Carnival Culture: The Trashing of Taste in America

There's very little written on this subject-the steady decline and vulgarization of taste values in mass media. As Mr Twitchell states, the word 'vulgar' is losing it's meaning due to the tidal wave of vulgarity which inundates our culture. The trends which now dominate American culture were presciently beheld when they were still far more difficult to perceive in the early 90s, when the book was written. This is, by far, the best book on the subject I know of. It was written before the muzzle of PC was strapped onto American discourse.

This is a fantastic book for those interested in the forgotten, often-belittled world of mainstream popular culture. Although at times Twitchell seems to have a negative take on the world of Stephen King, the WWF, and Barnum himself, I found this world fascinating, even, strangely, inspiring.