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Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture By Joseph HeathAndrew Potter ( Collins Business )
Release Date: 2005-01-01
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Product Description
In this wide-ranging and perceptive work of cultural criticism, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter shatter the most important myth that dominates much of radical political, economic, and cultural thinking. The idea of a counterculture -- a world outside of the consumer-dominated world that encompasses us -- pervades everything from the antiglobalization movement to feminism and environmentalism. And the idea that mocking or simply hoping the "system" will collapse, the authors argue, is not only counterproductive but has helped to create the very consumer society radicals oppose. In a lively blend of pop culture, history, and philosophical analysis, Heath and Potter offer a startlingly clear picture of what a concern for social justice might look like without the confusion of the counterculture obsession with being different.
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Logical and powerful.
Nation of Rebels is definitely something for anyone born in the 80s or 90s to pick up.
Having said that, the book is an excellent examination of the countercultural ideals our society assumes in this era. I specifically recommend this book for my generation because we have grown up in a world in which we view mass society and globalization as evils without doubt. We have ingrained in our brains by the baby-boomers (who now run society) so many of the notions that made obvious failures in the rebellious times of the 60s and 70s, and yet we still hold many of their ideas as common sense.
By uncovering these fallacy of these common ideals, Heath and Potter allow the reader to have a deeper understand of what is truly causing consumerism (which is ironically the drive to be rebellious), why we have notions of cool (which are simply modern class divisions), and a hodgepodge of countercultural thinking we assume.
This book really opened my eyes to a lot of thinking. Our culture is countercultural. We are a nation of rebels. So we must realistically examine it, for the better of all of us. This book is good for that.
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 when everybody's a rebel, nobody's a rebel ( glork )
This is a book about the counterculture movement by two Canadian culture critics. It actually helped me do a lot of growing up.
That's a bit embarrassing for me to admit, since I'm writing this in middle age, by which time life is supposed to have smacked one's various immaturities and ideological obtusenesses out of you one way or another.
But no. We all have various idiocies lingering under the surface, left over from our younger years, many times having gotten lodged deep inside our craniums during our college years, or as a result of having spent our lives immersed in pop culture.
I have a lot fewer illusions after reading this book.
What illusions am I talking about? Oh, you know, the standard liberal package of ideas, such as that commerce is fundamentally evil; that ideally, we should all be living off the land; global corporations are the summit of iniquity, American values are imperialistic; those who bum around Europe with a Frisbee and a guitar are more in touch with their true natures; underground music is by definition more authentic; anything for the masses is to be eschewed, "despoiling the planet with waste products of our luxurious living is a sin, and that the path of righteousness is to live as frugally as possible," (F. Dyson). That kind of stuff.
I would say that what this book is, broadly, is an attack on the Sixties and on radical leftists generally. But that's by implication: what the authors would probably claim is that this book is an exposure of the origins and fundamental silliness of such ideas as the anti-globalization movement, and how claims to countercultural legitimacy are really just the same game all over again.
An excellent job. Probably the best book I've read in the last two years.
There are, by the way, a couple of other books floating around out there on much the same theme. There's Diana West's recently minted "The Death of the Grown-Up," which is a good read but not revelatory, like this one was. Another one I admired tremendously was Thomas Sowell's "The Vision of the Anointed," written in the 90s.
Yes, it's not often that a book helps you become more (there's no other word for it) mature. Immediately more serious and realistic, I mean. Heath and Potter's book did this by means of systematically taking some of my most cherished but unexamined ideas out for a ride, and either exposing their contradictions or seeing where they would logically take one.
This book did what it set out to do: it brings such ideas out into the open for a good whacking.
As Churchill said, "Sometimes sunlight is the best disinfectant."
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Useful Debunking of Misguided Thinking: The Sad Legacy of "Counter"Culture. ( _______________o )
This is one of the most interesting books I've read recently. Do NOT be discouraged by a couple of the negative reviews!
After having read the book I think it is clear enough that (as is often the case) the negative reviews are for the most part unfair and written by people that obviously did not like the what the authors had to say. What they have to say is clear enough to anybody with an open mind that reads the book.
I'm overwhelmingly confident that *by far* most people that take a look at this page and have an interest in this book will find it to be a fascinating, illuminating read. Without going into it too much, "Nation of Rebels" directly attacks the idea of "counterculture" itself and in doing so it's critical of the "New Left" that emerged out of the 60s. This book will help you understand so much of the confusion of these last decades and why the Conservative movement and the Right has had so much political success. You can see how this book would really tick some folks off, and I think particularly cultural lefties... It champions more traditional left leaning or old school liberal, class-based politics.
Actually, if you like Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and "The Conquest of Cool", (etc.), --you'll love this book. The authors of "Nation of Rebels" use a central thesis of Frank's work as a starting point for this book.
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 Don't bother me until you're better read ( maxim_138 )
This is the reason why I never went into the philosophy department at my university. There's far too much supposition, superstition, and plain old bunk, and far too little accurate history, or concrete science to call this anything other than 336 pages of opinion.(EG: most of their examples are movies released within the past 10 years, to try to explain the motives and mindset of over 200 years worth of thinking! I think the very definition of "failing to research" would be watching the movie, instead of reading the book, yes?)
Given the nature of online reviewers, I expect very few people will agree with my review. Fair enough. But, I wouldn't suggest this book to anyone. It's ideology masked as overview. If you're interested in the idea of how revolutionaries become reactionaries, and in how fire-breathing professional agitators actually support the system they are trying to overthrow, you'll be sorely underwhelmed with the arguments. If, however, you're a neoconservative trying to rationalize your myopia, this will be a great addition to your collection of Bill O'Reilly transcripts.This was a complete waste of my money, and time.
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Interesting and eye opening read ( givemeafrigginbreak )
I've never been an anti-consumer/culture jammer so I wasn't really offended by the book's dismantling of the "Rebellion" thought process. It was very interesting how they picked apart the anti-capitalist mentality.
One of the main points the authors make, is that no matter what we do as consumers, we feed capitalism. There really is no escape. Everything we do, eat and purchase drives consumerism somewhere in the world. So, no matter how "anti-consumer" or "anti-capitalist" you think you are by eating certain foods and buying certain brands, in the end, you've affected not one corporation.
It's a very interesting read, and really opened my eyes to how I think about consumerism. The book also dives pretty deep into other Ideologies such as Marxism.
I think the authors stay true to the subject at hand and do a pretty good job of staying in the middle of the road politically. Yes, they use some left-wingers as examples, but doesn't make this a anti-liberal book.
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Addiction
