American Fun: Four Centuries of Joyous Revolt

(Paperback)

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Here is an animated and wonderfully engaging work of cultural history that lays out America's unruly past by describing the ways in which cutting loose has always been, and still is, an essential part of what it means to be an American. From the time the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Americans have defied their stodgy rules and hierarchies with pranks, dances, stunts, and wild parties, shaping the national character in profound and lasting ways. In the nation's earlier eras, revelers flouted Puritans, Patriots pranked Redcoats, slaves lampooned masters, and forty-niners bucked the saddles of an increasingly uptight middle class. In the twentieth century, fun-loving Americans celebrated this heritage and pushed it even further- flappers "barney-mugged" in "petting pantries," Yippies showered the New York Stock Exchange with dollar bills, and B-boys invented hip-hop in a war zone in the Bronx. This is the surprising and revelatory history that John Beckman recounts in American Fun. Tying together captivating stories of Americans' "pursuit of happiness"-and distinguishing between real, risky fun and the bland amusements that paved the way for Hollywood, Disneyland, and Xbox-Beckman redefines American culture with a delightful and provocative thesis. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)

Reviews

The historian who revisits well-trodden ground must offer either something new or at least a new way of looking at it. In American Fun John Beckman does bothstringing unfamiliar episodes of U.S. history together in a new and ingenious way. The Washington Post

The key to this spirited and challenging book is in its subtitle: joyous revolt. . . . American Fun provides an original perspective on how ordinary folk left a mark on the historical landscape in a way that has not received full recognition. Howard P. Chudacoff, The New York Times Book Review

This freewheeling history . . . richly demonstrate[s] how Americans have often blended defiance and wit with the pursuit of liberty. The New Yorker

This is a history of a raffish national tradition that flaunted pleasure in the face of authority. That sort of fun has made America what it is, and it is a pleasure to read a book that explains historically this essential nature of part of the American character. . . .Fun . . . and informative to boot. Columbus Dispatch

[I]n his adventuresome new history,American Fun: Four Centuries of Joyous Revolt. . . . Beckman, an English professor at the United States Naval Academy, makes a powerful case that fun may begoodbut should always be at least slightly less thanclean. The Daily Beast

American Fun is ecstatic, erudite, anarchical and utterly irresistible. Its the great cultural history of busting out and cutting loose that weve always wanted and always needed. This is a party you dont want to miss. Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians

John Beckmans American Fun is a raucous, frequently dazzling tour through the countrys wild and crazy side, the joyous out-of-control culture that, as he writes, flouts couth. In an age of bleak spectacle, Beckman reminds us in living color that folk fun and coarse civility are deep in the American grain. At once learned, thrilling, splendidly written and wicked smart, this is the best book I've read about popular culture in agesor ever. Todd Gitlin, author, The Sixties:Years of Hope, Days of Rage

A raucous, anarchic shadow history of celebrations, pranks, and joyous rebellion, American Fun chronicles the American penchant for high energy, authority-flouting acts of fun. . . . In the end, with modern permutations of American fun, American Fun: Four Centuries of Joyous Revolt offers a history that is about fun and is fun to read. It illuminates the very American tradition of stickin it to the man, dancin in the street, and havin a blast. New York Journal of Books

John Beckmans American Fun offers an alternative history of our culture, zeroing in on the many ways in which our countrys fun making was spurred on by subcultures formed in opposition to that Waspy standard. Bookforum

A lively, entertaining history of American fun. . . . With a novelists care for detail and storytelling, Beckman offers a remarkably expansive . . . cultural history. Kirkus Reviews

Folksinger and Yippie organizer Phil Ochs once proclaimed, A demonstration should turn you on, not turn you off. Theres even a band named Fun. But who could ever have predicted that there would be this unique, comprehensively researched, scholarly approach to 400 years of fun in America, a historical tradition of ridicule that has served as a threat to the status quofrom King Charley to Dick Gregory, from Thomas Morton to Ken Kesey, from Mark Twain to Abbie Hoffmanin a myriad of forms that provide a strong sense of continuity. Like pasta fazool, which features a bean in every macaroni, a satirical ploy is embedded with a level of irreverent truth. Laughter, said Malcolm Muggeridge, the editor of Punch, is the most effective of all subversive conspiracies, and it operates on our side. And now, with the aid of technology, that process can go viral, fast and furious. Joyous revolt, after all, is not an oxymoron. Paul Krassner, author of Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counterculture

American Fun reads like a graphic novel asJohn Beckmanconnects the dots between Thomas Morton, the flappers, Abbie Hoffman and punk rock,celebrating fun as a great American value. Andy Shernoff, founding member of The Dictators

Beckman captures the rambunctiousness, subversiveness, and inventiveness of the American spirit, as well as its ugliness, violence, and bigotry. Publishers Weekly

This rollicking and patriotic paean to American rough play deserves a serious look. Booklist

Beckman challenges our understanding of American Puritanism by showing that weve been an essentially prankish, fun-loving nation. Colonists reveled wildly, Patriots mocked Redcoats, slaves lampooned masters, the Twenties roared, Hollywood entertained, Yippies invaded the stock market, and the Internet isnt entirely sober-minded either. Have fun reading. Library Journal

American Funis that rare and lovely thing: a serious and original work of history which entertains from the opening pages to the conclusion. John Beckman captures a vital, yet neglected, feature of American lifethe untrammeled pursuit of happinessand will have you grinning as you learn. Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation

Author Bio

Beckman is a professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Granta, Book, McSweeney's, and Arizona Quarterly, among other publications. His novel The Winter Zoo was named a New York Times Notable Book. Beckman lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with his wife, the critic Marcela Valdes, and their baby daughter.