Aaron Barlow

Analyzing complex social and political issues through their manifestations in popular culture, this book provides readers a strong foundational knowledge of the 1960s as a decade.1969 went out in a way that could never have been imagined in 1960. While the president at the end of the decade had been vice president at the start, the intervening years permanently changed American culture. Pop Goes the Decade: The Sixties explores the cultural and social framework of the 1960s, addressing film, television, sports, technology, media/advertising, fashion, art, and more. Entries are presented in encyclopedic fashion, organized into such categories as controversies in pop culture, game changers, technology, and the decade's legacy. A timeline highlights significant cultural moments, while an introduction and a conclusion place those moments within the contexts of preceding and subsequent decades.Attention to the decade's most prominent influencers allows readers to understand the movements with which these figures are associated, and discussion of controversies and social change enables readers to gain a stronger understanding of evolving American social values.

Observations on American higher education that first appeared as blog posts, these were sparked by the progress of the author's own academic career from adjunct to full professor, a progression that also included six years as the Faculty Editor of "Academe," the magazine of the American Association of University Professors.

Through a diversity of primary source resources that include works by politicians and literary figures, book reviews, and interviews, this book enables student readers to better understand literature of the Great Depression in context through original documents.Oklahoma drought refugees seeking livelihood in California, rural white Mississippians, and African American migrants making new lives in Chicago all represented the dramatic transitions across the spectrum of American life during the Great Depression. These vastly different groups of Americans still shared common experiences of desperation and poverty during the 1930s. This book focuses on literary works by three Depression-era authors—William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Richard Wright—and supplies dozens of primary source documents that serve to illuminate the harsh realities of life in the 1930s and enable students to better appreciate key pieces in American literature from the Great Depression era.The Depression Era: A Historical Exploration of Literature gives readers historical context for multiple works of American literature about the Great Depression through a wide range of features, including chronologies, essays explaining key events, and primary document excerpts as well as support materials that include activities, lesson plans, discussion questions, topics for further research, and suggested readings. The book's coverage includes William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying (1930), John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), and Richard Wright's Native Son (1940).

American individualism: It is the reason for American success, but it also tears the nation apart.Why do Americans have so much trouble seeing eye to eye today? Is this new? Was there ever an American consensus? The Cult of Individualism: A History of an Enduring American Myth explores the rarely discussed cultural differences leading to today's seemingly intractable political divides. After an examination of the various meanings of individualism in America, author Aaron Barlow describes the progression and evolution of the concept from the 18th century on, illuminating the wide division in Caucasian American culture that developed between the culture based on the ideals of the English Enlightenment and that of the Scots-Irish "Borderers." The "Borderer" legacy, generally explored only by students of Appalachian culture, remains as pervasive and significant in contemporary American culture and politics as it is, unfortunately, overlooked. It is from the "Borderers" that the Tea Party sprang, along with many of the attitudes of the contemporary American right, making it imperative that this culture be thoroughly explored.

This book looks at questions and answers pertaining to the organization, usage, and ownership of information in the Internet age—and the impact of shifting attitudes towards information ownership on creative endeavors.In the competing traditions of Marshall McLuhan and Langdon Winner, authors Aaron Barlow and Robert Leston take readers on a revealing tour of the Internet after the explosion of the blogosphere and social media. In the world Beyond the Blogosphere, information has surpassed its limits, the distinction between public and private selves has collapsed, information is more untrustworthy than it ever was before, and technology has exhibited a growth and a desire that may soon exceed human control. As Langdon Winner pointed out long ago, "tools have politics." In an eye-opening journey that navigates the nuances of the cultural impact the internet is having on daily life, Barlow and Leston examine the culture of participation in order to urge others to reconsider the view that the Internet is merely a platform or a set of tools that humans use to suit their own desires. Provocative and engaging, Beyond the Blogosphere stands as a challenge on how to rethink the Internet so that it doesn't out-think us.

This book places Quentin Tarantino at the heart of Hollywood, showing a director who speaks film through film, who examines the world beyond the movies in a way few have previously attempted, and at which fewer still have succeeded.Quentin Tarantino: Life at the Extremes explores the uses of violence in the films Tarantino has written, directed, and produced. Arguing that extreme violence is central to Tarantino’s art, the book helps readers understand its purpose in his films—as metaphor, as movement, and as motivation. For Tarantino, the book explains, violence serves the purposes of film. In each of his movies, he explores the boundaries of taste and audience reaction, using violence and shock to bring questions of responsibility and expectation to the forefront of discussions on cinema.After introductory chapters placing Tarantino and his films within the broader context of American cinema, author Aaron Barlow focuses on Tarantino's six major directorial efforts. Each film is discussed from its genre starting point and the differing directions the films take are explored, as are the structural elements. In the end, readers will see how Tarantino deliberately pushes film in new directions through old techniques, styles, and even actors, crafting original art from what others have discarded.A chronology dates events in the life of Quentin Tarantino, as well as significant developments in the world of the moviesIncludes a detailed listing of Tarantino's film career, noting his participation in projects as an actor, writer, producer, and director, with details on each film, including cast and other participants

