Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: New Books in Popular Culture
Episode: John F. Lyons, "Joy and Fear: The Beatles, Chicago and the 1960s" (Permuted Press, 2020)
Description: For many, the Beatles offered a delightful alternative to the dull and the staid, while for others, the mop-top haircuts, the unsettling music, and the hysterical girls that greeted the British imports wherever they went were a symbol of unwelcome social and cultural change. This opposition to the group--more widespread and deeper rooted in Chicago than in any other major American city--increased as the decade wore on, especially when the Beatles adopted more extreme countercultural values.At the center of this book is a cast of characters engulfed by the whirlwind of Beatlemania, including the unyielding figure...