Outrageous

A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars

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• Publisher: Abrams Press
• Year: 2023
• Edition: 0
• eBook ISBN:
  9781647006372
• Topic: History
• Index: History

From the preeminent historian of modern comedy comes an expansive history of showbiz and the culture wars There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complained. But does this argument hold up to scrutiny? In Outrageous, celebrated cultural historian Kliph Nesteroffdemonstrates that Americans have been objecting to entertainment for nearly two hundred years, sometimes rationally, often irrationally. Likewise, powerful political interests have sought to circumvent the arts using censorship, legal harassment, and outright propaganda. From Mae West through Johnny Carson, Amos 'n' Andy through Beavis and Butt-Head, Outrageous chronicles the controversies of American show business and the ongoing attempts to change what we watch, read, and hear.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Note to the Reader
• Introduction
• 1 The 1800s: Protest. Censorship. Control.
• 2 Down with the Movies
• 3 Radio, Protest, and Scandal
• 4 Nazis, Racists, and World War Two
• 5 TV: Immoral and Filthy and Possibly Racist
• 6 The Civil Rights Movement and the John Birch Society
• 7 Rock ’n’ Roll and Juvenile Delinquency
• 8 We Shall Overcome (Blackface)
• 9 Dirty Movies and Drug Music
• 10 Women’s Lib and Gay Lib and the Frito Bandito
• 11 Extremists Versus Comedy
• 12 Paul Weyrich: Culture Warrior
• 13 Punk Rock, Frank Zappa, and the PMRC
• 14 Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay, and Their Haters
• 15 Shock Jocks, Talk Radio, and the Fairness Doctrine
• 16 Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Rap Music
• 17 To Have a Cow
• 18 Endless Culture Wars
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• Back Cover