Panati's Parade of Fads, Follies, and Manias: The Origins of Our Most Cherished Obsessions

Charles Panati, the foremost specialist on everything, turns his sharp eye to the every-changing parade of trends and fads that have shaped American popular culture for the last one hundred years.  We've bobbed to the Turkey Trot, flown through the air with the Lindy Hop, slam-danced through the New Wave and boogied till we dropped.  We've squeezed ourselves into poodle skirts, bell-bottom jeans, zoot suits, and flapper dresses; played mah-jongg and shouted 'Bingo!'; lost at Trivial Pursuit and skipped through hopscotch; cried through Wuthering Heights and been terrified by The Exorcist, laughed through A Night at the Opera and soared through Star Wars.  We've worn mood rings and ID bracelets; built ranch houses and bomb shelters; sat on flagpoles and gone to toga parties; improved ourselves with The Power of Positive Thinking and Emily Post's Etiquette; been swept away by 'Night and Day' and listened endlessly to the Beatles singing 'Yesterday'.  From Victorian postcards albums to CD collections, Panati's Parade is sure to absorb and delight.

About the Author: A physicist and former science editor of Newsweek, Charles Panati, has written about origins - and endings - in a series of bestsellers: Panati's Browser's Book of Beginnings; Browser's Book of Endings; Extraordinary Origins and Everyday Things; Sacred Origins of Profound Things; Sexy Origins and Intimate Things.