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The Origins of Cool in Postwar America
Cool. It was a new word and a new way to be , and in a single generation, it became the supreme compliment of American culture. The Origins of Cool in Postwar America uncovers the hidden history of this concept and its new set of codes that came to define a global attitude and style. As Joel Dinerstein reveals in this dynamic book, cool began as a stylish defiance of racism, a challenge to suppressed sexuality, a philosophy of individual rebellion, and a youthful search for social change.
Through eye-opening portraits of iconic figures, Dinerstein illuminates the cultural connections and artistic innovations among Lester Young, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, Marlon Brando, and James Dean, among others. We eavesdrop on conversations among Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Miles Davis, and on a forgotten debate between Lorraine Hansberry and Norman Mailer over the "white Negro" and black cool. We come to understand how the cool worlds of Beat writers and Method actors emerged from the intersections of film noir, jazz, and existentialism. Out of this mix, Dinerstein sketches nuanced definitions of cool that unite concepts from African-American and Euro-American culture: the stylish stoicism of the ethical rebel loner; the relaxed intensity of the improvising jazz musician; the effortless, physical grace of the Method actor. To be cool is not to be hip and to be hot is definitely not to be cool.
This is the first work to trace the history of cool during the Cold War by exploring the intersections of film noir, jazz, existential literature, Method acting, blues, and rock and roll. Dinerstein reveals that they came together to create something completely new—and that something is cool .
Through eye-opening portraits of iconic figures, Dinerstein illuminates the cultural connections and artistic innovations among Lester Young, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, Marlon Brando, and James Dean, among others. We eavesdrop on conversations among Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Miles Davis, and on a forgotten debate between Lorraine Hansberry and Norman Mailer over the "white Negro" and black cool. We come to understand how the cool worlds of Beat writers and Method actors emerged from the intersections of film noir, jazz, and existentialism. Out of this mix, Dinerstein sketches nuanced definitions of cool that unite concepts from African-American and Euro-American culture: the stylish stoicism of the ethical rebel loner; the relaxed intensity of the improvising jazz musician; the effortless, physical grace of the Method actor. To be cool is not to be hip and to be hot is definitely not to be cool.
This is the first work to trace the history of cool during the Cold War by exploring the intersections of film noir, jazz, existential literature, Method acting, blues, and rock and roll. Dinerstein reveals that they came together to create something completely new—and that something is cool .
541 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 19, 2019
This is one of the most fascinating books I've read in a while. The cover of my edition labels it American history. More exactly, it's a cultural history of the concept of cool from its general origins around WWII to its transformation by civil rights activism in 1963. There are many definitions of the word cool. "To be cool was to project a calm defiance." "To be cool was a walking indictment of society." It's a strategy "for maintaining dignity against oppressive authority." Cool "suggests the embodiment of dignity without social status, of integrity uncoupled from authority." And "cool is a subconscious method for negotiating identity in modernity through popular culture." "American cool became synonymous with a certain stylish stoicism: emotional self-control carried off with signature style." These are only a few. Dinerstein explains the concept and its many facets through a detailed analysis of the genres in which the artists' cool demeanor replaced the quality of virtue as the primary sensibility of the American hero. Music, particularly jazz, which can be considered the ground zero of cool, film, and literature are his focus.
The creator of cool is said to be Lester Young, the great jazz saxophonist. His career straddles WWII, and he's considered the 1st musician to display the mask and attitude of stoic self-presentation as defense against oppression in a biased society. Film noir came out of the 30s led by Humphrey Bogart. His example morphed into Brando, James Dean, and Elvis. The ideas expressed by Camus helped fuse the thinking of writers like Kerouac and Ginsberg and the Beats, who were also enthusiastic about jazz. Women were influential, too. Billie Holiday strongly affected Simone de Beauvoir, who helped carry cool seeds back and forth between America and Europe.
As you might expect, race and existentialism are 2 of the heavier elements combining to produce cool. I think Dinerstein is thorough in explaining why African American jazz musicians found it a necessity to develop cool in order to achieve distance from authority and move their craft toward affirmation. And also to avoid the white gaze, exemplified by the shades worn by Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis.
