A Nation of Outsiders

How the White Middle Class Fell in Love with Rebellion in Postwar America

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book A Nation of Outsiders by Grace Elizabeth Hale, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Grace Elizabeth Hale ISBN: 9780199792924
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: February 4, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Grace Elizabeth Hale
ISBN: 9780199792924
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: February 4, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

At mid-century, Americans increasingly fell in love with characters like Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye and Marlon Brando's Johnny in The Wild One, musicians like Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, and activists like the members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. These emotions enabled some middle-class whites to cut free of their own histories and identify with those who, while lacking economic, political, or social privilege, seemed to possess instead vital cultural resources and a depth of feeling not found in "grey flannel" America. In this wide-ranging and vividly written cultural history, Grace Elizabeth Hale sheds light on why so many white middle-class Americans chose to re-imagine themselves as outsiders in the second half of the twentieth century and explains how this unprecedented shift changed American culture and society. Love for outsiders launched the politics of both the New Left and the New Right. From the mid-sixties through the eighties, it flourished in the hippie counterculture, the back-to-the-land movement, the Jesus People movement, and among fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christians working to position their traditional isolation and separatism as strengths. It changed the very meaning of "authenticity" and "community." Ultimately, the romance of the outsider provided a creative resolution to an intractable mid-century cultural and political conflict-the struggle between the desire for self-determination and autonomy and the desire for a morally meaningful and authentic life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

At mid-century, Americans increasingly fell in love with characters like Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye and Marlon Brando's Johnny in The Wild One, musicians like Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, and activists like the members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. These emotions enabled some middle-class whites to cut free of their own histories and identify with those who, while lacking economic, political, or social privilege, seemed to possess instead vital cultural resources and a depth of feeling not found in "grey flannel" America. In this wide-ranging and vividly written cultural history, Grace Elizabeth Hale sheds light on why so many white middle-class Americans chose to re-imagine themselves as outsiders in the second half of the twentieth century and explains how this unprecedented shift changed American culture and society. Love for outsiders launched the politics of both the New Left and the New Right. From the mid-sixties through the eighties, it flourished in the hippie counterculture, the back-to-the-land movement, the Jesus People movement, and among fundamentalist and Pentecostal Christians working to position their traditional isolation and separatism as strengths. It changed the very meaning of "authenticity" and "community." Ultimately, the romance of the outsider provided a creative resolution to an intractable mid-century cultural and political conflict-the struggle between the desire for self-determination and autonomy and the desire for a morally meaningful and authentic life.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Listening on the Edge by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Inside the Human Genome by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Becoming Austrians by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Launching the War on Poverty by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Mayo Clinic Internal Medicine Board Review Questions and Answers by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Shadow Nations by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Wartime : Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Miguel de Cervantes: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Our Time Has Come by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Interpreting Epidemiologic Evidence by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Adolescents with PTSD Emotional Processing of Traumatic Experiences, Therapist Guide by Grace Elizabeth Hale
Cover of the book Henry Ford by Grace Elizabeth Hale
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy