p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Calibri} Maria Sherman is a music writer and culture critic currently living in Brooklyn, New York. She has worked as a senior writer at Jezebel, managing editor at Gizmodo Media Group, senior correspondent at Fuse TV, and contributor at BuzzFeed Music. You may have seen her work at NPR and in Billboard, SPIN, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and many other quality publications. If she were in a boy band, she'd be the bad boy. Also, Harry Styles ruined her life. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Calibri}
"Larger Than Life...shakes off decades of under-appreciation for
the pop subgenre and lays out a fascinating, in-depth history of
the groups and fans that have shaped boy band culture."--Rolling
Stone
"Larger Than Life champions the enduring legacy of these male vocal
groups, from winsome 1930s barber shop quartets to fetching Disney
Channel celebrities. It looks like an oversized edition of a teen
gossip magazine, embellished with patterned yellow borders, pink
and blue headings, and bubbly illustrations inspired by Tiger
Beat."--Pitchfork
"Larger Than Life does not only serve as a meaningful piece of pop
music criticism, but it strives to be a celebration of a fandom
that was built from the love of young women despite boy band fandom
being written off as a hormonal mob letting out guttural screams
for mediocre singers."--AIPT Comics
"Larger Than Life is a fun read, a bright large-format paperback
generously illustrated by Alex Fine. Whether it's a nostalgia trip
or a list of your current favorite artists, it's a no-brainer gift
for any boy band fan in your life."--The Current
"[An] exhaustive guide to an enduring cultural phenomenon."--Texas
Monthly
"[This] colorfully illustrated book is perfect for diehard stans,
pop culture aficionados and music fans looking to fill a blind
spot."--Paste Magazine
"A definitive guide to the pop phenomenon [of boy bands] through
capsule histories of the swooniest groups, in-depth investigations
into one-hit wonders, conspiracy theories, dating, in-fighting,
haters, fan fiction, fashion and more."--Billboard
"A witty, irreverent, but almost scholarly primer on all things boy
band."--Library Journal
"An overdue analysis of boy bands and the devoted fans who elevate
them."--Wall Street Journal
"In Maria Sherman's remarkable Larger Than Life, devoted music fans
finally have a critic that honors and reveres fandom for what it
really is -- expertise. She plunges into the depths of pop history
and gives us a glorious look into the often maligned and
misunderstood boy bands and their fanbases. Larger Than Life is
feminist, gleeful, intersectional, funny, nuanced and nerdy --
Sherman is the great understander of boy bands and their
fans."--Jessica Hopper, music critic and author of The First
Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic
"Like a pair of Nike Foamposite sneakers on a Backstreet Boy, this
book is shiny, fun and expertly constructed. Maria Sherman's
unrivaled knowledge of and passion for those teen dream machines
known as boy bands gains depth from her conviction that they really
matter, both musically and as cultural catalysts. This compendium
of historical vignettes, truly useful lists and perceptive critique
unassumingly works a miracle, showing how a much-dismissed subgenre
can be taken seriously while still generating the sparkle its
subject deserves."--Ann Powers, music critic and author of Good
Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American
Music
"Maria Sherman has written the brilliant, definitive, hilarious,
and long-overdue appreciation of boy-band culture-the realest,
oldest, truest of pop passions. She chronicles the artists and fans
with the respect they deserve. Larger Than Life is a revelation and
a joy to read, in prose that sparkles like a One Direction
hook."--Rob Sheffield, author of Love is a Mix Tape and Dreaming
the Beatles
"Sherman neither claims to be unbiased nor definitive, and though
she provides plenty of nostalgia, she also smartly explores the
cultural landscape that allowed boy bands to flourish and the
lasting impact of these groups. Readers will want to have a
playlist queued up."--Booklist
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