Birth Of The Cool: Beat, Bebop, and the American Avant Garde

by Lewis MacAdams

Miles Davis and Juliette Greco, Jackson Pollock and Jack Kerouac, Marlon Brando and Bob Dylan and William Burroughs.
What do all these people have in common? Fame, of course, and undeniable talent. But most of all, they were cool.
Birth of the Cool is a stunningly illustrated, brilliantly written cultural history of the American avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s -- the decades in which cool was born. From intimate interviews with cool icons like poet Allen Ginsberg, bop saxophonist Jackie McLean, and Living Theatre cofounder Judith Malina, award-winning journalist and poet Lewis MacAdams extracts the essence of cool. Taking us inside the most influential and experimental art movements of the twentieth century -- from the Harlem jazz joints where Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker invented bebop to the back room at Max's Kansas City when Andy Warhol was holding court to backstage at the Newport Folk Festival the night Bob Dylan went electric, from Surrealism to the Black Mountain School to Zen -- MacAdams traces the evolution of cool from the very fringes of society to the mainstream.
Born of World War II, raised on atomic-age paranoia, cast out of the culture by the realities of racism and the insanity of the Cold War, cool is now, perversely, as conventional as you can get. Allen Ginsberg suited up for Gap ads. Volvo appropriated a phrase from Jack Kerouac's On the Road for its TV commercials. How one became the other is a terrific story, and it is presented here in a gorgeous package, rich with the coolest photographs of the black-and-white era from Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, and many others.
Drawing a direct line between Lester Young wearing his pork-pie hat and his crepe-sole shoes staring out his hotel window at Birdland to the author's three-year-old daughter saying "cool" while watching a Scooby-Doo cartoon at the cusp of a new millennium, Birth of the Cool is a cool book about a hot subject...maybe even the coolest book ever.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Art, Jazz

288 pages, Hardcover

First published February 5, 2001

Reviews

[Fredrik deBoer · Rating 4 out of 5]

You have to accept that this book is felt rather than thought - though it contains a mountain of wonderful quotes and anecdotes, other reviewers are correct in saying that it has no real thesis and seems indifferent to having one. And I do think MacAdams does at times suggest a taxonomic definition of cool and its permutations that he never really achieves. But if you let the book's manner wash over you, and accept that the purpose is to simply slowly lower yourself into a warm bath of fascinating historical characters and situations, united together around a thematic notion of "cool" that's at once vague and elusive and yet entirely real. MacAdams goes a little too far in hunting for powerful imagery, at times, but he's a confident and seasoned writer, and again and again he hits on a beautiful and true turn of phrase. This book's pursuit of cool, "a studied indifference to the vagaries of fate," feels profoundly out of time in our current era when no one wants to be cool and everyone wants to be traumatized. It's a welcome tonic, reading it now, and was a revelation to me when it was released.

[Carlos Perez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less an analysis of the idea of 'cool' and more a celebration of its essence. If I had read this book in high school, I would have been blown away as it is a great primer to the types of things I found 'cool' then (and still kinda do). Some great stories and connections between various icons from the '50s and '60s, but overall the writing only emphasizes why the author thinks they're 'cool.'

I was really hoping for a breakdown of how the term itself invaded mainstream culture and how it has lost its effect over the last few decades.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

What can I say about a book that rambles chaotically for 267 pages and then sums itself up in two paragraphs? I kept hoping that MacAdams would be able to tie together all his abruptly switch-tracking, voyeuristically name-dropping chapters with a conclusion that would bring his point home. He didn't. If you want to read one man's (and yes, I do mean man's--this is a seriously dude-challeneged read) laundry list of cool personalities from mid-20th century America, skip the contents and just read the bibliography. At least then you'll get one step closer to the primary, first-hand sources, and perhaps be able to enjoy a little depth with your cool.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been a 4 or 5 star read if it were not for the inclusion of that talentless guru of dullness, Andy Warhol. Warhol destroyed Art in his time with his Art of Appropriation. Visionless, uncreative, pilfering, but definitely not cool.

[Flora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though I just got hold of a copy of this book on Ebay, I am giving it five stars because a friend of mine had a copy and I so loved just holding and looking at it, it went on my list of "must haves."
The book is so beautifully conceived and put together, from the typestyle used for the text to the unexpectedly provocative format and design, it is just a beautiful object to hold in your hands. I love the subject and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy reading this... as a book designer myself, I just love good books, and this is one.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just reread this one while vacationing in Falmouth, MA. Thought that I had retained frighteningly little of it, but a lot came back as I reread. It seems he could not find a really good way to end it, so he just stopped where he thought it made the most sense. Recommended to anyone who likes the subject material . . . and maybe even those who don't.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

great portrait of jazz musicians, writers, and artists of the mid-20th and easy to read

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

good bibliography

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best books I’ve ever read. Certainly the best on this topic, beautifully capturing the evolution of the music, the era and the culture.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting journey through what it means to be "cool," from the bop jazz era luminaries through the Beat generation through Warhol's Factory oevre and ending with Bob Dylan. Good read.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Lewis McAdams wide ranging book that dives deeply into the cool world that evolved at the end of World War II and continued to influence American culture into the 1960's. Beginning with the cool jazz greats like Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk. Miles Davis and Charlie Parker Macadams evokes their sounds and style. He pivots to artists like Jackson Pollock and the great Beat writers Ginsburg, Kerouac and Burroughs.
MacAdams doesn't break any new ground, but he has compiled a very cool book about the American avant garde.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely great. The essence of cool, as macadams defines it (and for all time, as far as I'm concerned) as making the least of oneself as often as possible, while continuing to exist (indelibly, and in all one's glory)....Perfect.

I am rarely (or ever) cool. The prose is naturally erudite, restrained, vivid, evocative. He goes into the beat writers, jazz and blues and cuban musicians, avant-garde dance and film. Elvis, Cassavettes, Burroughs, Julian Greco and the living theatre....

Only reason I give it four stars instead of five is because it just ought to be longer. Lovely, classy, distinctly retro americana effort they don't put in magazines

[R. Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great historical overview of the birth of "cool" jazz.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating cultural history of cool. MacAdams writes with a lively prose that kept me rapt the entire time.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting.

[Stuart.teicherhotmail.com · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book. A little too name-droppy at times but I enjoyed the insight into Kerouac and Pollack.

[Temüjin Raizel Ṭayyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dead-on hit!

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it.