books:

	• Populuxe Thomas Hine Overlook TP, 2007 - 196 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Before Thomas Hine invented the term "Populuxe," the hopeful designs found in '50's and '60's fashion, furniture, architecture and automobiles were linked with the Space Age, the mighty atom, Rock 'n' Roll, and a nation in love with its wheels. Looking toward a bright future helped the Western world bear the reality of the shadow of Communism. As a guy with dim memories of this era I can say that this book is great fun to read with plenty of vintage pictures and insight into how the Space Age came to be and what it all meant.

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A book about style that won't go out of style

Hine's work is a meticulously researched, wonderfully illustrated work on how the American mindset of the 1950s and 1960s created both the consumer culture and the physical environment in which it thrives. All of this is masquerading as an enjoyable, nostalgic, amusement park ride through the world of split-level houses, tail finned cars, and orange Naugahyde-upholstered furniture. It's a fun read for all baby boomers as well as for any of their children who are trying to figure out why their parents think pink and green go together. By the way, I also recommend this book to any Europeans trying to understand American culture. Read this and the short story "The Concrete Mixer" by Ray Bradbury and you'll understand while McDonalds and Wal-Mart can't be stopped.

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With Us Today

Populuxe describes the postwar era from 1955-1964 when American consumerism reached its fullest expression. Since that time we have just recycled and re-invented that period's concepts and trends. Mr. Hines points to the product launch of the 1955 Chevy as marking the beginning, as it was the first mid-price car with tailfins, terminating with the staleness of the "future" presented at the 1964 World's Fair that came in the months after the crushing blow of JFK's assassination.

Thomas Hine describes the era as one that simultaneously looked back to the old west and to a space age future. The old west was a useful paradigm because it brought to mind the pioneer spirit; the sense of self-invention involved and the space age came with the atom bomb, sputnik and the astronauts. Fueled by sudden prosperity, shaped by sophisticated advertising and product marketing, embraced by an American middle class rich with dollars and plenty of leisure, it was the time of ever-growing tail fins on cars, the latest kitchen gadget and exuberant roadside architecture.

While the book would be highly enjoyable just for the descriptions of the products and trends of those times as well as the treasure trove of classic photos, Mr. Hines does more than that. He shows how the tenets of consumerism were laid out in this time; from feeding people a readymade identity through the products they purchased to creating new markets by fulfilling consumers desires rather than their needs. A toaster was no longer a machine that grilled bread. It was a space aged accessory that told its purchaser that he or she was pioneer in the land of tomorrow.

for more information click here

for more information click here

A book about style that won't go out of style

Hine's book is a meticulously researched, wonderfully illustrated work on how the American mindset of the 1950s and 1960s created both the consumer culture and the physical environment in which it thrives. All of this is masquerading as an enjoyable, nostalgic, amusement park ride through the world of split-level houses, tail finned cars, and orange Naugahyde-upholstered furniture. It's a fun read for all baby boomers as well as for any of their children who are trying to figure out why their parents think pink and green go together. By the way, I also recommend this book to any Europeans trying to understand American culture. Read this and the short story "The Concrete Mixer" by Ray Bradbury and you'll understand why McDonalds and Wal-Mart can't be stopped.

for more information click here

This book could be a blueprint for the whimsical looks at the 50's seen on History Channel documentaries.

Hines book is a fun, unpretentious look at the times that led to the designs. It is refreshing that the author didn't take the easy route and simply churn out a tome laundry listing trends simply to make fun of them. The book shows a great understanding and admiration of the industrial art of the era without any pretense or hubris

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The decade from 1954 to 1964 was one of America's great shopping sprees: never before were so many people able to acquire so many things, and never before was there such choice! These were the years when the United States was virtually unchallenged as a world power, the economy was booming, and the country reveled in a kind of innocent hedonism. It was the era of the newly created world of suburbia, where everything a family owned was provisional: even if it didn't wear out, one always had the hope of being able to move up the ladder to something better. Thomas Hine calls it "Populuxe"--populism and popularity and luxury, plus a totally unnecessary "e" to give it a little class; the word itself as synthetic as the world it describes. By examining the remarkable objects of this time and the life they represent, Hine takes us on an instructive, entertaining tour of this rather peculiar Golden Age. Whether you're a design nut or an appreciator of the defining era of American kitsch, Populuxe is sure to provide hours of insight and fun.

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