The unembarrassed muse: the popular arts in America

Preface

Introduction: The popular arts and the popular audience

Part One: Popular fiction and poetry

Stories for the people

Novels in the marketplace

For it was indeed he: books for the young

Rhymes for everybody

Part Two: The popular theater

At the opera house tonight

Minstrels to musicals

The show on the road

Part Three: Popular arts on the newsstand

The dime novel tradition

Fun in four colors: the comics

Part Four: Cops, spacemen, and cowboys

Murderers and detectives

The future as history: science fiction

Sixshooter country

Part Five: Let the people sing: popular music

Ballads to blues

The big band era

Country, bluegrass, and Beatles

Part Six: Media hot and cool: movies, radio, and television

Culture at the Bijou: the wide world of film

Radio and television: the audible becomes visible

Postscript: The popular arts and the critics.