Description: Presents a highly original and detailed investigation into the nature of American visual, musical and cultural influences on British youth between 1945 and 1960. It looks at the spread of youth culture, juke boxes, coffee and milk bars, dress styles and rock 'n' roll and the context of these 'new' cultural influences in design, music and lifestyle.
Brief description: Adrian Horn is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of History at Lancaster University, and an Associate Lecturer in Social Sciences with the Open University
Review Quotes: Richard Hoggart believed that the juke box was a harbinger of all the worst features of American mass culture. Using a range of primary and secondary sources, from the trade press of the music industry to memoirs and interviews, and drawing on an established sociological and historical literature on postwar youth cultures, Adrian Horn has produced an innovative and scholarly work. He charts the cultural impact of juke boxes in Britain in meticulous detail, and sheds much needed light also on the cultural worlds of 'the juke box boys' and youth cafes of postwar Britain.'