Peter Burke: Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe (1978)

Long neglected by historians, the concept of cultural history has in the last few decades come to the fore of historical research into early modern Europe. Due in no small part to the pioneering work of Peter Burke, the tools of the cultural historian are now routinely brought to bear on every aspect of history, and have transformed our understanding of the past.First published in 1978, this study examines the broad sweep of pre-industrial Europe’s popular culture. From the world of the professional entertainer to the songs, stories, rituals and plays of ordinary people, it shows how the attitudes and values of the otherwise inarticulate shaped – and were shaped by – the shifting social, religious and political conditions of European society between 1500 and 1800.

Publisher Harper & Row, 1978
ISBN 0-06-131928-7
366 pages

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Kodwo Eshun: More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction (1998)

“Less a critical survey than a manifesto for the neuron-altering powers of “breakbeat science,” this ingenious book traces the development of sampladelia from the “jazz fission” era of ’68-’75 (with excellent analyses of George Russell’s and Herbie Hancock’s sonic experiments), through the Parliament/Funkadelic groovescapes of the late ’70s (including close scrutiny of Pedro Bell’s subversive cover art), through Electro (early ’80s synth oriented hip hop) and Detroit Techno, to the present Jungle milieu of time stretching and spatio-acoustics. Eschewing a traditional music-crit vocabulary in favor of a riffing, neologistic verbal poetics, Eshun perfectly captures the sci-fi convolutions of the music he describes, and makes an infectious case for the birth of a new audio-paradigm.”

Publisher    Quartet Books, London, 1998
ISBN    0704380250, 9780704380257
17+222 pages

Interviews with author: Dirk Van Weelden (Mediamatic, 1999), Geert Lovink (Telepolis, 2000).
Commentary: McKenzie Wark (Public Seminar, 2017).

Reviews: Kim Cascone (Computer Music Journal, 2000), Chris Mitchell (Spike Magazine, 2000).

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PDF (4 MB, updated on 2021-3-17)
Music playlist (Youtube, added on 2020-6-29)

Herbert Marcuse: One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (1964–) [EN, ES, GR, TR, CZ, AL]

“One of the most important texts of modern times, Herbert Marcuses analysis and image of a one-dimensional man in a one-dimensional society has shaped many young radicals ways of seeing and experiencing life. Published in 1964, it fast became an ideological bible for the emergent New Left. As Douglas Kellner notes in his introduction, Marcuses greatest work was a damning indictment of contemporary Western societies, capitalist and communist. Yet it also expressed the hopes of a radical philosopher that human freedom and happiness could be greatly expanded beyond the regimented thought and behaviour prevalent in the established society. For those who held the reins of power Marcuses call to arms threatened civilization to its very core. For many others, however, it represented a freedom hitherto unimaginable.”

First edition published by Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964
Second edition by Routledge, 1991
ISBN 9780415289764
275 pages

One-Dimensional Man (English, 2nd ed., 1964/1991, 11 MB, updated on 2016-12-23)
El Hombre unidimensional (Spanish, trans. Antonio Elorza, 1965/1993, added on 2014-6-7)
Ο μονοδιάστατος άνθρωπος (Greek, trans. Μπάμπης Λυκούδης, 1971, added on 2014-6-7)
Tek-Boyutlu Insan (Turkish, trans. Aziz Yardimli, 1986, HTML, added on 2014-6-7)
Jednorozměrný člověk (Czech, trans. Miroslav Rýdl, 1991, added on 2014-6-11)
Njeriu njëdimensional (Albanian, trans. Gaqo Karakshi, 2006, added on 2014-6-7)