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Wilderness of Ruin Both Fascinating and Frustrating
<p>The Wilderness of Ruin: A Tale of Madness, Fire, and the Hunt for America’s Youngest Serial Killer. By Roseanne Montillo. New York: William Morrow, 2015. Gilded Age Boston and Chicago shared a lot in common. Both had World’s Fairs: Boston in 1883, and Chicago ten years later. Each suffered devastating fires, with Chicago being nearly … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/03/28/wilderness-of-ruin-both-fascinating-and-frustrating/" class="more-link">Continue readin
Mar 28, 20174 min read
Travel Grants from PCAACA
<p>ANNOUNCING THE POPULAR CULTURE SUMMER RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY MAY 21-25, 2017 Reminder: Travel Grant applications are due 24 March 2017. “Exploring the Archives: Fifty Years of Popular Culture” For the second time, the PCA/ACA and Bowling Green State University are jointly sponsoring a summer research institute on the Bowling … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/03/03/travel-grants-from-pcaaca/" class="more-link">Continue r
Mar 3, 20171 min read
CFP: Film and History
<p>Call for Papers for Film and History area for the October 27-28, 2017 Northeast Regional Popular / American Cultural Association (NEPCA) annual conference. Dr. Carol Mitchell; Area Chair of Film and History Email: cmitchel@springfieldcollege.edu Call for Papers: Film and History. The annual fall conference of NEPCA will be held at University of Massachusetts … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/02/20/cfp-film-and-history/" class="more-link">Continue reading <
Feb 20, 20172 min read
PCA/ACA Seeking Nominations
<p>Call for Nominations for the PCA/ACA 2017 Elections To the PCA/ACA community, The nominations committee, headed by Sue Matheson, has issued this call for nominations for the 2017 PCA Elections. Nominations are solicited for six elected positions in the PCA/ACA Position #1: Seeking nominations for a Vice President/President Elect. Candidates must demonstrate a … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/02/12/pcaaca-seeking-nominations/" class="more-link">Continue readin
Feb 12, 20172 min read
CFP Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Area (6/1/17; NEPCA Amherst, MA 10/27-28/17)
<p>SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS TENTH-ANNIVERSARY SESSIONS OF THE FANTASTIC (FANTASY, HORROR, AND SCIENCE FICTION) AREA Visit us at NEPCA Fantastic: <a href="https://nepcafantastic.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">https://nepcafantastic.blogspot.com</a> 2017 Conference of The Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (NEPCA) University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 27 and 28 October 2017 Proposals by 1 June 2017 Michael A. Torregrossa Fantastic (Fantasy,
Feb 8, 20172 min read
Review of New Work on Marx Brothers
<p>FOUR OF THE THREE MUSKETEERS (2016). By Robert S. Bader. Northeastern University Press, 544 pages. 2016. I am a Marxist—a devotee of Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo. I’ve seen all the films numerous times, read every book I can get my hands on, seek out new documentaries, and scour DVDs and YouTube for lost clips. … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/02/07/review-of-new-work-on-marx-brothers/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Review
Feb 7, 20173 min read
Pop Culture Institute at Bowling Green
<p>“Exploring the Archives: Fifty Years of Popular Culture” For the second time, the PCA/ACA and Bowling Green State University are jointly sponsoring a summer research institute on the Bowling Green, Ohio campus from Sunday, May 21 through Thursday, May 25, 2017. This institute will introduce a small group of scholars from across the country and … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/01/25/pop-culture-institute-at-bowling-green/" class="more-link">Continue rea
Jan 25, 20171 min read
Kent State Reconsidered
<p>Kent State: Death and Dissent in the Long Sixties. By Thomas M. Grace. University of Massachusetts Press, 2016. 273 pages + appendices, notes, index. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming/We’re finally on our own/This summer I hear the drumming/Four dead in Ohio. Those lines from Neil Young’s “Ohio” were inescapable by the summer of 1970, with … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/01/23/kent-state-reconsidered/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-te
Jan 23, 20174 min read
History of White Trash
<p>This review appeared in the Cultured Classrooms section of NEPCA’s fall newsletter. It seems appropriate to repost it as a review on Inauguration Day. Putting Class Back Into the Classroom I’m guilty of being one of those scholars who too glibly use the words “important book” in reviews and academic discussions. We often mean, simply, … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/01/20/history-of-white-trash/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="
Jan 20, 20175 min read
Undergrad Conference at Providence College
<p>Type: Call for Papers Date: February 1, 2017 Location: Rhode Island, United States Subject Fields: Health and Health Care, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Public Health, Sociology, Anthropology The 8th Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health & Society at Providence College will be held on Saturday, April 22, 2017. This is a great opportunity for … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/01/20/undergrad-conference-at-providence-college/" class="more-link
Jan 20, 20171 min read
Frankenstein and the American Dream
