{"product_id":"masscult-and-midcult-essays-against-the-american-grain-paperback","title":"Masscult and Midcult: Essays Against the American Grain - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDwight MacDonald\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eJohn Summers\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor), \u003cb\u003eLouis Menand\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA New York Review Books Original \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn uncompromising contrarian, a passionate polemicist, a man of quick wit and wide learning, an anarchist, a pacifist, and a virtuoso of the slashing phrase, Dwight Macdonald was an indefatigable and indomitable critic of America's susceptibility to well-meaning cultural fakery: all those estimable, eminent, prizewinning works of art that are said to be good and good for you and are not. He dubbed this phenomenon \"Midcult\" and he attacked it not only on aesthetic but on political grounds. Midcult rendered people complacent and compliant, secure in their common stupidity but neither happy nor free. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis new selection of Macdonald's finest essays, assembled by John Summers, the editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Baffler\u003c\/i\u003e, reintroduces a remarkable American critic and writer. In the era of smart, sexy, and everything indie, Macdonald remains as pertinent and challenging as ever.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eDwight Macdonald (1906-1982) was born in New York City and educated at Exeter and Yale. On graduating from college, he enrolled in Macy's executive training program, but soon left to\u003cbr\u003ework for Henry Luce at \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eFortune\u003c\/i\u003e, quitting in 1936 because of cuts that had been made to an article he had written criticizing U.S. Steel. From 1937 to 1943, Macdonald was an editor\u003cbr\u003eof \u003ci\u003ePartisan Review\u003c\/i\u003e and in 1944, he started a journal of his own, \u003ci\u003ePolitics\u003c\/i\u003e, whose contributors included Albert Camus, Victor Serge, Simone Weil, Bruno Bettelheim, James Agee, John Berryman, Meyer Schapiro, and Mary McCarthy. In later years, Macdonald reviewed books for \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, movies for \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e, and wrote frequently for\u003ci\u003e The New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJohn Summers is the editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Baffler\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLouis Menand is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English at Harvard University and a staff writer at \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eDiscovering Modernism\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Metaphysical Club\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Studies\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Marketplace of Ideas\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.83 x 7.94 x 5.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 11, 2011\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47399172178098,"sku":"9781590174470","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/ee48f72cbfe39164f5cdadca7390e1c5.webp?v=1778066404","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/masscult-and-midcult-essays-against-the-american-grain-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}