{"title":"James B Twitchell","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"twenty-ads-that-shook-the-world-book-james-b-twitchell-9780609605639","title":"Twenty Ads That Shook the World","description":"James Twitchell takes an in-depth look at the ads and ad campaigns and their creators that have most influenced our culture and marketplace in the twentieth century. P. T. Barnum s creation of buzz, Pepsodent and the magic of the preemptive claim, Listerine introducing America to the scourge of halitosis, Nike s Just Do It, Clairol s Does She or Doesn t She?, Leo Burnett s invention of the Marlboro Man, Revlon s Charlie Girl, Coke s re-creation of Santa Claus, Absolut and the art world these campaigns are the signposts of a century of consumerism, our modern canon understood, accepted, beloved, and hated the world over.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49533113205009,"sku":"GOR009167460","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49726804295953,"sku":"CIN0609605631G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50134495068433,"sku":"CIN0609605631VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0609605631.jpg?v=1751359568"},{"product_id":"lead-us-into-temptation-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231115193","title":"Lead Us Into Temptation","description":"Coke adds life. Just do it. Yo quiero Taco Bell. We live in a commercial age, awash in a sea of brand names, logos, and advertising jingles-not to mention commodities themselves. Are shoppers merely the unwitting stooges of the greedy producers who will stop at nothing to sell their wares? Are the producers' powers of persuasion so great that resistance is futile?  James Twitchell counters this assumption of the used and abused consumer with a witty and unflinching look at commercial culture, starting from the simple observation that \"we are powerfully attracted to the world of goods (after all, we don't call them 'bads').\" He contends that far from being forced upon us against our better judgment, \"consumerism is our better judgment.\" Why? Because increasingly, store-bought objects are what hold us together as a society, doing the work of \"birth, patina, pews, coats of arms, house, and social rank\"-previously done by religion and bloodline. We immediately understand the connotations of status and identity exemplified by the Nike swoosh, the Polo pony, the Guess? label, the DKNY logo. The commodity alone is not what we are after; rather, we actively and creatively want that logo and its signification-the social identity it bestows upon us. As Twitchell summarizes, \"Tell me what you buy, and I will tell what you are and who you want to be.\" Using elements as disparate as the film The Jerk, French theorists, popular bumper stickers, and Money magazine to explore the nature and importance of advertising lingo, packaging, fashion, and \"The Meaning of Self,\" Twitchell overturns one stodgy social myth after another. In the process he reveals the purchase and possession of things to be the self-identifying acts of modern life. Not only does the car you drive tell others who you are, it lets you know as well. The consumption of goods, according to Twitchell, provides us with tangible everyday comforts and with crucial inner security in a seemingly faithless age. That we may find our sense of self through buying material objects is among the chief indictments of contemporary culture. Twitchell, however, sees the significance of shopping. \"There are no false needs.\" We buy more than objects, we buy meaning. For many of us, especially in our youth, Things R Us.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49568108675345,"sku":"GOR006912364","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49619178455313,"sku":"GOR002803556","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346147152145,"sku":"CIN0231115199G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53373678944529,"sku":"CIN0231115199VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231115199.jpg?v=1751164672"},{"product_id":"adcult-usa-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231103244","title":"Adcult USA","description":"--  Philadelphia Inquirer","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49597060088081,"sku":"GOR007168478","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49755753283857,"sku":"CIN0231103247G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51694965391633,"sku":"CIN0231103247A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231103247.jpg?v=1750876997"},{"product_id":"branded-nation-book-james-b-twitchell-9780743243476","title":"Branded Nation","description":"How is it that a Big Mac is merely lunch in America and a symbol of cultural imperialism in France? Why did the September 11 terrorists choose United and American over any other airlines? Because they are branded, looming as larger-than-life symbols of America. Branding, to hear James Twitchell tell it, is nothing more than commercial storytelling - and it's become so ubiquitous that even institutions we thought were above branding have succumbed. And according to Twitchell, that's probably just fine. BRANDED NATION lays bare an American society where megachurches resemble shopping malls, where a university lives or dies on the talents of its image-makers, and where museums have turned to motorcycle exhibits and fashion shows to bolster revenue. Full of provocative anecdotes and penetrating analyses, Twitchell's parsing of the age of 'McCulture' is a triumph of great verve, sharp wit and, most striking of all, infectious optimism.