cover image POPLORICA: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore That Shaped Modern America

POPLORICA: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore That Shaped Modern America

Patrick J. Kiger, Martin J. Smith, . . Harper Resource, $22.95 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-06-053531-5

Who'd have thought that Willis Carrier's "Apparatus for Treating Air," an early air conditioner patented in 1906, would set the stage for the Republican domination of Washington that started with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 (by allowing for a population shift to the hotter Southern states)? Or that 260 tons of leftover turkey would help usher in a profound change in the way Americans eat and socialize with their families (by stuffing the first TV dinners)? Smith (a Los Angeles Times Magazine editor) and Kiger (a freelancer and regular contributor to Discovery.com) share 20 similarly significant milestones in this "Cliff Notes of contemporary culture" chronicling some overlooked but strangely influential moments in American history. A mélange of strange occurrences, the book is brisk and frisky, addressing everything from the extracurricular exploits of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey to the way in which former first lady Betty Ford's public struggle with addiction presaged an era that would finally accept drug and alcohol abuse as a disease and not a moral failing. Though its yuckity-yuck style approaches the cornball at times, the book succeeds in placing into context the chosen developments in a breezy, compulsively readable fashion. Thanks to these two research-happy authors, readers may decide it's okay to restore that velvet Elvis to its honored place above the mantle, where it can enjoy a second life as a treasured piece of ironic Americana. All history should be this much fun. (On sale Mar. 31)

Forecast: With ads in American Quarterly and Popular Culture and a 50-city national radio campaign, Poplorica could reach fans of quirky trivia, especially after the success of Schott's Original Miscellany.