What Was Hot!: A Rollercoaster Ride Through Six Decades of Pop Culture in America

Rating:
Summary: Flawed as a reference tool, but somewhat entertaining
Review: I purchased this book as a background reference, and was disappointed overall with its quality. Each year is divided into categories such as The Movies, The Players, Music, Literature, In the News, Sports, Television, and Fads & Fashion. The information provided for each section is sporadic and, in some cases, nonexistent. For instance, the movie Peyton Place is mentioned (1957) as is the television series (1964), but there is no mention of the book's publication in 1956. In fact there is only one book mentioned for that year and others, and no Literature entry at all for several years. (The '50s are particularly skimpy.) Apparently the only noteworthy happening during 1961 in the world of books was Hemingway's suicide. The subtitle claims "a roller coaster ride through six decades of pop culture in America," but it starts in the 1950s and ends with the year 2000. Isn't that five decades plus one year? Some entries are more review than revelation, and the psedonymous Biddle (it's not wonder a fake name was needed) calls Raiders of the Lost Ark "loud and crass," Braveheart a "depressing downer," yet oozes over louder, crasser, and far more depressing films. The author also claims the term "baby boomer" was coined as late as 1984. In addition to factual errors, omissions, and unwarranted commentary, the editing is slipshod, the text riddled with comma splices and huge paragraphs about the O.J. episode that slip from present to past tense about every other sentence. There are better books, It Was a Very Good Year: A Cultural History of the U.S. from 1776 to the Present by Vincent dePaul Lupiano and Ken Sayers for example, which is unfortunately out of print. It's far more thorough and even has an index. This book was entertaining at times, but that was derived mainly from imagining what sort of writer would use so smug and pompous a tone in such a haphazardly assembled book.