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49602206368017,"sku":"GOR002340133","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49864708653329,"sku":"CIN0743243471G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50362077675793,"sku":"CIN0743243471A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51006462492945,"sku":"NIN9780743243476","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52591836758289,"sku":"NLS9780743243476","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743243471.jpg?v=1751263016"},{"product_id":"living-dead-book-james-b-twitchell-9780822307891","title":"The Living Dead","description":"In his Preface to The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature, James Twitchell writes that he is not interested in the current generation of vampires, which he finds \"rude, boring and hopelessly adolescent. However, they have not always been this way. In fact, a century ago they were often quite sophisticated, used by artists varied as Blake, Poe, Coleridge, the Brontes, Shelley, and Keats, to explain aspects of interpersonal relations. However vulgar the vampire has since become, it is important to remember that along with the Frankenstein monster, the vampire is one of the major mythic figures bequeathed to us by the English Romantics. Simply in terms of cultural influence and currency, the vampire is far more important than any other nineteenth-century archetypes; in fact, he is probably the most enduring and prolific mythic figure we have. This book traces the vampire out of folklore into serious art until he stabilizes early in this century into the character we all too easily recognize.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49605025857809,"sku":"GOR006663734","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49641912041745,"sku":"GOR004155890","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51008448987409,"sku":"NIN9780822307891","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51107497869585,"sku":"CIN0822307898A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52820054901009,"sku":"CIN0822307898G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0822307898.jpg?v=1763481735"},{"product_id":"adcult-usa-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231103251","title":"Adcult USA","description":"--  Philadelphia Inquirer","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49641970008337,"sku":"GOR012220774","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49802355867921,"sku":"CIN0231103255G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50154782884113,"sku":"GOR002753927","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51141161353489,"sku":"GOR006586144","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52436075512081,"sku":"CIN0231103255VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231103255.jpg?v=1751443919"},{"product_id":"living-it-up-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231124966","title":"Living It Up","description":"The democratization of luxury, Twitchell contends, has been the single most important marketing phenomenon of our times.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49646785954065,"sku":"GOR002046443","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50337707491601,"sku":"CIN0231124961VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51721748021521,"sku":"CIN0231124961G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231124961.jpg?v=1751101268"},{"product_id":"shopping-for-god-book-james-b-twitchell-9780743292870","title":"Shopping for God","description":"Synopsis coming soon.......","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49675980570897,"sku":"CIN0743292871G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":49808201646353,"sku":"CIN0743292871A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51729140187409,"sku":"GOR007470948","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743292871.jpg?v=1750945657"},{"product_id":"where-men-hide-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231137355","title":"Where Men Hide","description":"Documents both traditional and contemporary male haunts, such as bars, barbershops, lodges, pool halls, strip clubs, garages, deer camps, megachurches, the basement Barcalounger, and examines their provenance, purpose, and appeal.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49755682898193,"sku":"CIN0231137354G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231137354.jpg?v=1751356486"},{"product_id":"winnebago-nation-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231167789","title":"Winnebago Nation","description":"In Winnebago Nation, popular critic James B. Twitchell takes a light-hearted look at the culture and industry behind the yearning to spend the night in one's car. For the young the roadtrip is a coming-of-age ceremony; for those later in life it is the realization of a lifelong desire to be spontaneous, nomadic, and free. Informed by his own experiences on the road, Twitchell recounts the RV's origins and evolution over the twentieth century; its rise, fall, and rebirth as a cultural icon; its growing mechanical complexity as it evolved from an estate wagon to a converted bus to a mobile home; and its role in bolstering and challenging conceptions of American identity. Mechanical yet dreamy, independent yet needful, solitary yet clubby, adventurous yet homebound, life in a mobile home is a distillation of the American character and an important embodiment of American exceptionalism, (Richie Rich and Hobo Hank spend time in essentially the same rig at the same campground, albeit for different reasons and in different levels of comfort.) The frontier may be tapped out but we still yearn for the exploratory life. Twitchell concludes with his thoughts on the future of RV communities and the possibility of mobile cities becoming a real part of the American landscape.