Pop Culture Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race

This collection of essays and reviews from various periodicals providesan absorbing critical trip back in time to musicians and other cultural entities from the 80s and 90s that were important to most anyone who was listening an watching back then.Miss Cooper has re-stirred the excitement I experienced when I first heard music from Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Sade, Prince, et al. She has made me to want to hear and learn about Gospel and Brazilian music. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.And Miss Cooper's writing provides an unusual, welcome, and impressive combination of fact, social commentary, cultural context, and humor.This is an absorbing collection by an important observer of an underappreciated period in our and some nearby cultures.

I used to follow Carol's writing in The Voice and other venues, and I was very glad to find this book. As was said in another review, she offers a fine and (thankfully) opinionated snapshot of two fascinating decades and their music/films/entertainment. I strongly recommend it.

Carol Cooper's articles over the years have either opened my eyes to things I never knew existed in my own and others' cultures, but also provide a snapshot of the moment in which they were written, without being dated. I am so glad her work is now being collected!