Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records by Borgerson, Janet
Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records by Borgerson, Janet

Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records

A charmingly illustrated history of midcentury instructional records and their untold contribution to the American narrative of...
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
SKU: 9780262048835
Product Type: Books
Please hurry! Only 72 left in stock
Author: Janet Borgerson
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Subtotal: $90.48
10 customers are viewing this product
Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records by Borgerson, Janet

Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records

$90.48
Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records by Borgerson, Janet

Designed for Success: Better Living and Self-Improvement with Midcentury Instructional Records

$90.48
Author: Janet Borgerson
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Description
A charmingly illustrated history of midcentury instructional records and their untold contribution to the American narrative of self-improvement, aspiration, and success.

For the midcentury Americans who wished to better their golf game through hypnosis, teach their parakeet to talk, or achieve sexual harmony in their marriage, the answers lay no further than the record player. In Designed for Success, Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder shed light on these endearingly earnest albums that contributed to a powerful American vision of personal success. Rescued from charity shops, record store cast-off bins, or forgotten boxes in attics and basements, these educational records reveal the American consumers' rich but sometimes surprising relationship to advertising, self-help, identity construction, and even aspects of transcendentalist thought.

Relegated to obscurity and novelty, instructional records such as Secrets of Successful Varmint Calling, You Be a Disc Jockey, and How to Ski (A Living-Room Guide for Beginners) offer distinct insights into midcentury media production and consumption. Tracing the history of instructional records from the inception of the recording industry to the height of their popularity, Borgerson and Schroeder offer close readings of the abundant topics covered by "designed for success" records. Complemented by over a hundred full-color illustrations, Designed for Success is a wonderfully nostalgic tour that showcases the essential role these vinyl records played as an unappreciated precursor to contemporary do-it-yourself culture and modern conceptions of self-improvement.

Author: Janet Borgerson, Jonathan Schroeder
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 05/14/2024
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.40lbs
Size: 10.25h x 8.23w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780262048835

About the Author
Janet Borgerson is Senior Wicklander Fellow at DePaul University.

Jonathan Schroeder is William A. Kern Professor in the School of Communication at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Borgerson and Schroeder are coauthors of Designed for Hi-Fi Living: The Vinyl LP in Midcentury America and Designed for Dancing: How Midcentury Records Taught America to Dance (both MIT Press).
Shipping & Return

Returns Policy

You may return most new, unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. We'll also pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.).

You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).

If you need to return an item, simply login to your account, view the order using the "Complete Orders" link under the My Account menu and click the Return Item(s) button. We'll notify you via e-mail of your refund once we've received and processed the returned item.

Shipping

We can ship to virtually any address in the world. Note that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.

When you place an order, we will estimate shipping and delivery dates for you based on the availability of your items and the shipping options you choose. Depending on the shipping provider you choose, shipping date estimates may appear on the shipping quotes page.

Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound.

Review

Related Products

Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD
Example product title
$90.48 AUD
$90.48 AUD

Recently Viewed Products