The usurpation of European musical ideas by the jazzmen was influential as was, of course, existentialism arriving partly because the French stoic response to Nazi occupation was transported from a war-weary Europe to New York City, which became the new center of western culture.
These are just a couple of the interesting aspects in what Dinerstein says is the 68-year history of cool. The book is filled with engaging discussions of music, film, and books influencing the concept. The people, too, most of them iconic: Miles Davis, Camus, Paul Newman, and many more. It continues today. So who now discharges the cool we need? George Clooney is cool, Dinerstein says. So's Barack Obama. Who knows? Maybe you'll find the descriptions of cool fit who you are. Or maybe not, daddio.
The creator of cool is said to be Lester Young, the great jazz saxophonist. His career straddles WWII, and he's considered the 1st musician to display the mask and attitude of stoic self-presentation as defense against oppression in a biased society. Film noir came out of the 30s led by Humphrey Bogart. His example morphed into Brando, James Dean, and Elvis. The ideas expressed by Camus helped fuse the thinking of writers like Kerouac and Ginsberg and the Beats, who were also enthusiastic about jazz. Women were influential, too. Billie Holiday strongly affected Simone de Beauvoir, who helped carry cool seeds back and forth between America and Europe.
As you might expect, race and existentialism are 2 of the heavier elements combining to produce cool. I think Dinerstein is thorough in explaining why African American jazz musicians found it a necessity to develop cool in order to achieve distance from authority and move their craft toward affirmation. And also to avoid the white gaze, exemplified by the shades worn by Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis.
The usurpation of European musical ideas by the jazzmen was influential as was, of course, existentialism arriving partly because the French stoic response to Nazi occupation was transported from a war-weary Europe to New York City, which became the new center of western culture.
These are just a couple of the interesting aspects in what Dinerstein says is the 68-year history of cool. The book is filled with engaging discussions of music, film, and books influencing the concept. The people, too, most of them iconic: Miles Davis, Camus, Paul Newman, and many more. It continues today. So who now discharges the cool we need? George Clooney is cool, Dinerstein says. So's Barack Obama. Who knows? Maybe you'll find the descriptions of cool fit who you are. Or maybe not, daddio.
September 18, 2022
I rarely buy books impulsively, but I made an exception for The Origins of Cool in Postwar America, and I'm glad I did. The book does feel a bit padded at times, particularly in the discussions of jazz, but overall I found it very interesting and well organized. The final chapter alone, on Lorraine Hansberry, is well worth the read. Highly recommended for readers interested in the creative arts, pop culture, or the Cold War period.
February 20, 2025
some very interesting points, especially towards the beginning, but ultimately could have been like 200 pages shorter and made the same points.
August 8, 2017
The author triangulates a definition of "cool" in postwar America and Europe by analyzing the dominant themes in noir films, jazz, and existential literature. If questions like, "What's the philosophical connection between Billie Holiday, Albert Camus, Humphrey Bogart, and JFK?" or "Why did Miles Davis play with his back to the audience?" are interesting to you, then you'll enjoy this book.
I was already familiar with the books and jazz performers mentioned in the book. But, unfortunately, not the movies. So I have some viewing to do. Apparently there's a lot more going on in noir films than detectives chasing bad guys.
The author offers several definitions of "cool" and charts its shifting meaning from the 1930s through the 1960s. "Cool" is an attitude, a shield against an oppressive society; it's also a way to assert individuality. Another definition offered by the author: cool is a subconscious method for negotiating identity in modernity through popular culture.
This book is a bit too academic for me. Wish it had been better-written.
I was already familiar with the books and jazz performers mentioned in the book. But, unfortunately, not the movies. So I have some viewing to do. Apparently there's a lot more going on in noir films than detectives chasing bad guys.
The author offers several definitions of "cool" and charts its shifting meaning from the 1930s through the 1960s. "Cool" is an attitude, a shield against an oppressive society; it's also a way to assert individuality. Another definition offered by the author: cool is a subconscious method for negotiating identity in modernity through popular culture.
This book is a bit too academic for me. Wish it had been better-written.
July 26, 2017
Back in the mid-1970s, Blues was still a cornerstone of rock music. One of my favorite songs as a young bassist was T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday", which the Almann Brothers covered. But I wasn't tuning into the lyrics then; I don't think many of us were. For me, it was more about the cool spin on a 12-bar minor Blues. After reading this book I realized the meaning in the lyric, which makes me appreciate it even more.
