On Nostalgia
Written by David Berry
Narrated by Adam Daniel Mezei
4/5
()
About this audiobook
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
David Berry
David Berry is a writer, journalist and filmmaker. He has written about health and leisure for a variety of publications, and for twenty-five years he was a documentary director for the BBC. He has been playing tennis since he was eleven years old.
Related to On Nostalgia
Related audiobooks
Image Control: Art, Fascism, and the Right to Resist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGlitch Feminism: A Manifesto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Story Movements: How Documentaries Empower People and Inspire Social Change Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Drama of Celebrity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Story: What Reality TV Says About Us Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girls on Film: Lessons From a Life of Watching Women in Movies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lie About the Truck: Survivor, Reality TV, and the Endless Gaze Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Selfie Generation: How Our Self Images Are Changing Our Notions of Privacy, Sex, Consent, and Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Was It Yesterday?: Nostalgia in Contemporary Film and Television Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMade-Up: A True Story of Beauty Culture under Late Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sprawl: Reconsidering the Weird American Suburbs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything, All the Time, Everywhere: How We Became Postmodern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fans: A Journey into the Psychology of Belonging Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Audience-ology: How Moviegoers Shape the Films We Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fifties: An Underground History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Culture: The Story of Us, From Cave Art to K-Pop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Popular Culture & Media Studies For You
Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freakonomics Rev Ed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Do You Know Who I Am?: Battling Imposter Syndrome in Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Predictably Irrational Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 50th Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Burn Book: A Tech Love Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Butts: A Backstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hate Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychology of Zelda: Linking Our World to the Legend of Zelda Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for On Nostalgia
3 ratings0 reviews