Cultural History of Television

From the opening credits that feature a silhouette falling among skyscrapers, Mad Men transcended its role as a series about the Madison Avenue advertising industry to become a modern classic. For seven seasons, Mad Men asked viewers to contemplate the 1960s anew, reassessing the tumultuous era's stance on women's rights, race, war, politics, and family relationships that comprise the American Dream. Set in the heart of the twentieth century, the show brought to light how deeply we still are connected to that age. The result is a show that continually asks us to rethink our own families, lives, work, and ethical beliefs as we strive for a better world. In Mad Men: A Cultural History, M. Keith Booker and Bob Batchelor offer an engaging analysis of the series, providing in-depth examinations of its many themes and nostalgic portrayals of the years from Camelot to Vietnam and beyond. Highly regarded cultural scholars and critics, Booker and Batchelor examine the show in its entirety, presenting readers with a M. Keith Booker is professor of English and director of the Program in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Arkansas. He has written or edited more than 40 books on literature and popular culture. His books include Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animated Series from The Flintstones to Family Guy (2006) and Historical Dictionary of American Cinema (2011). Bob Batchelor is a cultural historian who has written or edited more than 25 books on popular culture, modern American literature, and mass communications. Among his books are John Updike: A Critical Biography (2013) and Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).