Icons of Talk: The Media Mouths That Changed America (Greenwood Icons) Review

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(More customer reviews)Although the book sometimes reads like a textbook, I was impressed with its objectivity and conciseness. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Howard Stern, Johnny Carson, Dave Letterman, and Jay Leno. The book covers talkers from both radio and television and provides great insight to America's most influential broadcasters.
Highly recommended.

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Americans love talk shows.In a typical week, more than 13 million Americans listen to Rush Limbaugh, whose syndicated radio show is carried by about 600 stations. On television, Oprah Winfrey's syndicated talk show is seen by an estimated 30 million viewers each week. Talk show hosts like Winfrey and Limbaugh have become iconic figures, frequently quoted and capable of inspiring intense opinions. What they say on the air is discussed around the water cooler at work, or commented about on blogs and fan web sites. Talk show hosts have helped to make or break political candidates, and their larger-than-life personalities have earned them millions of fans (as well as more than a few enemies). Icons of Talk highlights the most groundbreaking exemplars of the talk show genre, a genre that has had a profound influence on American life for over 70 years.



Among the featured:

Joe Pyne

Jerry Williams

Herb Jepko

Randi Rhodes

Rush Limbaugh

Larry King

Dr. Laura Schlesinger

Steve Allen

Jerry Springer

Howard Stern.

Oprah Winfrey

Don Francisco

Cristina Saralegui

Tavis Smiley

James Dobson

Don Imus



Going behind the scenes, this volume showcases the techniques hosts used to motivate (and sometimes aggravate) audiences, and examines the talk show in all of its various formats, including sports-talk, religious-talk, political-talk, and celebrity-talk. Each entry places the talk format and its hosts into historical context, addressing such questions as: What was going on in society when these talkers were on the air? How did each of them affect or change society? What were the issues they liked to talk about and what reaction did they get from listeners and from critics? How were talk hosts able to persuade people to vote for particular candidates or support certain policies? Which hosts were considered controversial and why? Complete with photographs, a timeline, and a resource guide of sources and organizations, this volume is ideal for students of journalism and media studies.

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Slackonomics: Generation X in the Age of Creative Destruction Review

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(More customer reviews)Author Lisa Chamberlain holds little back in pointing out how Generation X has deviated from the norms of previous generations. Rather than demonizing Generation X as a force of societal degradation, Chamberlain explains how Gen X has floundered to create a sense of stability in a time of transition. Slackonomics ventures through the formative decades of Gen X eventually arriving at the present where they must now assume leadership roles in a world that had previously written them off.
Rife with snippets of pop culture Chamberlain ties in music lyrics, television shows, and the emotions of the era in order to illustrate the mindset of Gen X. Slackonomics joins a number of books, articles, and TV programs about the unique attitudes of Gen X. Chamberlains style of writing and use of cultural context manage to set the book apart.
The most interesting (and entertaining) aspect of the book centers around Chamberlain's examination of the shifts in social norms, family structures, opportunities, and expectations that have occurred with Gen X. Slackonomics shows that although the style of Generation X is comparatively deviant with respect to past generations, these shifts are not entirely negative. Chamberlain provides an interesting retrospective for a phenomenon that is continuing to unfold.
Slackonomics presents Gen X in context. Rather than evaluating the generation in comparison to those that have come before it, Chamberlain shows a more objective and comprehensive picture (almost a view of Gen X cast by Gen X itself). Aside from being an informative read, Slackonomics has useful insight for anyone in a field that is trying to better understand those within the generation now coming into power. The narratives Chamberlain provides allows the reader to easily identify with the book and evaluate their own experience with that presented by Slackonomics.

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Generation X grew up in the 1980s, when Alex P. Keaton was going to be a millionaire by the time he was thirty, greed was good, and social activism was deader than disco. Then globalization and the technological revolution came along, changing everything for a generation faced with bridging the analog and digital worlds. Living in a time of "creative destruction" – when an old economic order is upended by a new one – has deeply affected everyday life for this generation; from how they work, where they live, how they play, when they marry and have children to their attitudes about love, humor, happiness, and personal fulfillment. Through a sharp and entertaining mix of pop and alt-culture, personal narrative, and economic analysis, author Lisa Chamberlain shows how Generation X has survived and even thrived in the era of creative destruction, but will now be faced with solving economic and environmental problems on a global scale.

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