Grace Elizabeth Hale is the Commonwealth Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Virginia. Her previous books include A Nation of Outsiders: How the White Middle Class Fell in Love with Rebellion in Postwar America and Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South, 1890-1940.
A thorough history of the scene told from an insider's p.o.v. and
buttressed on thorough research. . . . The Cool Town story is
multifaceted enough to be interesting without Hale's personal
perspective, but that perspective is what makes the storytelling
moving and absorbing.--Mike Segretto, Psychobabble
Offers an insider's perspective, but with the thorough research
typical of her profession. . . . Hale, rather than celebrate and
catalog Athens music, contextualizes the music as the most visible
product of a culture both experimental and insular, and of a
community that nurtured its artists. . . . We see in the Athens of
Cool Town the beginnings of the indie culture we may recognize
today.--The Georgia Review
A detailed work of art. . . . It's hard to imagine an author better
qualified or a book more up to the task. Cool Town has done its job
admirably.--level: deepsouth
A lovingly rendered and richly realized panorama of a new
alternative aesthetic in the making. . . . Hale's lucid prose
vibrates with generosity as she tells the story of a small town on
the move, that surprisingly moved the world. Cool Town is a
must-read for anyone interested in the ideas of place and
placemaking, and the history of bohemian cultures, alternative
music, and the New South.--The Metropole
[The Athens Effect] propagated a thrift-store, sexually fluid,
avant-pop aesthetic that seemed more accessible than the extremes
of punk or of successors such as goth. The fun of Cool Town is to
hear where those elements came from, illuminated by Hale's theories
about why, and, most poignantly, what it means
today.--Bookforum
Delivers more than a love song to the music. Cool Town also serves
up a textured portrait of a generation caught between baby and tech
booms, wriggling under the thumb of the mainstream--in the
pre-internet days when 'mainstream' was a discernible thing--and
rummaging through thrift-store bins both literal and figurative in
an effort to create something new.--New York Times Book Review
Reconstructs the musical hotbed that birthed R.
E.M., The B-52s, and Neutral Milk Hotel.--The AV Club
Captivating. . . . A deeply researched, highly engaging history of
the Athens music scene.--Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While the Athens buzz may have been manufactured, Athens is a very
real place, and Hale writes with real passion about her formative
years there.--The Current's Rock and Roll Book Club, Minnesota
Public Radio
Both a historian and a participant in the music scene, Hale crafts
a lively account of 1980s Athens: the artists, their stories, and
the haunts they frequented, such as the Grit and the 40 Watt
Club.--Library Journal
Hale's rich, personal narrative draws readers in. . . . This
colorfully rendered reverie will delight indie music
fans.--Publishers Weekly
A carefully constructed history of how Athens, Georgia became a
cultural hot spot. . . . A welcome history of an overlooked milieu,
one that provides ample inspiration for art makers today.--Kirkus
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