Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America

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Description

Mad Men, using the historical backdrop of the many events that came to demarcate the 1960s, has presented a beautifully-styled rendering of this tumultuous decade, while teasing out a number of themes that resonate throughout the show and connect to the contemporary discourses that dominate todays political landscape. The chapters of this book analyze the most important dimensions explored on the show, including issues around gender, race, prejudice, the family, generational change, the social movements of the 1960s, our understanding of Americas place in the world, and the idea of work in the post-war period. Mad Men and Politics provides the reader with an understanding not only of the topics and issues that can be easily grasped while watching, but also contemplates our historical perspective of the 1960s as we consider it through the telescope of our current condition.

Reviews

The ten essays in Mad Men and Politics offer a number of ruminations on the various ways in which the series dramatized the seismic socio-cultural shifts of that decade ... [The book provides] structured, rigorous textual analysis of themes, characters and plot lines. * Times Literary Supplement *
[This book] is bound by an overriding interest in disentangling the series many thematic and narrative strands through sociopolitical analysis ... The introduction (as Chapter One) neatly sets out a stall carrying concerns of American identity, social and political life, race, gender and class, and the theme of appearance and reality. * Critical Studies in Television *
As savvy and incisive as Mad Men itself, Mad Men and Politics showcases excellent analyses of American political problemsincluding sexism, racism, inequality, consumption, and the meaning of America itselffrom the 1960s to the present. Goren and Beail reveal Mad Men as a fascinating window into the underbelly of American politics, even while it provides viewers with the pleasures of glamour and nostalgia. * Elisabeth Anker, Assistant Professor of American Politics and Political Science, George Washington University, USA *
Few television shows deserve the hardcore, serious, academic approach as much as Mad Men. Mad Men and Politics is a worthy entry. With its diverse essays and authors, there's something for everyone. Mad Men has "changed the conversation" about everything from fashion to sexism, and it's wonderful that Mad Men and Politics has entered that conversation. * Deborah Lipp, Co-owner, Basket of Kisses *
Mad Men and Politics is further proof, as if it was needed, that the new breed of television seriesand Matthew Weiner's creation in particulardoes what great literature has always done: incite, delight, and provoke fascinating lines of inquiry in all directions. * Brett Martin, author of Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of A Creative Revolution, From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad *
These essays provide a series of smart takes on one of the most influential series in television history. The book shows how Mad Men's exploration of Americas past provides an insight into what we are thinking today; and it deals boldly with the big issues of power, race, sex and ideas of masculinity and femininity. Reading it extends one's appreciate of the series. * Evangeline Morphos, Associate Professor, Columbia University School of the Arts Film, USA *

Author Bio

Lilly J. Goren is Professor of Political Science and Global Studies at Carroll University, USA. She is the author of Youve Come a Long Way, Baby: Gender, Politics and Popular Culture (2010) and co-author of Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture and Presidential Politics (winner of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Susan Koppelman Award 2014). Linda Beail is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Margaret Stevenson Center for Womens Studies at Point Loma Nazarene University, USA. She is co-author of Framing Sarah Palin: Pit Bulls, Puritans, and Politics (2012).