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The Fan Who Knew Too Much: Aretha Franklin, the Rise of the Soap Opera, Children of the Gospel Church, and Other Meditations
The Fan Who Knew Too Much Aretha Franklin the Rise of the Soap Opera Children of the Gospel Church and Other Meditations Author:Anthony Heilbut A dazzling exploration of American culture--from high pop to highbrow--from acclaimed music authority, cultural historian, and biographer, author of the now classic The Gospel Sound ("Definitive..." --Rolling Stone), Exiled in Paradise ("Insightful, valuable, and stimulating" --The New York Times), and Thomas Mann ("Electric" --Harold Brodkey).
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From the astounding epochal career of Aretha Franklin--Lady Soul--the longest-lasting female star of our time, to the explosive outing of gays, both black and white, in the gospel church; from the origins of the soap opera and the work of Irna Phillips, queen of daytime radio and television (she invented The Guiding Light and As the World Turns, among others; her early radio serials revealed unprecedented psychological complexity and were made up of her own empathic neuroses), to the long and profound reach of the German exiles (Hannah Arendt, Bertolt Brecht, Albert Einstein, Marlene Dietrich, et al.) in American science, politics, art, and beyond...from the work of one of the twentieth century's greatest
writers, the European modernist and blazing radical Joseph Roth, a Galician Jew who became the most symphonic troubadour of the Hapsburg monarchy, to a riveting meditation on the obsessiveness (and melancholy) of modern fandom--here is a fascinating, elegant, incisive look at America: its breathtaking icons and steadfast adorers.« less