This book was written over many years, with a lot of trial and error and the help of countless people. It would never have been possible without the initial guidance of Sandra M. Gilbert, my dear friend, mentor, and dissertation adviser at the University of California, Davis, who urged me—with her own bottomless appetite for fun—to explore the rigors of this unlikely subject. Also indispensable at this early stage were the close readings and expert advice of Linda Morris, Georges Van Den Abbeele, Clarence Major, Michael Hoffman, and Riché Richardson. Many thanks, as well, to Sarah Boushey, Erika Kreger, Eric Smith, Rod Romesburg, Andrew Gross, Lisa Harper, Jennifer Hoofard, Carl Eby, Joe Aimone, and many others among our grad-student cohort for their generous advice, criticism, and support. Among my terrifically fun friends and colleagues at the Université de Bordeaux III, Jessie Magee, Michelle Church, Alexander Earl, Zoe Bond, Paul Egan, Federico Frédéric Aranzueque-Arrieta, John Jordan, Pauline Delpeche, Michael Moses, and Yves-Charles Grandjeat made an especially strong impact on this work. For a California education, from the Washoe Territory to Lake Anza and beyond, I warmly thank, among so many others: Melissa Stein, Mitchell Rose, Lucy Rose, Grey Wedeking, Maryam Eskandari, Shoshana Berger, and all my rocking friends in the Ashby Avenue Groop.
All of my friends and colleagues in the U.S. Naval Academy English Department have given incredible support during the writing of this book. My friends (and chairs) Anne Marie Drew, Allyson Booth, Tim O’Brien, and Mark McWilliams have served as tireless advocates for travel, research, and promotion, in addition to being invaluable readers. I am deeply indebted to Charlie Nolan, Eileen Johnston, Bill Bushnell, Michael Parker, Michelle Allen-Emerson, and Temple Cone: thank you for your camaraderie and brilliant input. Many thanks to Reza Malek-Madani, the Faculty Development Center, and the Naval Academy Research Council for their constant advocacy and interest. Thanks to Christopher Simmons and the ripping music-night scene. Thanks to Hoss Mitchell and all the Galway Bay bon vivants and to Skipper Mark Elert and the Wind River crew.
Big chunks of this book were written in a cabin on breathtaking Norton Island, Maine. My unending gratitude goes to Steve Dunn and the Eastern Frontier Educational Foundation for providing this extraordinary opportunity. Among the many residents there who have touched this book with their stories, ideas, conversation, and cavorting, Brian Bouldrey, Camille Dungy, and Lesley Doyle must be singled out as paragons of American fun. Special thanks to Ammi Keller and Angela Woodward for regional anecdotes.
This book is deeply indebted to generations of historiographers and journalists whose investigations into all of these events and eras make it possible to tell fun’s broader story. It is also indebted to the many libraries where I found these scholars’ books as well as primary and unpublished materials. Many thanks to the circulation and special collections departments at Shields Library (UC Davis), Bancroft Library (UC Berkeley), Widener and Houghton libraries (Harvard), and the Beinecke Library (Yale). I am especially grateful to the generous and gifted Nimitz librarians at the U.S. Naval Academy who have supported this book’s research at every stage: Katherine Lang, David Dudek, Nick Brown, Jack Martin, Jerry Alomar, Mary Danna, and Linda McLeod in Circulation; Michael Macan in Reference; Jennifer Bryan and David D’Onofrio in Special Collections; Florence Todd and Margaret Danchik in Interlibrary Loan. Diana Lachatanere, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, provided indispensable help—as did Amber Paranick and Margaret Kiechefer (among many others) at the Library of Congress; Rick Watson at UT Austin’s Harry Ransom Center; Christopher Geissler at Brown University’s John Hay Library; and Benjamin Gocker and Ivy Marvel at the Brooklyn Public Library. Many thanks to Ray Raphael for his invaluable insights and critique of my treatment of Samuel Adams, and to Andy Shernoff, the Christopher Columbus of Punk, for kindly fact-checking my account of the era that he made legend. Warm thanks to Adam Goodheart, Peter Manseau, and Washington College’s C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.
The two heroes of American Fun are Steve Wasserman, my indefatigable agent at Kneerim & Williams, who has shaped and championed the manuscript for years, against all odds, and Keith Goldsmith, my ever-constant editor at Pantheon, who has encouraged and challenged me through three full drafts, always applying the full force of his powerful intellect. My deepest gratitude to both of you for your faith, patience, generosity, and commitment. Many thanks to my agent Kathryn Beaumont, who has gallantly taken over the helm from Steve. Among the many people at Pantheon who have made this book, my special thanks to Nicholas Latimer, Andrew Miller, Susanna Sturgis for her gimlet-eyed copyediting, Cassandra Pappas for her elegant designing, Pablo Delcán for the stunning jacket, Michelle Somers for getting fun attention, and Roméo Enriquez, Ellen Feldman, and Andrew Dorko for managing production with such élan.
Among all the brilliant fellows and affiliates in my wife’s Nieman year, particular thanks goes to Alysia Abbott and Jeff Howe, Ashwini Tambe and Shankar Vedantam, Alissa Quart and Peter Maass, and Beth Macy and Tom Landon for their unfailingly fun counsel and company. Among the beloved Americans, native and naturalized, who have supported and inspired me throughout this long project, I thank the following: Ed Carew has been my brother in crime since Catholic school, as have the Wahlert Golden Eagles Alan Hennagir and Thomas Lally. Bill Martin has seen me through it all. As have Gus “Gustavo” Rose and Nami “Naminko” Mun. Thomas Heise (who has too), Andrew Strombeck, and Robert Balog have guided/goaded me through bicoastal underworlds. Lev Grossman (who has too) and Sophie Gee are our model family. Jason Shaffer (who has too) is my early American maharishi. Mick Calhoun has been my brick. Tom Bissell, on this and other books, has been my godfather, and Julie Barer has been my rock. Tom De Haven and Steve Dunn are the sweetest men on earth. Glenn Keyser and Wendy Low (“Gwendy”) have always indulged me. Gary (“Sir Novitz”) Sernovitz cracks me up. Christy Stanlake and Judah Nyden have been no end of fun, as have Jeff Alexander and Amber Hoover, John and Barbara Hill, and Mick and Becky Loggins.
My parents, Ann and Jerry, and my brother, Tom, have been loving, lifelong champions of anything I pursue. My parents-in-law, Pedro and Cathy Valdes and Dan and Ximena Sessler, have been amazingly supportive.
My dearest Katy, you’ve taught me my finest lessons in life. My dearest Evita, now you’re doing it too. My dearest Marcela, you’re the heart and soul of everything I do.
IN FOND MEMORY OF GEORGE WHITMAN (1913–2011), AMERICAN FUN’S AMBASSADOR TO PARIS