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49757200220433,"sku":"GOR009114952","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231167784.jpg?v=1751323556"},{"product_id":"branded-nation-book-james-b-twitchell-9780743243469","title":"Branded Nation","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49796474044689,"sku":"CIN0743243463G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0743243463.jpg?v=1751361126"},{"product_id":"carnival-culture-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231078313","title":"Carnival Culture","description":"--  Washington Post Book World","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50000071983377,"sku":"CIN0231078315G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52956546171153,"sku":"GOR003022144","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231078315.jpg?v=1751070696"},{"product_id":"lead-us-into-temptation-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231115186","title":"Lead Us Into Temptation","description":"Coke adds life. Just do it. Yo quiero Taco Bell. We live in a commercial age, awash in a sea of brand names, logos, and advertising jingles-not to mention commodities themselves. Are shoppers merely the unwitting stooges of the greedy producers who will stop at nothing to sell their wares? Are the producers' powers of persuasion so great that resistance is futile?  James Twitchell counters this assumption of the used and abused consumer with a witty and unflinching look at commercial culture, starting from the simple observation that \"we are powerfully attracted to the world of goods (after all, we don't call them 'bads').\" He contends that far from being forced upon us against our better judgment, \"consumerism is our better judgment.\" Why? Because increasingly, store-bought objects are what hold us together as a society, doing the work of \"birth, patina, pews, coats of arms, house, and social rank\"-previously done by religion and bloodline. We immediately understand the connotations of status and identity exemplified by the Nike swoosh, the Polo pony, the Guess? label, the DKNY logo. The commodity alone is not what we are after; rather, we actively and creatively want that logo and its signification-the social identity it bestows upon us. As Twitchell summarizes, \"Tell me what you buy, and I will tell what you are and who you want to be.\" Using elements as disparate as the film The Jerk, French theorists, popular bumper stickers, and Money magazine to explore the nature and importance of advertising lingo, packaging, fashion, and \"The Meaning of Self,\" Twitchell overturns one stodgy social myth after another. In the process he reveals the purchase and possession of things to be the self-identifying acts of modern life. Not only does the car you drive tell others who you are, it lets you know as well. The consumption of goods, according to Twitchell, provides us with tangible everyday comforts and with crucial inner security in a seemingly faithless age. That we may find our sense of self through buying material objects is among the chief indictments of contemporary culture. Twitchell, however, sees the significance of shopping. \"There are no false needs.\" We buy more than objects, we buy meaning. For many of us, especially in our youth, Things R Us.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50290811961617,"sku":"CIN0231115180G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50936207704337,"sku":"GOR007380599","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53508216291601,"sku":"GOR010060662","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231115180.jpg?v=1750813080"},{"product_id":"dreadful-pleasures-book-james-b-twitchell-9780195050677","title":"Dreadful Pleasures","description":"Examines the phenomena that make our hair stand on end, their persistence in our culture, their manifestation in the arts, and our need for the frisson they provide.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50338209595665,"sku":"GOR004562526","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51456778862865,"sku":"CIN0195050673G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0195050673.jpg?v=1751037487"},{"product_id":"shopping-for-god-how-christianity-went-from-in-your-heart-to-in-your-face-book-james-twitchell-9780743292887","title":"Shopping for God: How Christianity Went from In Your Heart to In Your Face","description":"'Shopping For God' tells the story of how religion went from a personal matter to yet another product or service that is advertised, marketed and purchased.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50358287696145,"sku":"CIN074329288XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51181273022737,"sku":"NIN9780743292887","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52434942722321,"sku":"NLS9780743292887","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/074329288X.jpg?v=1751042058"},{"product_id":"forbidden-partners-the-incest-taboo-in-modern-culture-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231064132","title":"Forbidden Partners: the Incest Taboo in Modern Culture","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50628768268561,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50628769186065,"sku":"GOR014017260","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231064136.jpg?v=1751133693"},{"product_id":"forbidden-partners-the-incest-taboo-in-modern-culture-book-james-b-twitchell-9780231064125","title":"Forbidden Partners: the Incest Taboo in Modern Culture","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53022818828561,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53022818959633,"sku":"GOR014700875","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780231064125.jpg?v=1768380959"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-james-b-twitchell.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}