POSTED: 07 AUGUST 2010

A romp through 1960s America

Here’s something that should be a natural for baby boomers ... Mad Men Unbuttoned, a primer on Mad Men, which starts its second series on SBS on Sunday 15 August at 9.30pm.

Mad Men is set in the world of 1960s Madison Avenue advertising executives and has been described by The New York Times as a groundbreaking show that luxuriates in the not-so-distant past.

Embedded in the show are hundreds of cultural nuggets that capture the historical themes of the mid-century — such as the diminution of social order to the giant consumerist boom. From lobrow ephemera such as iconic beer, bra, and shaving-cream ads, to the avant garde expressions of Mark Rothko, to political assassinations, to Drexel end tables, all of these precious morsels capture the zeitgeist of the 1960s.

Journalist and obsessive Mad Men fan Natasha Vargas-Cooper has collected and analysed these nuggets in one place, so readers can run their fingers over the ads, the sex, the politics and the social mores of the mid-century.

The book takes the richest references in the show and looks at each as a cultural artifact: the famous 1962 Lucky Strike ad, a reference to ad-dynamo Julian Koenig, or an Edo-era painting that adorns a wall in Sterling Cooper headquarters.

It’s a discursive look at American history during the mid-century, and also tasty eye candy and the ultimate reader’s companion to the show.

Natasha Vargas-Cooper is a reporter in Los Angeles. She spends most of her time writing for The Awl, but her work has also appeared in E! Online, Gawker, Black Book Magazine, Interview Magazine, Radar and Book Browse. She also spent several years working as anorganiser and health policy analyst for a labour union in Los Angeles and Washington DC.

PUBLISHING DETAILS

Natasha Vargas-Cooper, Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America (Published 1 September by Collins Design | 256pp paperback | $27.99)

*Based on media release issued by Harper Collins.