Vance Packard's bestselling books--
Hidden Persuaders (1957),
Status Seekers (1959), and
Waste Makers
(1960)--taught the generation that came of age in the late 1950s
and early 1960s about the dangers posed by advertising, social
climbing, and planned obsolescence. Like Betty Friedan and William
H. Whyte, Jr., Packard (1914- ) was a journalist who played an
important role in the nation's transition from the largely
complacent 1950s to the tumultuous 1960s. He was also one of the
first social critics to benefit from and foster the newly energized
social and political consciousness of this period. Based in part on
interviews with Packard, Daniel Horowitz's intellectual biography
focuses on the period during which Packard left magazine writing to
author his most famous works of social criticism. Horowitz traces
the influence of Packard's education and early years in rural
Pennsylvania, providing a deeper understanding of his thought and
his later books. Packard's life, Horowitz contends, illuminates the
dilemmas of a freelance social critic without inherited wealth or
academic affiliation. His career also expands our understanding of
how one era shaped the next, underscoring how the adversarial 1960s
drew on the mass culture of the previous decade.
Originally published in 1994.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the
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distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These
editions are published unaltered from the original, and are
presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both
historical and cultural value.