Intellectuals Incorporated: Politics, Art, and Ideas Inside Henry Luce's Media Empire Contributor(s): Vanderlan, Robert (Author) |
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ISBN: 0812242718 ISBN-13: 9780812242713 Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press OUR PRICE: $61.70 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 2010 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 20th Century - Social Science | Media Studies |
Dewey: 070.509 |
LCCN: 2010005566 |
Series: Politics and Culture in Modern America (Hardcover) |
Physical Information: 1.4" H x 6.2" W x 9" (1.75 lbs) 392 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Publishing tycoon Henry Luce famously championed many conservative causes, and his views as a capitalist and cold warrior were reflected in his glossy publications. Republican Luce aimed squarely for the Middle American masses, yet his magazines attracted intellectually and politically ambitious minds who were moved by the democratic aspirations of the New Deal and the left. Much of the best work of intellectuals such as James Agee, Archibald MacLeish, Daniel Bell, John Hersey, and Walker Evans owes a great debt to their experiences writing for Luce and his publications. Intellectuals Incorporated tells the story of the serious writers and artists who worked for Henry Luce and his magazines Time, Fortune, and Life between 1923 and 1960, the period when the relationship between intellectuals, the culture industry, and corporate capitalism assumed its modern form. Countering the notions that working for corporations means selling out and that the true life of the mind must be free from institutional ties, historian Robert Vanderlan explains how being embedded in the corporate culture industries was vital to the creative efforts of mid-century thinkers. Illuminating their struggles through careful research and biographical vignettes, Vanderlan shows how their contributions to literary journalism and the wider political culture would have been impossible outside Luce's media empire. By paying attention to how these writers and photographers balanced intellectual aspiration with journalistic perspiration, Intellectuals Incorporated advances the idea of the intellectual as a connected public figure who can engage and criticize organizations from within. |