From Memory to History
255 pages, 6 x 9
8 color images
Paperback
Release Date:16 Apr 2021
ISBN:9781978813816
Hardcover
Release Date:16 Apr 2021
ISBN:9781978813823
From Memory to History
Television Versions of the Twentieth Century
By Jim Cullen
Rutgers University Press
Our understanding of history is often mediated by popular culture, and television series set in the past have provided some of our most indelible images of previous times. Yet such historical television programs always reveal just as much about the era in which they are produced as the era in which they are set; there are few more quintessentially late-90s shows than That ‘70s Show, for example.
From Memory to History takes readers on a journey through over fifty years of historical dramas and sitcoms that were set in earlier decades of the twentieth century. Along the way, it explores how comedies like M*A*S*H and Hogan’s Heroes offered veiled commentary on the Vietnam War, how dramas ranging like Mad Men echoed current economic concerns, and how The Americans and Halt and Catch Fire used the Cold War and the rise of the internet to reflect upon the present day. Cultural critic Jim Cullen is lively, informative, and incisive, and this book will help readers look at past times, present times, and prime time in a new light.
From Memory to History takes readers on a journey through over fifty years of historical dramas and sitcoms that were set in earlier decades of the twentieth century. Along the way, it explores how comedies like M*A*S*H and Hogan’s Heroes offered veiled commentary on the Vietnam War, how dramas ranging like Mad Men echoed current economic concerns, and how The Americans and Halt and Catch Fire used the Cold War and the rise of the internet to reflect upon the present day. Cultural critic Jim Cullen is lively, informative, and incisive, and this book will help readers look at past times, present times, and prime time in a new light.
This is a terrific book, fun and learned and provocative. Ranging across television from The Waltons to The Americans, Cullen provides an entertaining and thoughtful account of the ways that we remember and how this is influenced and directed by what we watch. The discussions of popular television series are excellent, and together they provide a compelling account of historical television, reminding us that nothing artistic happens by chance and that we should be careful of what we believe.
Jim Cullen has been writing incisively about how Americans remember the past and make sense of the present through various forms of popular culture for a quarter-century. This time his focus is prime-time television with deep dives into seven celebrated series from the 1960s through the 2010s, which will inspire readers to return to these beloved programs with renewed insight and appreciation.
JIM CULLEN is the author of numerous books, including The American Dream and Those Were the Days: Why All in the Family Still Matters. He has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Sarah Lawrence College, and is a member of the faculty of the newly established Greenwich Country Day High School in Greenwich, Connecticut.
INTRODUCTION
Television’s History
1 LEFT TO THE RIGHT
The Waltons as a 1970s Version of the 1930s
2 CAMP HISTORY
Hogan’s Heroes as a 1960s Version of the 1940s
3 A FUNNY WAR
M*A*S*H as a 1970s Version of the 1950s
4 DREAM ADVERTISEMENT
Mad Men as a 2000s Version of the 1960s
5 WE’RE ALL ALL RIGHT
That ’70s Show as a 1990s Version of the 1970s
6 DOMESTIC FRONT
The Americans as a 2010s Version of the 1980s
7 PROGRAMMING HOPE
Halt and Catch Fire as a 2010s Version of the 1990s
CONCLUSION
Visualizing the Future of the Past
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
Television’s History
1 LEFT TO THE RIGHT
The Waltons as a 1970s Version of the 1930s
2 CAMP HISTORY
Hogan’s Heroes as a 1960s Version of the 1940s
3 A FUNNY WAR
M*A*S*H as a 1970s Version of the 1950s
4 DREAM ADVERTISEMENT
Mad Men as a 2000s Version of the 1960s
5 WE’RE ALL ALL RIGHT
That ’70s Show as a 1990s Version of the 1970s
6 DOMESTIC FRONT
The Americans as a 2010s Version of the 1980s
7 PROGRAMMING HOPE
Halt and Catch Fire as a 2010s Version of the 1990s
CONCLUSION
Visualizing the Future of the Past
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
