Retro Pop Culture A to Z: From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films is a window to the past-a time of 8-bit video games, Silver Age super-heroes, Saturday morning cartoons, rock 'n' roll music, and scary movies at the drive-in. The book includes 60 fun-filled, feature-length chapters on such icons of popular culture as Alien, the Batman TV show, the Beatles, Dynamite Magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland, The Flash, Forbidden Planet, Golden Age arcade games, He-Man, the Intellivision, Jaws, MAD magazine, the Nintendo NES, Ray Bradbury, The Wizard of Oz, the X-Men, and many others. If you've ever stayed up all night trying to beat Super Mario Bros., dressed up as a member of KISS on Halloween, watched Thundarr the Barbarian while eating a bowl of sugary cereal, set a VCR to record your favorite show, wiled away an entire day reading a stack of old comics, or listened to Elvis or the Rolling Stones on a turntable or 8-track tape player, Retro Pop Culture A to Z is for you. If you haven't done any of these things, no problem-feel free to dive right in and discover why your parents (or grandparents) are always talking about "the good old days." Includes: *60 essays/articles on nostalgic pop culture favorites *More than 200 photos *More than 115,000 words *Quotes from the experts *Production histories *Collectibles pricing *Author anecdotes *And much more!

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011 We live in a pop age gone loco for retro and crazy for commemoration. Band re-formations and reunion tours, expanded reissues of classic albums and outtake-crammed box sets, remakes and sequels, tribute albums and mash-ups . . . But what happens when we run out of past? Are we heading toward a sort of culturalecological catastrophe where the archival stream of pop history has been exhausted? Simon Reynolds, one of the finest music writers of his generation, argues that we have indeed reached a tipping point, and that although earlier eras had their own obsessions with antiquity—the Renaissance with its admiration for Roman and Greek classicism, the Gothic movement's invocations of medievalism—never has there been a society so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its own immediate past. Retromania is the first book to examine the retro industry and ask the question: Is this retromania a death knell for any originality and distinctiveness of our own?

Scholars of state socialism have frequently invoked “nostalgia” to identify an uncritical longing for the utopian ambitions and lived experience of the former Eastern Bloc. However, this concept seems insufficient to describe memory cultures in the Czech Republic and other contexts in which a “retro” fascination with the past has proven compatible with a steadfast critique of the state socialist era. This innovative study locates a distinctively retro aesthetic in Czech literature, film, and other cultural forms, enriching our understanding of not only the nation’s memory culture, but also the ways in which popular culture can structure collective memory.

An alphabetical encyclopedia of 1970s and 1980s pop culture is at once a send up and celebration of the icons of the times, offering nearly one thousand entries that range from eight-tracks and Farrah Fawcett to Valley Girls and break dancing. Original.

Salute everyone's favorite Queen in this alphabetic journey through a larger-than-life career in artistry. Celebrate Freddie Mercury in the next iteration of Steve Wide's Icons A to Z series. Follow Freddie, born Farrokh Bulsara, as he harnesses hyperdontia to develop an unparalleled vocal range. See Smile, Freddie's first complete band, graduate to become the global phenomenon Queen. Dissect lyrical oddities like "radio gaga" and "Scaramouch," and revel in the glorious chevron mustache Freddie grew in 1980... Ripples of Freddie's legacy are still felt in music recorded today. He was a juggernaut of technical and conceptual innovation and left the world far before his time. This illustrated book pays homage to the impact Freddie left on pop culture and in all our hearts.

Scholars of state socialism have frequently invoked “nostalgia” to identify an uncritical longing for the utopian ambitions and lived experience of the former Eastern Bloc. However, this concept seems insufficient to describe memory cultures in the Czech Republic and other contexts in which a “retro” fascination with the past has proven compatible with a steadfast critique of the state socialist era. This innovative study locates a distinctively retro aesthetic in Czech literature, film, and other cultural forms, enriching our understanding of not only the nation’s memory culture, but also the ways in which popular culture can structure collective memory.

A celebration of the unparalleled impact of cultural icon David Bowie. This decidedly not-for-kids illustrated A–Z, celebrates the many faces and facets of David Bowie. From Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust, Bowie A–Z is densely packed with everything you need to know about the rock legend – from the greatest hits of trivia to the most obscure B-side facts. Bowie’s extraordinary cultural significance was highlighted by the worldwide outpouring of love following his tragic passing in January 2016. A huge influential source to many in the fields of music, art and fashion, David Bowie towers as a cultural figure of the twentieth (and into the twenty-first) century. Celebrate his enormous life in this fun, pop-cultural book.