Feast of Excess: A Cultural History of the New Sensibility

In 1952, John Cage shocked audiences with 4'33", his compositional ode to the ironic power of silence. From Cage's minimalism to Chris Burden's radical performance art two decades later (in one piece he had himself shot), the post-war American avant-garde shattered the divide between low and high art, between artist and audience. They changed the cultural landscape. Feast of Excess is an engaging and accessible portrait of "The New Sensibility," as it was named by Susan Sontag in 1965. The New Sensibility sought to push culture in extreme directions: either towards stark minimalism or gaudy maximalism. Through vignette profiles of prominent figures-John Cage, Patricia Highsmith, Allen Ginsberg, Andy Warhol, Anne Sexton, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Erica Jong, and Thomas Pynchon, to name a few-George Cotkin presents their bold, headline-grabbing performances and places them within the historical moment. This inventive and jaunty narrative captures the excitement of liberation in American culture. The roots of this release, as Cotkin demonstrates, began in the 1950s, boomed in the 1960s, and became the cultural norm by the 1970s. More than a detailed immersion in the history of cultural extremism, Feast of Excess raises provocative questions for our present-day culture.

About the Author :
George Cotkin is Emeritus Professor of History at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. His previous books include Existential America, Morality's Muddy Waters, and Dive Deeper: Journeys with Moby-Dick.

Review :
"Michaels's thesis is a brilliantly provocative challenge to the widely accepted view that art's political power derives from its engagement with, rather than its autonomy from, the world."--Timothy Aubry, American Literature "One of our most versatile intellectual and cultural historians...Cotkin deserves applause for structuring Feast of Excess differently from the standard models. The series of year-by-year chronological profiles does, surprisingly, create a sense of a cultural whole...Feast of Excess is a clearly imagined and executed account of the last time American culture seemed headed for a cultural revolution."--Journal of American History "[Cotkin's] writing style makes this work an irresistible read Feast of Excess offers scholars and students a compelling approach to the history of the United States during a period of dynamic cultural change."--The History Teacher "Cotkin offers a whirlwind tour of artists and writers who shaped what has become known, thanks to Susan Sontag, Morris Dickstein, et al., as the new sensibility."--CHOICE "With great verve, George Cotkin's Feast of Excess demonstrates beyond any doubt that the in-your-face culture of provocation we rightly associate with the 1960s had much deeper roots and a long and varied life. Ranging impressively through all the arts, nicely balanced between anecdote and analysis, this book cuts a wide swath through postwar American culture."--Morris Dickstein, author of Dancing in the Dark and Gates of Eden "Feast of Excess is a tour de force. George Cotkin moves across a vast array of figures who created the New Sensibility, traversing different media like painting, photography, music, performance art, literature, and journalism. Both sympathetic yet critical--neither a curmudgeonly neoconservative nor a blind partisan--Cotkin manages to provide a full picture of what some historians call the long Sixties. This book will serve as the work on the New Sensibility for years to come. And to top it all off, it's a pleasure to read."--Kevin Mattson, author of Just Plain Dick: Richard Nixon's Checkers Speech and the "Rocking, Socking" Election of 1952 "George Cotkin brings his signature inventiveness and subtlety to an American cultural period and style that previously lacked a name. Feast of Excess makes vividly real the ragged debauchery and blunt-force iconoclasm of the New Sensibility of extravagance of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. This is an utterly arresting book."--Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, author of American Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas "Great stories, provocative ideas, unexpected links - this book is a festival in itself. Superb."--Sarah Bakewell, author of How to Live: A Life of Montaigne "Cotkin goes above and beyond in this marvelously well-crafted cultural history of the new sensibility....This fascinatingly dense yet digestible accounting of the new sensibility is highly recommended for scholars and fans of U.S. 20th-century culture."--Library Journal (starred review) "[A] rich understanding of how and why postwar artists and writers revolted against social norms that constricted desire."--Bookforum "[D]azzling work of cultural history...[T]he book fascinates on every page."--Boston Globe "The value of this book lies in its vivid portrayal of the artists who fashioned a cultural sensibility that continues to inform culture in the US...Highly recommended."--CHOICE "For scholars of modernism, Feast of Excess provides a new way to think about American cultural and artistic history from the mid-twentieth century to our present day." Journal of Modern Literature