Overview

Comic Books and American Cultural History is an anthology that examines the ways in which comic books can be used to understand the history of the United States. Over the last twenty years, there has been a proliferation of book-length works focusing on the history of comic books, but few have investigated how comics can be used as sources for doing American cultural history. These original essays illustrate ways in which comic books can be used as resources for scholars and teachers.  Part 1 of the book examines comics and graphic novels that demonstrate the techniques of cultural history; the essays in Part 2 use comics and graphic novels as cultural artifacts; the third part of the book studies the concept of historical identity through the 20th century; and the final section focuses on different treatments of contemporary American history. Discussing topics that range from romance comics and Superman to American Flagg! and Ex Machina, this is a vivid collection that will be useful to anyone studying comic books or teaching American history.

Full Product Details

Author:   Matthew Pustz ,  Jon Adams ,  Ben Bolling ,  Matthew Costello
Publisher:   Continuum Publishing Corporation
Imprint:   Continuum Publishing Corporation
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.572kg
ISBN:  

9781441163196

ISBN 10:   1441163190
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   23 February 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language:   English

Table of Contents

"Introduction ""Comic Books as History Teachers"" By Matthew Pustz Part I:  Doing Cultural History Through Comic Books 1.    ""How Wonder Woman Helped My Students ‘Join the Conversation:' Comic Books as Teaching Tools in a History Methodology Course"" By Jessamyn Neuhaus 2.    ""Comics as Primary Sources: The Case of Journey into Mohawk Country"" By Bridget M. Marshall 3.    ""Transcending the Frontier Myth: Dime Novel Narration and (Jesse) Custer's Last Stand in Preacher"" By William Grady 4.    "" ‘Duel. I'll Give You a DUEL': Intimacy and History in Megan Kelso's Alexander Hamilton Trilogy"" By Alison Mandaville Part II: Comic Books as Cultural Artifacts 1.    ""American Golem: Reading America through Super-New Dealers and ‘the Melting Pot'"" By Martin Lund 2.    "" ‘Dreams May End, But Love Never Does': Marriage and Materialism in American Romance Comics, 1947-1954"" By Jeanne Emerson Gardner 3.    ""Parody and Propaganda: Fighting American and The Battle Against Crime and Communism in the 1950s"" By John Donovan 4.    ""Grasping for Identity: The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu"" By Peter Lee 5.    "" ‘Paralysis and Stagnation and Drift': America's Malaise as Demonstrated in Comic Books of the 1970s"" By Matthew Pustz 6.    ""The Shopping Malls of Empire: Cultural Fragmentation, the New Media, and Consumerism in Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!"" By Matthew J. Costello Part III: Comic Books and Historical Identity 1.    ""Transformers and Monkey Kings: Gene Yang's American Born Chinese and the Quest for Identity"" By Todd S. Munson 2.    ""Agent of Change: The Evolution and Enculturation of Nick Fury"" By Philip G. Payne and Paul S. Spaeth 3.    ""The US HIV/AIDS Crisis and the Negotiation of Queer Identity in Superhero Comics, or, Is Northstar Still a A Fairy?"" By Ben Bolling Part IV:  Comic Books and Contemporary History 1.    ""The Militarism of American Superheroes After 9/11"" By A. David Lewis 2.    ""Septemeber 11, 2001: Witnessing History, Demythifying the Story in American Widow "" By Yves Davo 3.    "" ‘The Great Machine Doesn't Wear a Cape!': American Cultural Anxiety and the Post-9/11 Superhero"" By Jeff Geers"

Reviews

In all cases, the essays...provide rich historical background information that is invaluable. Comics and graphic novels have been in some sense stuck in the English classroom for a long time, and [this is an] important book in terms of taking the field into new territory -- Joseph Cambell, UNC Charlotte * Children's Literature Association Quarterly * The book will be most rewarding for those interested in specific comic books and historical issues as they are covered in individual essays...I very much appreciate the fact that it covers a range of intriguing primary sources and presents a series of valuable case studies, all of which will surely encourage further historical investigations of comic books. -- Daniel Stein, Georg-August-University, Goettingen, Germany * Transformative Works and Cultures *

In all cases, the essays...provide rich historical background information that is invaluable. Comics and graphic novels have been in some sense stuck in the English classroom for a long time, and [this is an] important book in terms of taking the field into new territory -- Joseph Cambell, UNC Charlotte * Children's Literature Association Quarterly * The book will be most rewarding for those interested in specific comic books and historical issues as they are covered in individual essays…I very much appreciate the fact that it covers a range of intriguing primary sources and presents a series of valuable case studies, all of which will surely encourage further historical investigations of comic books. -- Daniel Stein, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany * Transformative Works and Cultures *

Author Information

Matthew Pustz is the author of Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers.  He has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Iowa and currently teaches history and American Studies at a variety of schools in the Boston area.  

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