In his book-length essay The Conquest of Cool, Thomas Frank explores the ways in which Madison Avenue co-opted the language of youthful '60s rebellion. It is "the story," Frank writes, "of the bohemian cultural style's trajectory from adversarial to hegemonic; the story of hip's mutation from native language of the alienated to that of advertising." This appropriation had wide-ranging consequences that deeply transformed our culture--consequences that linger in the form of '90s "hip consumerism." (Think of Nike using the song "Revolution" to sell sneakers, or Coca-Cola using replicas of Ken Kesey's bus to peddle Fruitopia.) This is no simplistic analysis of how the counterculture "sold out" to big business. Instead, Frank shows how the counterculture and business culture influenced one another. In fact, he writes, the counterculture's critique of mass society mimicked earlier developments in business itself, when a new generation of executives attacked the stultified, hierarchical nature of corporate life. Counterculture and business culture evolved together over time--until the present day, when they have become essentially the same thing. According to Frank, the '60s live on in the near-archetypal dichotomy of "hip" and "square," now part of advertising vernacular, signifying a choice between consumer styles.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing new study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined - and even anticipated by - such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. In both areas, each having also been an important pillar of fifties conservatism, the utopian, complacent surface of postwar consumerism was smashed by a new breed of admen and manufacturers who openly addressed public distrust of their industries, who recognized the absurdity of consumer society, who made war on conformity, and who finally settled on youth rebellion and counterculture as the symbol of choice for their new marketing vision. The Conquest of Cool is a thorough history of advertising as well as an incisive commentary on the evolution of a peculiarly American sensibility, the pervasive co-optation that defines today's hip commercial culture. By studying the devices and institutions of co-optation rather than those of resistance, Frank offers a picture of the 1960s that differs dramatically from the accounts of youth rebellion and sell-out that have become so familiar over the years. The Conquest of Cool forsakes the stories of campus and bohemia to follow the Dodge Rebellion, chronicle the Pepsi Generation, and recount the Peacock Revolution - by so doing, it raises important new questions about the culture of that most celebrated and maligned decade.

SYNOPSIS

An examination of the 1960s creative revolution, in which the ad industry rejected the same icons it had created a decade earlier, a turn that led to the renegade spirit of today's advertising.

FROM THE CRITICS

Tom Grimes

Superb and immensely readable. . . . With "The Conquest of Cool," Frank -- brilliant, excoriating and wickedly funny -- assumes the mantle of the preeminent cultural critic of his generation. -- Houston Chronicle

Booknews

Frank, editor-in-chief of cultural criticism journal , shows how the youth counterculture of the 1960s was encouraged and even anticipated by the advertising and fashion industries. He presents a history of advertising as well as commentary on the growth of a peculiarly American sensibility, the pervasive co-optation that defines today's hip commercial culture. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Brad Wieners

An invaluable argument for anyone who has ever scoffed at hand-me-down counterculture from the '60s. . . .Further serves to inoculate audiences tot he hip capitalizm that's everywhere including these pages today. -- Wired Magazine

Abe Peck - Chicago Tribune

A lucid history of how long-haired, bell bottomed admen replaced rule-laden repetition adn simple selling propositions with clever, unpredictable approaches.

Newsweek - Newsweek: 100 Americans for the Next Century