Hip: The History

[Dave Monroe]

Leland, John.  Hip: The History.
   New York: Ecco, 2004.

How an underground idea shaped American culture, from
sex and music to race, fashion, drugs, commerce and
the national rites of rebellion.

Hip: The History is the story of an American
obsession. Derived from the Wolof word hepi or hipi
("to see," or "to open one's eyes"), which came to
America with West African Slaves, hip is the dance
between black and white -- or insider and outsider --
that gives America its unique flavor and rhythm. It
has created fortunes, destroyed lives and shaped the
way millions of us talk, dress, dance, make love or
see ourselves in the mirror. Everyone knows what hip
is.

This is the story of how we got here. Hip: The History
draws the connections between Walt Whitman and Richard
Hell, or Raymond Chandler and Snoop Dogg. It slinks
among the pimps, hustlers, outlaws, junkies,
scoundrels, white negroes, Beats, geeks, beboppers and
other hipsters who crash the American experiment, and
without whom we might all be listening to show tunes.

Along the way, Hip: The History looks at hip's quest
for authenticity, which binds millions of us together
in a paradoxical desire to be different. Because, as
George Clinton said, "You can't fake the funk."

http://www.harpercollins.com/catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060528176

Chapter One, "In the Beginning There Was Rhythm
Slavery, Minstrelsy and the Blues"

http://www.harpercollins.com/catalog/excerpt_xml.asp?isbn=0060528176

EYES WIDE SHUT
BY LUC SANTE
The way of all hip, from Emerson to a billboard near
you

http://www.villagevoice.com/vls/182/sante.shtml

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