Book description
An evocative symbol of the 1960s was its youth counterculture. This study reveals that the youthful revolutionaries were augmented by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business. The ad industry celebrated irrepressible youth and promoted defiance and revolt. In the 1950s, Madison Avenue deluged the…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Conquest of Cool as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I had always been interested in the contradictions of the American counter-culture, so I loved how Frank underscored how rebellion and dissent had such a surprisingly positive impact on the corporate world.
Far from seeing counter-cultural messages as threats to American capitalism, marketing, and advertising executives welcomed these non-conformist ideals as a fantastic way of commercializing their mundane products by connecting them with hipness and authenticity. Frank’s contrarian position jibes well with my own thoughts on the topic, and I really enjoyed how he takes the reader through the genesis of hip advertising.
From Chris' list on history of the American counter-culture.
If you love The Conquest of Cool...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like The Conquest of Cool?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Conquest of Cool.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,298
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Conquest of Cool, you might also like...
Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman
Kate from Jules et Jim meets I Love Dick.
A young woman filmmaker’s journey of self-discovery, set against a backdrop of the sexual liberation movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman, we follow Ana Fried as she faces the ultimate…
Dark Fae Outcast
Trapped in our world, the fae are dying from drugs, contaminants, and hopelessness. Kicked out of the dark fae court for tainting his body and magic, Riasg only wants one thing: to die a bit faster. It’s already the end of his world, after all.
But while scoring his last…
