By Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger

Foreword by Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don't Know Much About History

 

Pop culture meets pop reference in this irreverent tour of surprising twentieth-century events and inventions that forever changed the way we live. Journalists Smith and Kiger forage through technology, business, entertainment, sports and sociology in these lively, eclectic profiles of twenty unusual events, inventions and individuals that irrevocably altered modern life. They reveal the real stories and significance of events as unheralded as Alfred Kinsey’s disastrous honeymoon, Betty Ford’s intervention, and the birth of celebrity voyeurism, as well as the invention of Big Bertha golf clubs, pantyhose, super-absorbent disposable diapers, and permanent press clothes They measure the social impact of TV dinners, black velvet paintings, and the spectacular maneuver that forever changed sports—in provocative essays guaranteed to educate, illuminate and entertain.

 

 

 

                                   

“The delights of POPLORICA are in the details.”—The Wall Street Journal

“The best part is the authors' lighthearted approach and love for their
subject: the enthusiasm ordinary Americans bring to improving their lives.”—USA Today

“A thought-provoking book that guarantees you'll never look at a velvet
Elvis the same way again.”—Entertainment Weekly