This lively and informative survey provides a thematic global history of popular culture focusing on the period since the end of the Second World War.

A History of Popular Culture explores the rapid diffusion and 'hybridization' of popular culture as the result of three conditions of the world since the end of World War Two: instantaneous communications, widespread consumption in a market-based economy and the visualization of reality. Betts considers the dominance of American entertainment media and habits of consumption, assessing adaptation and negative reactions to this influence.

Now updated, by Lyz Bly, to include major developments such as blogs and social networks, YouTube.com, and enhanced technologies such as the iPhone, iPod, and iPad as well as the way in which the internet has reshaped the ways we consume media. The book provides an engaging introduction to this pervasive and ever-changing subject.

Raymond F. Betts was Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and the author of many books on culture and empire, including Decolonization (Routledge 2004).

Preface. Introduction. 1. Popular culture in an early twentieth-century environment 2. Popular culture joins the war effort 3. Reconfiguing time and space 4. Picture this: a new world of images 5. All the world's a stage: contemporary entertainment in its many forms 6. Happily spaced out: the topography of pleasure and diversion 7. The unintended outcomes Conclusion: Reconditioning the human condition. Buibilography. Index.