Sometimes one art form symbiotically supports another, and in this case, this wonderful work of writing and historical research supports and deeply enriches the music, especially now when that whole period may begin to fade out or be transformed in a way that is not historically accurate.
If I was just getting my feet wet in BeBop, Beat and Blues as well as the cinema and TV in the post-WWII era, I'd check out this book. It's in my top-100.
The author's TED talk: https://youtu.be/-kboK01-OOk
Sometimes one art form symbiotically supports another, and in this case, this wonderful work of writing and historical research supports and deeply enriches the music, especially now when that whole period may begin to fade out or be transformed in a way that is not historically accurate.
If I was just getting my feet wet in BeBop, Beat and Blues as well as the cinema and TV in the post-WWII era, I'd check out this book. It's in my top-100.
The author's TED talk: https://youtu.be/-kboK01-OOk
December 11, 2017
This fascinating work of cultural history traces the development of the concept of "cool" by exploring the intersections of film noir, jazz, existential philosophy and literature, method acting, blues, and rock and roll. Through insightful portraits of iconic figures, Dinerstein reveals the cultural connections and artistic innovations of such figures as Lester Young, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Elvis Presley, Jack Kerouac, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Marlon Brando, James Dean, and others. He revisits a forgotten debate between Lorraine Hansberry and Norman Mailer over the concepts of the "white Negro" and black cool. A scholarly approach but accessible and entertaining reading.
August 20, 2024
A fascinating slice of 20th century history, and a great partner read with Phil Ford's dig. Covers a lot of ground across three main avenues of art: music (mostly jazz and blues), film, and literature. Delves into the relationship of mid 20th century artists and French existentialism. As with all truly great books, added many titles to my to-be-read list. And in addition to all that, was an absolute pleasure to read. Dinerstein does a fine fine job of exploring an amazing current of thought and output - not to mention showing very explicitly how it was all mostly derived from the struggles of African Americans in mid 20th century USA - and manages to do so with grace, insightfulness, and passion.
June 26, 2020
I was a little leery of this when I bought the book, because of the whole idea of cool throughout my 70+ year life has been an interesting mix of what Dr. Dinestein calls square and cool. Fortunately, he provides a thorough grounding of the idea, background, and growth of cool, with a thoughtful and thorough touch. It is an interesting and rewarding journey. He introduced me to a wealth of sources and ideas for looking at the period often held up as America’s ‘Golden Era.’ It is well researched and well written and an enjoyable read. It also provides a meaningful backdrop for addressing the issues in the Black Lives Matter movement.
May 4, 2025
A scholarly mix of philosophy, sociology, and politics tracing the origins of cool in African American society as a reaction to the grinning, obsequious minstrel show persona; through iterations in jazz, existentialism, hardboiled fiction, film noir, the Beats, and beyond. The prelude grabbed me with its description of the post-war Paris café scene featuring Sartre, de Beauvoir, Boris Vian, and Juliette Greco. A dense, but fascinating book.
April 6, 2018
A fascinating account of where, when and how the notion of "cool" came to life. I personally enjoyed the sections about Dean and Brando the most, but I suspect that's because I was a fan of theirs before reading. I would recommend being familiar with some of the subjects of this book before reading - it can be a bit tense at times and familiarity with the central characters can help a lot.
August 30, 2017
A post-Western mindset still awaits the reintegration of the shadow selves - the Others - excluded from the sunny civilizing errand of the Age of Europe. Meanwhile, everyone still wants to be cool but cool -as a concept - lost its form as password of an alternative success system.
June 5, 2022
One of the most enjoyable history books I have read. Dinerstein connects all of my favorite subjects - film noir, Beat writing, jazz... This book sent me off on numerous tangents to watch certain films, listen to particular records and buy additional books!
July 9, 2024
Real title: American Encyclopedia of Cool American Celebrities and Why They Were so Cool
Interesting, at first, to read a plausible articulation of the concept, but it quickly turns into one adulatory celebrity bio after another with further unnecessary discussion of cool.
Interesting, at first, to read a plausible articulation of the concept, but it quickly turns into one adulatory celebrity bio after another with further unnecessary discussion of cool.
