popular culture — Bunk History

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Choose your own adventure book covers with arrows pointing in opposite directions.

“Oh My God, It’s Milton Friedman for Kids”

How "Choose Your Own Adventure" books indoctrinated ‘80s children with the idea that success is simply the result of individual “good choices.”

by Eli Cook, Rebecca Onion via Slate on February 27, 2020

Why Artist Hank Willis Thomas Smashed Up 'The Dukes of Hazzard's' General Lee

Thomas crunches history and Hollywood tropes in his first solo show in L.A.

by Carolina A. Miranda via Los Angeles Times on January 29, 2020

‘Impeachment Polka’: How a Composer in 1868 Sought to Capitalize on America’s Political Obsession

A pianist performs a piece of music forgotten for 150 years.

by Philip Bump via Washington Post on January 16, 2020

The Decade Comic Book Nerds Became Our Cultural Overlords

Why do they have to be such sore winners?

by Alex Pappademas via Medium on December 10, 2019

‘Baby, It's Cold Outside' Was Controversial From the Beginning

Here’s what to know about consent in the 1940s, when the song was written.

by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on December 5, 2019

Fandom: A Star Wars Story

This is about much more than Star Wars—it is about media bias and "information disorder" in the twenty-first century.

by William Proctor via Contingent on December 4, 2019

Mikhail Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut Thanksgiving Miracle

In 1997, the former Soviet leader needed money, and Pizza Hut needed a spokesman. Greatness ensued.

by Paul Musgrave via Foreign Policy on November 28, 2019

The Hipster

It happens every year.

by Lauren Michele Jackson via Public Books on November 12, 2019

Pornotopia

In the mid-20th century, Playboy wasn't just an erotic magazine. It was an architectural movement as well.

by Paul B. Preciado via Public Books on October 11, 2019

The Commercial Rise of Country Music During the Great Depression

The Depression was the gravitational pull that created country stars and their nationwide universe of listeners.

by Christopher C. Gorham via We're History on October 7, 2019

Drawing of a man and his donkey from the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, circa 1800s.

Americans Have Always Celebrated Hacks and Swindlers

In 19th-century New England, rule-breaking Yankees were a source of national pride.

by Hugh McIntosh via Zócalo Public Square on September 16, 2019

Mass Barbecue is the Invasive Species of Our Culinary Times

There's room for the haute and folk traditions but the market-driven style taking over is the most problematic.

by John Shelton Reed via The American Conservative on September 3, 2019

Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke) and Dorothy (Judy Garland) in "The Wizard of Oz."

"The Wizard of Oz" Invented the "Good Witch"

Eighty years ago, MGM’s sparkly pink rendering of Glinda expanded American pop culture’s definition of free-flying women.

by Pam Grossman via The Atlantic on August 25, 2019

Cathy Gillies, Kitty Lutesinger, Sandy Good, and Brenda McCann, of the Manson Family, kneel on the sidewalk outside the Los Angeles Hall of Justice on March 29, 1971.

The Manson Family Murders, and Their Complicated Legacy, Explained

The Manson Family murders weren’t a countercultural revolt. They were about power, entitlement, and Hollywood.

by Aja Romano via Vox on August 7, 2019

Pulp Fiction Helped Define American Lesbianism

In the 50s and 60s, steamy novels about lesbian relationships, marketed to men, gave closeted women needed representation.

by Erin Blakemore, Yvonne Keller via JSTOR Daily on August 1, 2019

Was the Automotive Era a Terrible Mistake?

For a century, we’ve loved our cars. They haven’t loved us back.

by Nathan Heller via The New Yorker on July 22, 2019

Big League Chew’s inaugural package in 1980.

How a Minor League Pitcher Turned a Dugout Conversation Into the Legend That Is Big League Chew

The inventor, who baked the first batch of the iconic gum 40 years ago, talks about the genesis of an American rite of passage.

by Jake Malooley, Rob Nelson via Esquire on July 10, 2019

The Eugenicists on Abortion

Contrary to what Clarence Thomas recently claimed, eugenicists never favored abortion as a means of population control.

by Karen Weingarten via Nursing Clio on July 2, 2019

Dr. Strange Love, from the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name

Watching the End of the World

The Doomsday Clock is set to two minutes to midnight. So why don't we make movies about nuclear war anymore?

by Stephen Phelan via Boston Review on June 11, 2019

Image of Sergeant Pete Thibodeau during the War on Terror.

The Sum of All Beards

How did facial hair win American men’s hearts and minds? Thank the War on Terror.

by Adam Weinstein, Adrian Bonenberger via The New Republic on June 4, 2019

How Spaghetti Westerns Shaped Modern Cinema

In the realism, the set pieces, the operatic music, Sergio Leone was pointing the way towards modern filmmaking.

by Quentin Tarantino via The Spectator on June 1, 2019

Solange and Beyonce Knowles at the MTV Video Music Awards, 2007.

‘Give It Up For My Sister’: Beyonce, Solange, and The History of Sibling Acts in Pop

Family dynasties are neither new nor newly influential in pop.

by Danielle Amir Jackson via Longreads on May 20, 2019

Original Catfluencer: How a Victorian Artist’s Feline Fixation Gave Us the Internet Cat

A story of how Louis Wain single handedly made cats adored by Victorian society through to modern day.

by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on May 7, 2019

Why Disco Made Pop Songs Longer

Disco, DJs, and the impact of the 12-inch single.

by Estelle Caswell via Vox Earworm on April 25, 2019

How a Small-Town Navy Vet Created Rock’s Most Iconic Surrealist Posters

The story of one of rock's most prolific poster artists.

by Ben Marks via Collectors Weekly on March 28, 2019

Reading in an Age of Catastrophe

A review of George Hutchinson's "Facing the Abyss: American Literature and Culture in the 1940s."

by Edward Mendelson via New York Review of Books on February 25, 2019

Yes, Politicians Wore Blackface. It Used to be All-American ‘Fun.’

Minstrel shows were once so mainstream that even presidents watched them.

by Rhae Lynn Barnes via Washington Post on February 8, 2019

Poster for minstrelsy cake walk

The Faces of Racism

A history of blackface and minstrelsy in American culture.

via BackStory on February 8, 2019

Pinkerton detectives.

Who Were the Pinkertons?

A video game portrays the Wild West’s famous detective agency as violent enforcers of order. But the modern-day company disagrees.

by Rebecca Onion via Slate on February 1, 2019

How Smooth Jazz Took Over the '90s

And why you should give smooth jazz a chance.

by Estelle Caswell via Vox on December 3, 2018

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