The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture

A witty, intelligent cultural history from NPR book critic Glen Weldon explains Batmanâ‚¬s rises and falls throughout the agesâ‚¬"and what his story tells us about ourselves.

Since his creation, Batman has been many things: a two-fisted detective; a planet-hopping gadabout; a campy Pop-art sensation; a pointy-eared master spy; and a grim and gritty ninja of the urban night. For more than three quarters of a century, he has cycled from a figure of darkness to one of lightness and back again; heâ‚¬s a bat-shaped Rorschach inkblot who takes on the various meanings our changing culture projects onto him. How we perceive Batmanâ‚¬s character, whether heâ‚¬s delivering dire threats in a raspy Christian Bale growl or trading blithely homoerotic double-entendres with partner Robin on the comics page, speaks to who we are and how we wish to be seen by the world. Itâ‚¬s this endlessly mutable quality that has made him so enduring.

And itâ‚¬s Batmanâ‚¬s fundamental nerdinessâ‚¬"his gadgets, his obsession, his oath, even his lack of superpowersâ‚¬"that uniquely resonates with his fans who feel a fiercely protective love for the character. Today, fueled by the internet, that breed of passion for elements of popular culture is everywhere. Which is what makes Batman the perfect lens through which to understand geek culture, its current popularity, and social significance.

In The Caped Crusade, with humor and insight, Glen Weldon, book critic for NPR and author of Superman: The Unauthorized Biography, lays out Batmanâ‚¬s seventy-eight-year cultural history and shows how he has helped make us who we are today and why his legacy remains so strong.
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber YES23041262
ReleaseDate 2016-03-22
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781476756691

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	YES23041262
ReleaseDate	2016-03-22
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781476756691

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture

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