The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II / Edition 1

by Luis Alvarez

Overview

Flamboyant zoot suit culture, with its ties to fashion, jazz and swing music, jitterbug and Lindy Hop dancing, unique patterns of speech, and even risqué experimentation with gender and sexuality, captivated the country's youth in the 1940s. The Power of the Zoot is the first book to give national consideration to this famous phenomenon. Providing a new history of youth culture based on rare, in-depth interviews with former zoot-suiters, Luis Alvarez explores race, region, and the politics of culture in urban America during World War II. He argues that Mexican American and African American youths, along with many nisei and white youths, used popular culture to oppose accepted modes of youthful behavior, the dominance of white middle-class norms, and expectations from within their own communities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520261549
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	09/22/2009
Series:	American Crossroads , #24
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	961,548
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Luis Alvarez is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments and Dedication
Introduction

PART ONE. DIGNITY DENIED: YOUTH IN THE EARLY WAR YEARS
1. Race and Political Economy
2. Class Politics and Juvenile Delinquency

PART TWO. THE STRUGGLE FOR DIGNITY: ZOOT STYLE DURING WORLD WAR II
3. Zoot Style and Body Politics
4. Zoots, Jazz, and Public Space

PART THREE. VIOLENCE AND NATIONAL BELONGING ON THE HOME FRONT
5. Zoot Violence in Los Angeles
6. Race Riots across the United States
Epilogue: From Zoot Suits to Hip-Hop

Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Diligently charts a culture's exemplar, the zoot suit, and connects it to modern fashion and music . . . . It is a compelling window into the U.S. in the war years as seen from a much different point of view."—The Morning News

"Deserves much credit for analyzing youth fashion during the era of swing jazz as a national phenomenon ."—The Journal of American History

"Colorful, entertaining, and frequently enlightening. . . . Alvarez leaves us asking for more."—New Mexico Historical Review

"[Alvarez's] scholarship is now the best and most comprehensive book on Zoot Suit culture, society, and race conflict during World War II."—H-Urban

"The work is admirable wide and deep."—Journal of World History

Editorial Reviews

Deserves much credit for analyzing youth fashion during the era of swing jazz as a national phenomenon .

The Journal Of American History

Colorful, entertaining, and frequently enlightening. . . . Alvarez leaves us asking for more.

New Mexico Historical Review

[Alvarez’s] scholarship is now the best and most comprehensive book on Zoot Suit culture, society, and race conflict during World War II.

H-Urban

[A] fascinating work of scholarship.

Left History

A solid contribution to the field.

Winterthur Portfolio: Journal Of American Material Culture

The work is admirable wide and deep.

Journal Of World History

Diligently charts a culture’s exemplar, the zoot suit, and connects it to modern fashion and music . . . . It is a compelling window into the U.S. in the war years as seen from a much different point of view.

The Morning News

“A solid contribution to the field.

Winterthur Portfolio: Journal Of American Material Culture