September 10, 2018
Pedantic in the extreme. And also repetitive.
January 3, 2025
I heard Aimee Mann on some podcast or other discussing her current listening and she said that, having reached an age where she no longer cared about the issue of cool or not cool, she had been enjoying the music of 70s, soft-rock purveyors, Bread. My ears perked up, partly because Bread had always been a guilty pleasure of mine, back when I still felt guilty about some pleasures*, but mostly because, for my money, Aimee Mann might just be the coolest person on the planet. If I could have a fraction of her style, I would be super-pleased with myself. Someone wrote, in a book I read a few years ago, I think it may have been
Let’s Talk About Love
, that every American adult spends much more time thinking about whether or not they are cool than they would ever want to admit. I’ve rarely been confident enough to think that I’m actually cool, but I’ve done plenty of agonizing about being uncool. The political philosopher, Michael Sandel, says that, eventually, money squeezes out every other value. I have
sometimes wondered
if, for me, cool does as well.
This ill-defined but omnipresent value that felt so high-stakes when I was a teen and has continued to dominate so many of my adult attitudes and choices, started, Joel Dinerstein says, as a protective mask affording dignity to Black people in deadly Jim Crow conditions. Being cool could literally be a matter of life and death. The perfector of that mask as a coherent cultural style, Dinerstein asserts to my delight, was Lester Young. I first learned about Lester Young from the Ken Burn’s Jazz tv series and I kinda fell in love with his round, airy, alto tone and his sad, gentle demeanor. Turns out that, mid-century, EVERYBODY (in the jazz world, anyway) was in love with Lester Young. I had known from Jazz that a lot of hepcat lingo originated with “Prez,” but Dinerstein asserts that he is responsible for the entire concept of cool, both as a restrained, melodically-spare instrumental style and a defensive, social posture of quiet defiance with dignity, which he developed in response to a horrific experience of racist violence and persecution when he was drafted into the Army in World War Two. In the future, I will be more tolerant of the pose of wearing of sunglasses at night, now that I know it’s a page torn from Lester Young's book. The postwar bebop players were, Dinerstein asserts, avatars of cool and exemplars of Black dignity and they were all just trying to be like Prez. Later in the book, he says that admiration and emulation of their proud, cultural postures made the self-assertion of the civil-rights generation possible.
The first two chapters in The Origins of Cool, about Lester Young and film noir, were published independently as articles. They show the hands of editors and are head-and-shoulders above the rest. I felt like Dinerstein was left without adult supervision for the balance of the book. This 500-page tome would’ve been a much better 300-page book. Dinerstein acknowledges in the Acknowledgments that he worked on this book for twenty-five years and it shows, in ways both good and bad. His “cool erudition” is staggering. I got turned on to lots and lots of cool books and records and movies. The Origins of Cool is, perhaps, second only to Easy Riders, Raging Bulls with respect to the homework that it generated. On the downside, Dinerstein gathered too many cool quotes that he couldn’t bear to leave out, so he makes the same point over and over again with different evidence. I get it; he is very proud of his research. But, rhetorically, it makes him seem simultaneously unconfident and insistent.
Dinerstein makes a very convincing argument that film noir and French existential writing were powerful influences on the concept of cool. His Beauvoir/Holiday/cool chick chapter was good enough that I wished it were better. Dinerstein himself asserts that "cool" was definitionally male, but then presents us with a series of seriously cool chicks. I for sure want to read Anita O’Day’s autobiography , now! I thought that he was not entirely successful in fitting 50s, emotive youth heroes, Brando, Dean and Presley, into the cool paradigm that he establishes. After some longeurs, the book concludes with an exciting chapter about Lorraine Hansberry and her friendly, literary feud with Norman Mailer about all of his “white negro” posturing. She was an extraordinary figure and someone I want to know more about.
Kind of a trudge at times and not entirely successful in its ambitions, but an important book for me. Heaven knows it took me long enough.
*we don’t usually worry, when we say this, that our pleasures are something to feel actually guilty about - whether they were made possible by child-labor or something - just that they might be uncool.
