{"product_id":"zoot-suit-the-enigmatic-career-of-an-extreme-style-paperback-softback-9780812223033","title":"Zoot Suit; The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style (Paperback \/ softback) 9780812223033","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eZoot Suit\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThe Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eKathy Peiss (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812223033\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 5 March 2014\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e248 pages, 28 illus.\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.38 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Refreshingly skeptical of the intellectual habit of reducing all cultural expression to the political.\" (\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e) \"Peiss is a creative and brilliant scholar and her book is a much-welcomed addition to the body of scholarship dedicated to unlocking the riddle of the zoot.\" (\u003ci\u003eAmerican Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e) \"Thorough, well-researched, and illuminating.\" (\u003ci\u003ePopMatters\u003c\/i\u003e) \"An important and valuable book. The breadth of research upon which it is based and Peiss's determination to question conventional assumptions considerably enrich our understanding of the zoot.\" (\u003ci\u003eJournal of American Studies\u003c\/i\u003e) \"Kathy Peiss brilliantly unravels the many meanings of the zoot suit while sustaining the aesthetic pleasure of its creation in the complex cultural fabric of American life. \u003ci\u003eZoot Suit\u003c\/i\u003e is a cultural history laced with the eye of ethnography, showing how an original African American sartorial style carried substantial symbolic power into the lives of Mexican American \u003ci\u003epachucos suaves\u003c\/i\u003e, Jewish tailor trumpeters, and all who would wear 'the Drape' as a statement of hipness.\" (Nick Spitzer, producer and host of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Routes\u003c\/i\u003e) \"\u003ci\u003eZoot Suit\u003c\/i\u003e is a sophisticated, independent minded, and valuable book; there should be more work like it in the field. Peiss's principled attention to evidence, her nuanced argument, and her willingness to question conventional assumptions about the meaning of popular forms all go a long way toward re-grounding American Studies in the lived world.\" (Carlo Rotella, author of \u003ci\u003eGood With Their Hands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eZOOT SUIT (n.): the ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit.\u003cbr\u003e -Cab Calloway, \u003ci\u003eThe Hepster's Dictionary\u003c\/i\u003e, 1944\u003cbr\u003e Before the fashion statements of hippies, punks, or hip-hop, there was the zoot suit, a striking urban look of the World War II era that captivated the imagination. Created by poor African American men and obscure tailors, the \"drape shape\" was embraced by Mexican American pachucos, working-class youth, entertainers, and swing dancers, yet condemned by the U.S. government as wasteful and unpatriotic in a time of war. The fashion became notorious when it appeared to trigger violence and disorder in Los Angeles in 1943-events forever known as the \"zoot suit riot.\" In its wake, social scientists, psychiatrists, journalists, and politicians all tried to explain the riddle of the zoot suit, transforming it into a multifaceted symbol: to some, a sign of social deviance and psychological disturbance, to others, a gesture of resistance against racial prejudice and discrimination. As controversy swirled at home, young men in other places-French zazous, South African tsotsi, Trinidadian saga boys, and Russian stiliagi-made the American zoot suit their own.\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eZoot Suit\u003c\/i\u003e, historian Kathy Peiss explores this extreme fashion and its mysterious career during World War II and after, as it spread from Harlem across the United States and around the world. She traces the unfolding history of this style and its importance to the youth who adopted it as their uniform, and at the same time considers the way public figures, experts, political activists, and historians have interpreted it. This outrÉ style was a turning point in the way we understand the meaning of clothing as an expression of social conditions and power relations. Zoot Suit offers a new perspective on youth culture and the politics of style, tracing the seam between fashion and social action.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e 1 Making the Suit Zoot\u003cbr\u003e 2 Going to Extremes\u003cbr\u003e 3 Into the Public Eye\u003cbr\u003e 4 From Rags to Riot\u003cbr\u003e 5 Reading the Riddle\u003cbr\u003e 6 Zooting Around the World\u003cbr\u003e Aftermath\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52695028990232,"sku":"9780812223033","price":18.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/zoot-suit-the-enigmatic-career-of-an-extreme-style-paperback-softback-9780812223033","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}