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Timeline of America
Sound Bytes from the Consumer Culture
ISBN: 0-595-40004-3 ($21.95) 300 pages E-book ISBN: 0-595-84391-3 ($6.00)
The best nickname for this book is
Godzilla Stuffed into a Briefcase
Columbus takes a vacation to The Bahamas, and discovers the area to be a fun place. He tells all his other adventurous friends about it, and they decide they all need vacations, too. Soon everybody in The Old Country is loading up enough beer to make the trip and sailing to The Bahamas.
Hysterical events have surprised us, inventions have made us more comfortable, and recreational pursuits have all but dominated our lives. The story of America is told in a pair of Jekyll & Hyde Timelines. You will meet the good doctor inside. His mean, ugly brother will arrive in 2008.
This is a lot more than a pop culture trivia book, although no simpler phrase describes it. Ten timelines tell the story of America’s development from the arrival of Columbus to the homeruns of Barry Bonds and the movie release of The Da Vinci Code. The story is separated into ten topics: events, comforts, cars, toys, movies, television, music, nerds, sports, and gossip. Like any competent trivia book, there is a test at the end, but this tale is about the quest, not the grail. This is a capsule history of the things that have defined us, and Godzilla doesn’t like being so tightly restrained.
Introduction: Interpreting the Timelines in This Book
Chapter 1: The Timeline
Good for Us, Bad for the Indians
The Timeline of Hysterical Events
Chapter 2: The Comfort Zone
Beginnings, Firsts, Inventions, Food & Other Items
The Comfort Zone Timeline
Chapter 3: Cars
The Automobile Timeline 1859 – 1959
Babyhood, Childhood, & Adolescence on Wheels
The Automobile Timeline 1960 – 1970
Those Muscular Sixties: The Teenage Years
The Automobile Timeline 1971-2006
Chapter 4: The Toy Store
The Politically Incorrect Cap Pistol
Toys Defined for Boys & Girls of All Ages
The Toy Timeline
Chapter 5: Movies
The Movie Theater Experience
The Movie Timeline
Chapter 6: Television
The Boob Tube Conquers America
The Television Timeline
The Louie Martin Ernest T. Helper Story
Chapter 7: Music
Introduction: Forty Rocky Years
Rock & Roll Is Born in The Fifties
Elvis the Pelvis, a Retrospective
The Sixties – Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll
The Seventies Music Explosion
The Eighties – A Time of Transition
The Last Days of Real Rock & Roll
Chapter 8: The Nerd Channel
Publications, Computers & Playboy Interviews
The Nerd Timeline
Chapter 9: Sports Monkey Business
The Monkey Business of Sports
The Sports Timeline
Chapter 10: The National Inquisition
Introduction to American Nosiness
The Gossip Timeline
Chapter 11: The Great Big Trivia Quiz
Other books by Floyd M. Orr:
Home Page Nonfiction in a Fictional Style Press Release For Foreigners Only
Suck the Boob (humorous political blog archive)
07/01/07