Beatlemania in America

A fascinating account of the youth craze known as Beatlemania. While explaining the screaming crowds that the Beatles garnered as they toured the U.S., Hunt documents important themes, like how the civil rights movement related to the craze and how merchandising and commodification of the band mattered as much as the music itself. Fans did what they wanted to squeeze meaning out of it all. And before reading this book, I had never heard of anti-Beatles clubs! And just how polarized American audiences were. Just something more to add to an already fascinating treatment of Beatlemania. * Kevin Mattson Connor, Study Professor of Contemporary History, Ohio University, USA *
Beatlemania in America offers a nuanced look at one of the most consequential cultural phenomena of the twentieth century. The challenge in writing about Beatlemania today is to not only offer new insights, but to communicate the band's ubiquity and disruptiveness. Andrew Hunt has met this challenge. * Candy Leonard, author of Beatleness: How the Beatles and Their Fans Remade the World *
Andrew Hunt’s Beatlemania in America: Fan Culture from Below affords readers with a fascinating study of the fan communities that made the Beatles’ pop-cultural explosion a reality for the ages. Drawing on fanzines and oral histories, Hunt brings the contours of Beatlemania to life in new and innovative ways. * Kenneth Womack, author of Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles *