About this item
What does it mean when we say someone is cool? This luminous collection of portraits and film stills sheds new light on the term, its origins, and its evolution--with some surprising and provocative results. The term "cool" has become such a part of America's modern lexicon that it seems to have lost its meaning. This stellar collection of photographs from the National Portrait Gallery and from prominent artists, museums, and archives nationwide would argue otherwise. The idea of cool is not only older than we think--it's also constantly changing, aided by the mediums of portraiture and film. Readers will find unexpected and familiar faces here: Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, and Georgia O'Keeffe, as well as James Dean, Bob Dylan, and Chrissie Hynde.
About the Author
Joel Dinerstein is a cultural historian and professor of English/American Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans. He is the author of Jazz: A Quick Immersion (2020) , The Origins of Cool in Postwar America (Chicago 2017) , American Cool (Prestel 2014) , Swinging the Machine (2003) , and Coach: A Story of NY Cool (Rizzoli 2016) . He was the curator for the acclaimed exhibit American Cool (2014) at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC featuring 100 icons and 100 photographs. He has served as a consultant on jazz and popular music for the National Endowment for the Humanities (the NEH) , HBO (Boardwalk Empire) , and Putumayo Records (Jazz CD) . His first book was an award-winning cultural history of jazz and industrialization, Swinging the Machine: Modernity, Technology, and African-American Culture (2003) . He gave a Tedx Talk on the history of cool in 2015 through the iconic figures of Miles Davis, Dylan, Elvis, Patti Smith, Prince, and Johnny Cash.Dinerstein holds a Ph.D in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Born and raised in pre-hipster Brooklyn (NY) , he graduated from the University of Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) and Erasmus Hall High School. http://www.joeldinerstein.com/
