On Nostalgia, David Berry
On Nostalgia, David Berry
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On Nostalgia

Author: David Berry

Narrator: Adam Daniel Mezei

Unabridged: 4 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 09/30/2020


Synopsis

From Mad Men to MAGA: how nostalgia came to be and why we are so eager to indulge it. From movies to politics, social media posts to the targeted ads between them, nostalgia is one of the most potent forces of our era. On Nostalgia is a panoramic cultural history of nostalgia, exploring how a force that started as a psychological diagnosis of soldiers fighting far from home has come become a quintessentially modern condition. Drawing on everything from the modern science of memory to the romantic ideals of advertising, and traversing cultural movements from futurism to fascism to Facebook, cultural critic David Berry examines how the relentless search for self and overwhelming presence of mass media stokes the fires of nostalgia, making it as inescapable as it is hard to pin down. Holding fast against the pull of the past while trying to understand what makes the fundamental impossibility of return so appealing, On Nostalgia explores what it means to remember, how the universal yearning is used by us and against us, and it considers a future where the past is more readily available and easier to lose track of than ever before. “If nostalgia was a disease in the Good Old Days, then David Berry’s cogently argued, intelligent, and witty book should be prescribed reading for anyone wishing to understand what sometimes feels like a peculiarly virulent epidemic of our current times.” — Travis Elborough “We’re so lucky to have a writer as thoughtful, funny, smart, and cutting as David Berry. Nostalgia dictates so much of our world, and there isn’t a better cataloger, critic, and guide through it than Berry.” — Scaachi Koul

Reviews

Goodreads review by William

Great read. Really made me think a lot about my relationship with the past and the people that keep dragging me back there kicking and screaming. It's a philosophy piece. It asks big questions that has the reader looking inward for the answers. Enjoy an interview with the author here. [URL not allowed]......more

I love pop culture & I love reading literature that analyzes it. Amazing book- highly recommend!......more

Goodreads review by Zach

I've always been one to live in the past a bit. Sometimes healthy, sometimes not, either way that tends to be the direction in which my mind goes. As such, the concept of nostalgia is one that fascinates me, and this book really delves into the term's underpinnings and true meanings. The first thing......more