<p>CALL FOR PAPERS: FRANKENSTEIN AND THE AMERICAN DREAM? SESSION PROPOSED FOR 2017 ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN LITERATURE ASSOCIATION TO BE HELD AT THE WESTIN COPLEY PLACE, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS FROM 25 TO 28 MAY 2017 PAPER PROPOSALS DUE BY 28 JANUARY 2017 Frankenstein and the American Dream? Frankenstein and the Fantastic, an outreach effort of … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/01/14/frankenstein-and-the-american-dream/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span
Jan 14, 20172 min read
The Medieval in American Popular Culture
<p>The Medieval in American Popular Culture: Reflections in Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of Prince Valiant The comic strip Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur was launched in 1937 and continues to be produced to this day. Begun by illustrator Hal Foster and now under the direction of writer Mark Schultz and artist Thomas Yeates, Prince Valiant celebrates … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2017/01/06/the-medieval-in-american-popular-culture/" class="more-link
Jan 6, 20172 min read
Salome Ensemble a Slice of 20th Century History
<p>The Salome Ensemble: Rose Pastor Stokes, Anzia Yezierska, Sonya Levien, and Jetta Goudal. By Alan Robert Ginsberg. Syracuse University Press, 2016. If you don’t know who Rose Pastor Stokes (1879-1933), Anzia Yezierska (1880-1970), Sonya Levien (1888-1960), and Jetta Goudal (1881-1985) are, you should. Their lives are a study in connections, as friends, role-models, and … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2016/12/07/salome-ensemble-a-slice-of-20th-century-history/"
Dec 7, 20165 min read
Nothing High Falutin’ (but maybe stuff you can use!)
<p>STRANGE HISTORY (2016). By Jay Newman, editor. Portable Press, 2016. Have you ever seen Chuck Shepherd’s quirky “New of the Weird” columns? If so, you can imagine the content of Strange History. In editor Jay Newman’s words, it’s a “smorgasbord of oddities: kings, queens, commoners, criminals, gladiators, aliens, ghosts, monsters….” You can add to … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2016/12/05/nothing-high-falutin-but-maybe-stuf
Dec 5, 20163 min read
Book Review: new Look at Sue Mengers
<p>Can I Go Now? The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood’s First Superagent. Brian Kellow. New York: Viking, 2015. Brain Kellow has written the definitive biography of Sue Mengers, and it’s a fun book. Mengers was an influential Hollywood talent agent who represented some of the industry’s most glamorous stars at the height of their careers, … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2016/12/05/book-review-new-look-at-sue-mengers/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="s
Dec 5, 20162 min read
Book Review: Lessons Learned from Popular Culture
<p>Lessons Learned from Popular Culture. By Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan. SUNY Press, 2016. 274 pp. It’s been 46 years since Ray Browne (1922-2009) founded the Popular Culture Association, and 49 since he launched the Journal of Popular Culture. Yet, as uncomfortable as it might make a lot of scholars, pop culture remains suspect in … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2016/11/28/book-review-lessons-learned-from-popular-culture/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span
Nov 28, 20163 min read
Book Review: Why Your Band Sucks
<p>Your Band Sucks: What I Saw at Indie Rock’s Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear). Jon Fine. New York: Viking, 2015. Jon Fine’s memoir Your Band Sucks: What I Saw at Indie Rock’s Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear) chronicles the author’s career as a second tier rock star and reflects on … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2016/11/21/book-review-why-your-band-sucks/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Book Review: Why Yo
Nov 21, 20162 min read
Teaching Ideas: Ways of Thinking about and Seeing the Grateful Dead
<p>Ways of Seeing the Grateful Dead: It often surprises music fans to learn that rightwing author/commentator/shock jock Ann Coulter claims to be a Deadhead who has seen over 60 shows. You can read all about it at: <a href="http://www.jambands.com/features/2006/06/23/deadheads-are-what-liberals-claim-to-be-but-aren-t-an-interview-with-ann-coulter" rel="nofollow">http://www.jambands.com/features/2006/06/23/deadheads-are-what-liberals-claim-to-be-but-aren-t-an-interview-
Nov 16, 20163 min read
Book Review: New Look at Robert Frost Poem
<p>The Road Not Taken: Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong. By David Orr. Penguin Press (2015). 184 pp. In his 1998 biography of Andrew Wyeth, Richard Meryman tells of a time when Robert Frost contacted the eminent painter. Frost wanted Wyeth to paint his portrait, because Frost thought … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2016/11/14/book-review-new-look-at-robert-frost-poem/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reade
Nov 14, 20164 min read
Teaching about the History of White Trash
<p>Putting Class Back Into the Classroom I’m guilty of being one of those scholars who too glibly use the words “important book” in reviews and academic discussions. We often mean, simply, a work that advances some argument within our narrow specialty—not a book we could actually teach, or one that undergraduates would find provocative. Every … <a href="https://nepca.blog/2016/11/09/teaching-about-the-history-of-white-trash/" class="more-link">Continue reading <s
Nov 9, 20165 min read
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