As blogs have evolved over the last few years, they have begun to take on distinct characteristics depending on audience and purpose. Though political blogs remain the most high profile (and most read), other types of blogs are gaining in strength and visibility. This book—a follow-up volume to Barlow's Rise of the Blogosphere, which examined the historical context for the modern blog—provides an examination of the many current aspects of the blogosphere, from the political to the professional to the personal, with many stops in between. Given that millions of blogs have been created over the past five years and yet more come online at an undiminished rate, and given that enthusiasm for both reading them and writing them has yet to wane, it is likely that the blog explosion will continue indefinitely.As blogs have evolved over the last few years, they have begun to take on distinct characteristics depending on audience and purpose. Though political blogs remain the most high profile (and most read), other types of blogs are gaining in strength and visibility. This book—a follow-up volume to Barlow's Rise of the Blogosphere, which examined the historical context for the modern blog—provides an examination of the many current aspects of the blogosphere, from the political to the professional to the personal, with many stops in between.Areas covered include the personal blog; the political blog; the use of blogs by various religious communities both for discussion within communities and for outreach; the growth of blogs dedicated to specific geographic communities, and their relations with older local media; blogs dedicated to technical subjects, particularly relating to computers; blogs and business; blogs sparked by video games, movies, music, and other forms of entertainment; and more. Given that millions of blogs have been created over the past five years and yet more come online at an undiminished rate, and given that enthusiasm for both reading them and writing for them has yet to wane, it is likely that the blog explosion will continue indefinitely.

In 1985 The WELL, a dial-up discussion board, began with the phrase: You own your own words. Though almost everything else about online discussion has changed in the two decades since, those words still describe its central premise, and this basic idea underlies both the power and the popularity of blogging today. Appropriately enough, it also describes American journalism as it existed a century and a half before The WELL was organized, before the concept of popular involvement in the press was nearly swept away on the rising tide of commercial and professional journalism. In this book, which is the first to provide readers with a cultural/historical account of the blog, as well as the first to analyze the different aspects of this growing phenomenon in terms of its past, Aaron Barlow provides lay readers with a thorough history and analysis of a truly democratic technology that is becoming more important to our lives every day.The current popularity of political blogs can be traced back to currents in American culture apparent even at the time of the Revolution. At that time there was no distinct commercial and professional press; the newspapers, then, provided a much more direct outlet for the voices of the people. In the nineteenth century, as the press became more commercial, it moved away from its direct involvement with politics, taking on an observer stance—removing itself from the people, as well as from politics. In the twentieth century, the press became increasingly professional, removing itself once more from the general populace. Americans, however, still longed to voice their opinions with the freedom that the press had once provided. Today, blogs are providing the means for doing just that.

A Narrative in Documents and Letters Relating to the WWI Experiences of Infantry Lieutenant Alfred Barlow

A series of essays on the writing and ideas of Philip K. Dick presented in eight chapters. This in-depth look at the philosophies behind Dick's SF and mainstream novels is based on Barlow's 1988 doctoral dissertation at the University of Iowa.

The introduction of the DVD marked the beginning of one of history's most successful technological innovations, and capped a 75-year development of home-viewing possibilities. Never before have film fans had access in their living rooms to something so remarkably close to the theatrical experience. In addition, because a DVD can hold much more than a single movie, it has allowed films to be marketed with a variety of extras, sparking both a new packaging industry and greater interest on the part of home viewers. This book provides an examination of the DVD's impact, both on home viewing and on film study. From film fan culture through filmmaker commentaries, from special editions to a look at where the format will go from here, author Aaron Barlow offers the first-ever exploration of this explosive new entertainment phenomenon. As the DVD becomes the popular vehicle of record for films, it is also becoming a unique and unprecedented way for the interested viewer to learn more about filmmaking than has ever been possible before. Because of its ability to reproduce the dimensions and quality of the celluloid image, film fans and scholars can have practically perfect reproductions of classic and contemporary films at their disposal. Not only will this book be of interest to the burgeoning population of DVD fans and collectors, but it will provide insights that should be of interest to both students of popular culture and of film.