"Joan Rivers, comedienne, actress, jewelry monger, lives by the golden rule: Do unto others before they do unto you - and for God's sakes, do it funny! During the past two hundred years Joan has gained acclaim as an award-winning entertainment goddess. Joan is an international s…
The dominant feature of modern technology is not how productive it makes us, or how it has revolutionized the workplace, but how enjoyable it is. We take pleasure in our devices, from smartphones to personal computers to televisions. Whole classes of leisure activities rely on t…
The dominant feature of modern technology is not how productive it makes us, or how it has revolutionized the workplace, but how enjoyable it is. We take pleasure in our devices, from smartphones to personal computers to televisions. Whole classes of leisure activities rely on t…
"Approaching Ottoman social history through the lens of entertainment, this volume considers the multi-faceted roles of entertainment within society. At its most basic level entertainment could be all about pleasure, leisure and fun. But it also played a role in socialisation, g…
"In a 1572 visit to Warwick, Queen Elizabeth looked out the window of her lodgings and saw local people dancing in the courtyard, a seemingly spontaneous performance meant to entertain her. During her travels, she was treated to fireworks, theatrical performances, and lavish ban…
"Hollywood makes the most widely successful pleasure-giving artworks the world has ever known. The industry operates under the assumption that pleasurable aesthetic experiences, among huge populations, translate into box office success. With that goal in mind, Hollywood has syst…
As World War II dawned in Europe, General George C. Marshall, the new Army Chief of Staff, had to acknowledge that American society - and the citizens who would soon become soldiers - had drastically changed in the previous few decades. Almost every home had a radio, movies coul…
Anticipations of an unpredictable future : nineteenth-century life insurance and Babbage's calculating engines -- Past-tense futures : history and temporality rewritten in Lyell, Eliot, and Darwin -- Pivotal moments, diverging paths : visual narratives in board games, protean vi…
