Favorite Social History Books- a list
Cultural history fascinates me. A multidisciplinary look at largely unquestioned, unexamined cultural norms, critiques of everyday rituals, the ordinary things we take for granted. I happily read books from many disciplines that tread this territory: anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, American studies, women’s studies, journalism.
Reading National Geographic, by Catherine Lutz and Jane L. Collins, and Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag: These two are the kind of thing you’re more likely to find if you take anthropology or sociology courses in college. (That’s where I found them.) They are both elegant, fascinating examinations of language and cultural perceptions, and how language can shape and influence cultural perceptions at the deepest level. Using tightly woven language, each tackles larger questions hinged on simple things- how relatives talk about a cancer patient, or how a carefully constructed documentary full of ideologically managed images gets marketed and accepted as a true account.
Bobos In Paradise, by David Brooks: A whimsical and very insightful look at “bourgeois bohemians” that touches on what has since morphed into the fair trade and green movements. The social cachet and commodification of adventure and fair trade. Things like having “exotic” “native” art in your sprawling suburban home, or the notion of world music.
Something From the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950’s America, by Lisa Shapiro. Heard about this on Sassymonkey’s book blog, and I’m hooked, just a few pages in. It’s about the disconnect between marketing prepared foods to women, and the fact that they were still cooking homemade food, despite magazines of the time that swore the age of the housewife in the kitchen was completely over. It’s full of interesting, terrifying recipes conceived by convenience food companies, like canned tomato meringue and the truly frightening things that can be done to Jell-O.
Reading Pledged felt a little voyeuristic, or at least cinematic and strange, because my college wasn’t part of the Greek system. I found the exploration and analysis of sorority culture to be largely respectful.
Color: A Natural History of the Palette- Victoria Finlay. She goes through, color by color, and traces the history of the colors of the rainbow, what dyes and pigments were made from, and how they were distributed geographically.
Travels With Barley: A Journey Through Beer Culture in America- Ken Wells. I love this book. It’s a series of explorations of beer culture, from microbrews to dive bars to Anheuser-Busch.
Confederates in the Attic, by Tony Horowitz, should be on this list. I’ve never actually finished it, though. I know a fair number of Civil War re-enactors who feel tremendous disdain for Horowitz’s portrayal, and their vehemence put me off the book. I should definitely go back and read it now, though.
As I make this list, I’m trying to remember one I read at Vassar, an ethnography of particle physicists at a supercollider lab. Help! Anyone know the one?
