[.ca] American Cool: Constructing a Twentieth-Century ... (ISBN 0814779964)

Vague academic drivel:
The subtitle, "Constructing a Twentieth-Century Emotional Style" sounded interesting. Travel abroad or meet foreigners here and yes indeed there is an American "emotional style" and it's very much about appearing "cool". I think that's what the book is about. So, as a bad book, this is also a disappointing one. I suppose there's an academic discipline out there where this kind of stuff flies. To this layman, however, _American Cool_ is repetitive and boring. It's written with the kind of indifference to specifics and evidence, and a frequent use of deconstructionist buzzwords, that suggests it is preaching to some choir...somewhere. Maybe someone from that choir will submit a more favorable review and tell me how to read this book.