Mad Men & 1960s America

MadMen_compRecently, AMC kicked off season four of the brilliant, unconventional drama Mad Men. If you’re late to the party, the cultural phenomenon set in 1960s New York has inspired modern fashion and made the Manhattan and Old Fashioned cocktails en vogue with a new generation.

One of the most fascinating characters in Mad Men is the era itself. With unprecedented accuracy, the show examines the social history and evolving norms during the Golden Age of Madison Avenue advertising. A new book, Mad Men Unbuttoned – A Romp Through 1960s America digs deeper into the historical and cultural allusions in the drama. Although it’s inspired by the show, the book is more of a handbook to highlights of the sixties.

Author Natasha Vargas-Cooper has developed eighty-six mini-essays, each with color photos, broken down into chapters on advertising, design, films, literature, style and the workplace. From Lucky Strikes ads to Gray Flannel Suits to the Kennedy Assassination, this is an interesting read for those that track the show or as Vargas-Cooper puts it, anyone that wants to “understand the most dramatic cultural shift in the twentieth century.” $11.55

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 9th, 2010 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Culture.