Analyzing Mad Men: Critical Essays on the Television Series - Paperback

by Scott F. Stoddart (Editor)

AMC's episodic drama Mad Men has become a cultural phenomenon, detailing America's preoccupation with commercialism and image in the Camelot of 1960s Kennedy-era America, while self-consciously exploring current preoccupations. The 12 critical essays in this collection offer a broad, interdisciplinary approach to this highly relevant television show, examining Mad Men as a cultural barometer for contemporary concerns with consumerism, capitalism and sexism. Topics include New Historicist parallels between the 1960s and the present day, psychoanalytical approaches to the show, the self as commodity, and the "Age of Camelot" as an "Age of Anxiety," among others. A detailed cast list and episode guide are included.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Author Biography

Scott F. Stoddart is the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Saint Peter's University in Jersey City, New Jersey. He has written about culture, literature and the arts on such topics as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen Sondheim and the Coen brothers. He is a host of the Sundance television series Love/Lust and a contributor to the PBS series American Icons.