The film Zeitgeist became an overnight internet sensation with its claims Christianity was based upon a pagan solar mythology. This idea, developed in the eighteenth century but dismissed as ridiculous by scholars, has held support among anti-religious and occultic thinkers and recently was popularized by conspiracy theorists. In the first of a two volume critique of these ideas, Albert McIlhenny takes on the claims of its best known supporters. By the end of this volume, the theory of "astrotheology" is show to be based on various historical mistakes popular in early modernity but since shown to be erroneous. It is demonstrated the source of its current support is not based upon any evidence but the wild claims of conspiracy theorists dressed up to look like scholarship.
"A collection of adult fantasy comic strips first serialized in The Evergreen Review. The satirical comics presented the adventures of debutante Phoebe Zeit-Geist as she was variously kidnapped and rescued by a series of bizarre characters, such as Nazis, Chinese foot fetishists, and lesbian assassins." --Amazon.com
Cultural Revolution Culture, often denigrated as nothing but propaganda, was liked not only in its heyday but continues to be enjoyed today. A Continuous Revolution sets out to explain its legacy. By considering Cultural Revolution propaganda art—music, stage works, prints and posters, comics, and literature—from the point of view of its longue durée, Barbara Mittler suggests it was able to build on a tradition of earlier art works, and this allowed for its sedimentation in cultural memory and its proliferation in contemporary China. Taking the aesthetic experience of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) as her base, Mittler juxtaposes close readings and analyses of cultural products from the period with impressions given in a series of personal interviews conducted in the early 2000s with Chinese from diverse class and generational backgrounds. By including much testimony from these original voices, Mittler illustrates the extremely multifaceted and contradictory nature of the Cultural Revolution, both in terms of artistic production and of its cultural experience.
Since the 1950s, men and women around the world have claimed to have had contact with human-like visitors from space. This book explores how the "contactee" subculture has critiqued political, social and cultural trends in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Not merely quaint relics of the 1950s Atomic Age, contactees have continued their messages of transformation into the 21st century. Regardless of whether these alleged contacts took the form of physical meetings or channeled paranormal psychic communications, or whether they actually happened at all, contactees have provided a consistently relevant source of commentary on this world and beyond.
One Man Zeitgeist: Dave Eggers, Publishing and Publicity undertakes the first extensive analysis of the works of Dave Eggers, an author who has grown from a small-time media upstart into one of the most influential author-publishers of the twenty-first century. Eggers' rise to fame is charted in careful detail, offering analysis of the circumstances of his success and their effects on the production of his literary oeuvre. As both a memoirist and novelist Eggers has distinguished himself from his cohort of young American authors by insisting on seizing the reins of his publishing output. The nature of this independent streak is given attention in this study, particularly the cultural circumstances of a digitalised, consumer society in which books and literature are primarily commodities.Hamilton examines this spirit of independence as both a practical and figurative state in Eggers' works, and seeks to address the reasons why in a contemporary, globalised society independence is not only personally gratifying for Eggers but also a popularly successful strategy for producing books.
"Trying to figure out how to connect with customers when traditional marketing has lost much of its value, and why 'connecting' is a whole lot more than today's buzzword? This is the book for you." -Kelly Erickson, author of Maximum Customer Experience Most people know that branding is the most effective marketing strategy to build a long-term relationship with a dedicated group of customers. But many of us forget about the zeitgeist. The zeitgeist is the evolving collective consciousness of society, and it is what people are talking about. It's what determines trends and buying behaviors. Companies can tap into the power of the zeitgeist by providing customers with the tools they need to spread marketing messages through word-of-mouth and other viral channels. Chris Houchens, a marketing expert, uses real-world examples to show how branding works. Discover: Methods to craft and hone messages How to make the most out of first impressions Ways to harness groupthink The importance of logos and visual brand elements How to use social media How to measure the effectiveness of branding efforts And much more! If you have no idea how to create a marketing strategy or if you just need a fresh perspective on branding, then Brand Zeitgeist is for you.
This book investigates the emergence of the modern concept of zeitgeist, the notion of a pervasive contemporary coherence, in the late 18th century. It traces zeitgeist’s descent from genius saeculi and investigates its association with public spirit and public opinion before surveying its prominence around the Wars of Liberation in Germany and during the politically restless 1820s in England. This trajectory shows that zeitgeist emerged from the 18th-century discourses about culture and the public functioning of social collectives. Under the impact of the French Revolution the term came to describe social processes of political and cultural challenge. Zeitgeist was discussed as a social dynamic in which emerging elites disseminate new ideas which find enough public approval to influence cultural and political behaviour and practice. These findings modify the view that zeitgeist eludes critical grasp and is mainly invoked for manipulative purposes by showing that the zeitgeist discussions around 1800 contributed to the formation of modern politics and capture key aspects of how ideas are disseminated within societies and across borders, providing a way of reading history horizontally.
Patricia M. Greenfield was one of the first psychologists to present new research on how various media can be used to promote social growth and thinking skills. In this now classic, she argues that each medium can make a contribution to development, that each has strengths and weaknesses, and that the ideal childhood environment includes a multimedia approach to learning. In the Introduction to the Classic Edition, Greenfield shows how the original edition set themes that have extended into contemporary research on media and child development, and includes an explanation of how the new media landscape has changed her own research and thinking.