Poplorica: Popular History of Fads, Mavericks, Inventions...

Format: Trade paperback

Condition: vg-/good+ condition, minor shelf wear, due to storage some light edge browning, originally unread overstock copy, remainder marked

Size: 5.25"x8.0"

Pages: 284pp, 2005 edition

Veteran journalists Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger make the offbeat their beat, revealing the odd, surprising, and amusing origins of inexplicable cultural phenomena. From slam dunks to rock 'n' roll punks, permanent press to pantyhose, black velvet painting to point-click culture, high-tech diapers to low-brow entertainment -- they cover sports, business, music, media, film, fashion, and science, and explain a lot about why life today is so weird:

* If homeowners hate yardwork, why do most suburban homes have lawns?
* In the best-fed country on earth, how did thin become "in"?
* When did the "convenience" of convenience food become more important than the food?
* Was the sexual revolution really sparked by the disastrous honeymoon of a science geek?
* Why are today's multimillion-dollar design and marketing plans for cars based on the biggest failure in automotive history?
* How did the invention of air conditioning radically rebalance political power and affect the paths of presidents?

The untold, unexpected, sometimes unholy stories are here, providing instant inside knowledge and richly entertaining insights into how and why we live as we do.