From Mad Men to MAGA: how nostalgia came to be and why we are so eager to indulge it. From movies to politics, social media posts to the targeted ads between them, nostalgia is one of the most potent forces of our era. On Nostalgia is a panoramic cultural history of nostalgia, exploring how a force that started as a psychological diagnosis of soldiers fighting far from home has come become a quintessentially modern condition. Drawing on everything from the modern science of memory to the romantic ideals of advertising, and traversing cultural movements from futurism to fascism to Facebook, cultural critic David Berry examines how the relentless search for self and overwhelming presence of mass media stokes the fires of nostalgia, making it as inescapable as it is hard to pin down. Holding fast against the pull of the past while trying to understand what makes the fundamental impossibility of return so appealing, On Nostalgia explores what it means to remember, how the universal yearning is used by us and against us, and it considers a future where the past is more readily available and easier to lose track of than ever before. "If nostalgia was a disease in the Good Old Days, then David Berry's cogently argued, intelligent, and witty book should be prescribed reading for anyone wishing to understand what sometimes feels like a peculiarly virulent epidemic of our current times." -Travis Elborough "We're so lucky to have a writer as thoughtful, funny, smart, and cutting as David Berry. Nostalgia dictates so much of our world, and there isn't a better cataloger, critic, and guide through it than Berry." -Scaachi Koul

We'll be working to place excerpts with LitHub, Vox, Buzzfeed, The Undefeated Co-op available Print and digital galleys available Galleys available at Winter Institute and ALA Midwinter Meeting Online/social media campaign eBook available at same time as print publication eBook ISBN will be included on all press materials, author and publisher websites, and whenever print ISBN is listed Publisher and author will be promoting both eBook and print through social media Promotion through author's website: thedavidberry.com

About the Author
David Berry is a writer and cultural critic. His work has appeared in the Globe & Mail, Hazlitt, Toronto Life, and elsewhere, and he was an arts and culture columnist for the National Post for five years. This is his first book. David currently lives in Toronto.

Reviews
"Berry's subject is a wide-ranging one, but he pulls off the impressive feat of covering plenty of ground in a concise and compelling manner." -Tobias Carroll, Literary Hub
"On Nostalgia" is a powerful, thought-provoking work of philosophy and closely-argued systemic analysis. While the book is slim, Berry's writing is thick, complex and layered, but leavened with a sly wit. -The Toronto Star



Book Information
ISBN 9781552454060
Author Berry
Format Paperback
Page Count 140
Imprint Coach House Books
Publisher Coach House Books