Ted Gioia

Ted Gioia can be contacted at
tedgioia@hotmail.com

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Also visit
Great Books Guide
The New Canon
Conceptual Fiction
Jazz.com

Photo by Kent Barker

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The Birth (and Death) of the Cool

By Ted Gioia

It's hard to imagine that "the cool" could ever go out of style.
After all, cool is style. Isn't it? And it may be harder to imagine a
world where people no longer aspire to coolness. In this
intriguing cultural history, nationally acclaimed author Ted Gioia
shows why cool is not a timeless concept and how it has begun to
lose meaning and fade into history. Gioia deftly argues that what
became iconic in the 1950s with Miles Davis, James Dean, and
others has been manipulated, stretched, and pushed to a
breaking point—not just in our media, entertainment, and fashion
industries, but also by corporations, political leaders, and social
institutions. Tolling the death knell for the cool, this thought-
provoking book reveals how and why a new cultural tone is
emerging, one marked by sincerity, earnestness, and a quest for
authenticity.

Listen to a podcast interview with the author here.

Order the book here.

Another recent release:

Delta Blues by Ted Gioia, a notable
book of the year in The New York
Times and a "best of the year" book in
The Economist is now available in
paperback.

Read more about Delta Blues here.

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Check out Ted's writing on books and literary matters at these web sites

Great Books Guide
Reviews of current works of literary fiction

The New Canon
Focus on the best literary fiction published since 1985

Conceptual Fiction
In-depth look at storytelling with a conceptual tilt, including classic works of science fiction,
fantasy, magical realism and alternate history.

Selected Ted Gioia publications on the web:

Notes on Conceptual Fiction
The Music of the Tango
Twelve Essential Tango Recordings
Alan Lomax and the FBI
Exhuming Robert Musil: A Fresh Look at The Man Without Qualities
A History of Cool Jazz in 100 Tracks
A History of New Orleans Music in 100 Tracks
Review of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest
Jazz Vocals in the New Millennium
In Search of Dupree Bolton
Where Did Our Revolution Go?
One Dozen Memorable Works of Hispanic Fiction
Review of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice
The Alt Reality Nobel Prize
Review of Don DeLillo's Underworld
Milton Nascimento: 12 Essential Tracks
Review of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Bill Evans: 12 Essential Tracks
Early Vintage Wynton Marsalis
Robert Heinlein at One Hundred
The Fourteen Skies of Michael Chabon
Is Bird Dead?
Who is Grace Kelly?
Review of Jonathan Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude
Why Lester Young Matters
Could Chet Baker Play Jazz?
The Jazzy Side of Frank Zappa
Review of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
Harlem Jazz: 12 Essential Tracks
Review of Mark Z. Danielweski's House of Leaves
Fringe Guitar
J.G. Ballard's Crash
Herbie Hancock: 12 Essential Tracks
Keith Jarrett: 12 Essential Tracks
Brad Mehldau: 12 Essential Tracks
Assessing Brad Mehldau at Mid-Career
Review of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian
Review of Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones
Lennie Tristano: 12 Essential Tracks
Denny Zeitlin on Mosaic
Franco: The James Brown of Africa
The King of Western Swing
The Chronicles of Narnia
Tito Puente: The Complete 78s (1949-1955)
Review of Ian McEwan's Atonement

See Ted Gioia's contribution to
A New Literary History of America,
edited by Greil Marcus and
Werner Sollors, published by
Harvard University Press