Carnival of Light
Perspectives on the Beatles
Edited by
James Patrick McGrath [+–]
Leeds Metropolitan University
Part time lecturer in Cultural Studies (Media, English, History). Published numerous articles and reviews (including a book review for PMH).
Peter Mills [+–]
Leeds Beckett University
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, School of Cultural Studies, Leeds Beckett University
The Beatles’ lives and work continue to delight fans and influence musicians half a century since their heyday. Yet their contribution to contemporary culture and their relationship to social change remain controversial topics in need of reappraisal. This two volume collection brings together two dozen leading scholars of the Beatles to examine their origins, output and legacy. Interdisciplinary in its approach and international is its outlook, Understanding The Beatles showcases the latest research by historians, art historians, musicologists, geographers, sociologists and cultural critics bringing new perspectives on The Beatles and their milieu which will interest academic and fans alike.
Volume One, The Beatles in Context: Politics, Identify, Culture, explores the relationship between The Beatles and their times. It situates them in the changing class, gender and ethnic dynamics of postwar Britain, considers them as Liverpudlians and Orientalists, and compares them to contemporaries from Bob Dylan to Charles Manson.
Volume Two, The Beatles and Their Audiences: Creativity, Reception, Interpretation focuses on the production, consumption and interpretation of The Beatles. Their creativity in the studio is considered alongside how they were managed, marketed and appreciated by multiple audiences from the 1960s to the present. Chapters on research and teaching The Beatles assess the current state of the field.
Series: Studies in Popular Music
Table of Contents
Introduction
Leeds Metropolitan University
Part time lecturer in Cultural Studies (Media, English, History). Published numerous articles and reviews (including a book review for PMH).
Leeds Beckett University
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, School of Cultural Studies, Leeds Beckett University
Chapter 1
Leeds Metropolitan University
Part time lecturer in Cultural Studies (Media, English, History). Published numerous articles and reviews (including a book review for PMH).
While Lennon and McCartney’s class affiliations are ambiguous to degrees that should remain debatable, the depth and the detail in which working-class life defines their work have been overlooked, thus misrepresenting The Beatles’ cultural significance. As Collins (2012) critiques, initial New Left criticisms of The Beatles – almost exclusively in response to one composition, ‘Revolution’ (1968) – have recently been adapted by commentators eager to portray The Beatles as a culturally and politically conservative force. I argue that early Left-wing and recent Right-wing criticisms of The Beatles’ legacy are misleading, because both overlook Lennon and McCartney’s different relationships to working-class culture. I also emphasize an importantly related, even more marginalized aspect of The Beatles’ history: the significance of black musical and cultural influences from Liverpool. The article seeks to offer new interpretations of songs including ‘Norwegian Wood’, ‘A Day in the Life’, ‘Revolution’, ‘Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da’ and ‘Working Class Hero’.
Chapter 2
Lehman College (CUNY)
Professor, Department of Africana Studies, Lehman College – City University of New York
This chapter looks at The Beatles in relation to ethnic matters in Liverpool and the United Kingdom.
Chapter 3
University of South Wales
Reader in History
Looks at the ‘orientalism’ inherent in The Beatles’ embrace of Eastern mysticism.
Chapter 4
University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Professor of Geography
Looks at the reception of The Beatles in a period of dynamic demographic change in the United Kingdom (and most of the Western World).
Chapter 5
The Bohemian Beatles [+–]
University of York (Emeritus)
Emeritus Professor of Sociology
This chapter looks at The Beatles in relation to contemporary ‘lifestyle’ debates.
Chapter 6
University of Toledo
Russell Reising is Professor emeritus in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Toledo.
Leeds Beckett University
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, School of Cultural Studies, Leeds Beckett University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Part time lecturer in Cultural Studies (Media, English, History). Published numerous articles and reviews (including a book review for PMH).
Chapter 7
Birmingham City University
Chapter 8
St. Mary’s University Twickenham
Richard Mills is Senior Lecturer in English, Creative Writing and Film & Screen Media at St Mary’s University in Twickenham.
Chapter 9
Teesside University
Senior Lecturer in Media Studies
Chapter 10
University of Wolverhampton
Senior Lecturer in English
University of Wolverhampton
Senior Lecturer in English
Examines how The Beatle’s compositions may have influenced the psychopath Charles Manson.
Chapter 11
University of Toledo
Russell Reising is Professor emeritus in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Toledo.
Leeds Beckett University
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, School of Cultural Studies, Leeds Beckett University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Part time lecturer in Cultural Studies (Media, English, History). Published numerous articles and reviews (including a book review for PMH).
Chapter 12
University of Aberdeen
Dr. Martin Malone, University of Aberdeen.
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
University of Toledo
Russell Reising is Professor emeritus in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Toledo.
Leeds Beckett University
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, School of Cultural Studies, Leeds Beckett University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Part time lecturer in Cultural Studies (Media, English, History). Published numerous articles and reviews (including a book review for PMH).
ISBN-13 (Hardback)
9781781791950
Price (Hardback)
£75.00 / $100.00
ISBN-13 (Paperback)
9781800502420
Price (Paperback)
£24.95 / $32.00
ISBN (eBook)
9781781791967
Price (eBook)
Individual
£24.95 / $32.00
Institutional
£75.00 / $100.00
£24.95 / $32.00
Institutional
£75.00 / $100.00
Publication
01/03/2023
Pages
256
Size
234 x 156mm
Readership
students, scholars and general readers
