Joan Ormrod

Surf Rhetoric in American and British Surfing Magazines Between 1965 and 1976

This article examines how subcultural values are influenced by place and environment within a specific time period between the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. At this time America was one of the major surfing nations in the world and American surfing culture was the most easily accessible to British surfers. Conversely British surfing was at an early stage of development and the article compares the rhetoric of American surfing with British surfing subcultures to determine the extent to which the fantasy lifestyle of searching for the perfect wave expressed in American surfing magazines and films was accepted by British surfers.

Superheroes and Identities

This collection analyses stories from popular comics franchises such as Batman, Captain America, Ms Marvel and X-Men, alongside less well known comics such as Kabuki and Flex Mentallo.

Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing. By Scott Laderman

28 1 branded as communists and fellow travellers. But he most certainly did not instigate Britain’s turn against organized religion in the 1960s. He was not the trigger, not even mildly important to the desertion of the churches and blind faith. This is where intellectual history becomes rather interesting, and the author does well to describe in some sensible ways the position that Russell enjoyed in British culture. However, Russell’s fame in the 1960s as a leader figure in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament deserved more space; beyond that, the author doesn’t really explain precisely why Russell should have been so popular when his ideas weren’t. There is something about his position in the affections of the British people which reminds one of a cuddly teddy bear in the arms of a child. Why precisely should an atheist have been so highly regarded by Christians? The final figure of the quartet, Barbara Ward, is interesting in part because she was the least well-known to the general public, yet clearly wielded influence in favour of one particular group that enjoyed a resurgence in its establishment position. Ward’s Catholicism was to prove important in the BBC, where, as a governor, she was perceived by the atheist and free-thinking movement as one of a clique of post-war Catholics who wielded some power in the domain of religious broadcasting, and in talks programmes, through which, until the 1960s, British radio and television reflected the intellectual alignments of the nation. It would have been interesting if the networking of these four people – the power groups they linked to – had been given some more attention in the narrative so that their intellectual prowess was seen contextualized in the well-organized movements through which they wielded power, as well as thought, in British culture. Still, this is a book informed by deep learning on the intellectual histories of these four people. They were not wholly equivalent figures and other candidates might have been selected. It is also perhaps unclear how far they should be seen as movers and shakers in the moral turmoil of the mid-twentieth century. On neither side of the culture war then going on do they appear to have been hugely influential. Russell was known of, but hardly an influential figure, in late 1960s’ student circles, whilst few had heard of Huxley or Ward. On the other hand, Muggeridge was well known, but out of his time, the British’s public’s Aunt Sally of anachronism, a figure of fun to be enjoyed – at no time more so than in the televised intellectual demolition he suffered from Messrs Cleese and Palin for his diatribe against Monty Python’s Life of Brian. A tide of history broke on the shores of Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, and these individuals, despite their best efforts, were more spectators than instigators.

Captain America and the struggle of the superhero: critical essays, edited by Robert G. Weiner

Coogan (2006) defines a superheros construction through mission, identity and powers and research often concentrates upon the socio-historic issues raised by these three factors. Captain Americas...