This ill-defined but omnipresent value that felt so high-stakes when I was a teen and has continued to dominate so many of my adult attitudes and choices, started, Joel Dinerstein says, as a protective mask affording dignity to Black people in deadly Jim Crow conditions. Being cool could literally be a matter of life and death. The perfector of that mask as a coherent cultural style, Dinerstein asserts to my delight, was Lester Young. I first learned about Lester Young from the Ken Burn’s Jazz tv series and I kinda fell in love with his round, airy, alto tone and his sad, gentle demeanor. Turns out that, mid-century, EVERYBODY (in the jazz world, anyway) was in love with Lester Young. I had known from Jazz that a lot of hepcat lingo originated with “Prez,” but Dinerstein asserts that he is responsible for the entire concept of cool, both as a restrained, melodically-spare instrumental style and a defensive, social posture of quiet defiance with dignity, which he developed in response to a horrific experience of racist violence and persecution when he was drafted into the Army in World War Two. In the future, I will be more tolerant of the pose of wearing of sunglasses at night, now that I know it’s a page torn from Lester Young's book. The postwar bebop players were, Dinerstein asserts, avatars of cool and exemplars of Black dignity and they were all just trying to be like Prez. Later in the book, he says that admiration and emulation of their proud, cultural postures made the self-assertion of the civil-rights generation possible.
The first two chapters in The Origins of Cool, about Lester Young and film noir, were published independently as articles. They show the hands of editors and are head-and-shoulders above the rest. I felt like Dinerstein was left without adult supervision for the balance of the book. This 500-page tome would’ve been a much better 300-page book. Dinerstein acknowledges in the Acknowledgments that he worked on this book for twenty-five years and it shows, in ways both good and bad. His “cool erudition” is staggering. I got turned on to lots and lots of cool books and records and movies. The Origins of Cool is, perhaps, second only to Easy Riders, Raging Bulls with respect to the homework that it generated. On the downside, Dinerstein gathered too many cool quotes that he couldn’t bear to leave out, so he makes the same point over and over again with different evidence. I get it; he is very proud of his research. But, rhetorically, it makes him seem simultaneously unconfident and insistent.
Dinerstein makes a very convincing argument that film noir and French existential writing were powerful influences on the concept of cool. His Beauvoir/Holiday/cool chick chapter was good enough that I wished it were better. Dinerstein himself asserts that "cool" was definitionally male, but then presents us with a series of seriously cool chicks. I for sure want to read Anita O’Day’s autobiography , now! I thought that he was not entirely successful in fitting 50s, emotive youth heroes, Brando, Dean and Presley, into the cool paradigm that he establishes. After some longeurs, the book concludes with an exciting chapter about Lorraine Hansberry and her friendly, literary feud with Norman Mailer about all of his “white negro” posturing. She was an extraordinary figure and someone I want to know more about.
Kind of a trudge at times and not entirely successful in its ambitions, but an important book for me. Heaven knows it took me long enough.
*we don’t usually worry, when we say this, that our pleasures are something to feel actually guilty about - whether they were made possible by child-labor or something - just that they might be uncool.
July 12, 2025
very well researched and in depth book, but at times could be a bit dense. took professor dinerstein's class as well and it was very informative and reframed the way i thought about coolness.
July 28, 2022
Very detailed (excessively really, I found) exploration of the modern American concept of "cool."
Quite a bit more than I was looking for though I think many might enjoy the book more if they are actually impressed with the individual case studies enumerated (such as Humphry Bogart, Lester Young, Simone de Beauvior, Jack Kerouac, etc.), since that made up the bulk of the text. Analysis of the phenomenon "cool," which was my interest, though well done was also relatively sparse.
Good writing and a real labor of love for someone confident that "cool" is a good thing for society. Personally, I'm not sold.
Quite a bit more than I was looking for though I think many might enjoy the book more if they are actually impressed with the individual case studies enumerated (such as Humphry Bogart, Lester Young, Simone de Beauvior, Jack Kerouac, etc.), since that made up the bulk of the text. Analysis of the phenomenon "cool," which was my interest, though well done was also relatively sparse.
Good writing and a real labor of love for someone confident that "cool" is a good thing for society. Personally, I'm not sold.
October 15, 2025
Remember kids, cool doesn't just refuse to advertise.
It's a mask.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews