inclusion on school reading lists—hence, no E. M. Forster.Yet, George Orwell and D. H. Lawrence find their way onto his list.As a result, the selection of authors often appears to be highlyidiosyncratic. In addition, each entry offers only a brief synopsis of each

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author’s contribution to his or her genre, and the list of each author’sworks is often far from complete. In the end, Bloom’s study presentsthe bold outlines of a ‘‘map of reading’’ to the student of popularfiction, but it’s up to others to fill in this map.

Rebecca WingfieldHarvard University

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