Pure Innocent Fun
Essays
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Pure Innocent Fun
Narrated by:
Ira Madison III
Buy Now for $21.99
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Narrated by:
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Ira Madison III
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By:
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Ira Madison III
About this listen
“This is the most fun I’ve had reading all year. Like Chuck Klosterman before him, Ira Madison III takes seriously and analyzes the pop culture detritus that took up hours of our lives.”—Lin-Manuel Miranda
You can recall the first TV show, movie, book, or song that made you feel understood—that shaped how you live, what you love, and whom you would become. It gave you an entire worldview. For Ira Madison, that book was Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, which cemented the idea that pop culture could be a rigorous subject—and that, for better or worse, it shapes all of us.
In Pure Innocent Fun, Madison explores the key cultural moments that inspired his career as a critic and guided his coming of age as a Black gay man in Milwaukee. In this hilarious, full-throttle trip through the ’90s and 2000s, he recounts learning about sex from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; facing the most heartbreaking election of his youth (not George W. Bush’s win, but Jennifer Hudson losing American Idol); and how never getting his driver’s license in high school made him just like Cher Horowitz in Clueless: “a virgin who can’t drive.”
Brimming with a profound love for a bygone culture and alternating between irreverence and heartfelt insight, Pure Innocent Fun, like all the best products of pop culture, will leave you entertained and surprisingly enlightened.
Critic Reviews
“This is the most fun I’ve had reading all year. Like Chuck Klosterman before him, Ira Madison III takes seriously and analyzes the pop culture detritus that took up hours of our lives as byproducts of the late 1900’s. From Coldplay to Family Matters to Passions and everything in between, It feels like Ira has taken apart every dumb thing I’ve obsessed over and put it back together again—all my ‘roman empires.’ I laughed and cried and felt so, so seen. Buy it and KEEP IT.”—Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy, and Tony award winning creator of Hamilton and NYT bestselling author of G'morning G'night
“True to the book’s title, Madison’s humorous and perceptive essays will light a spark of recognition for those who came of age glued to their televisions at the turn of the century.”—The Washington Post, “10 Noteworthy Books for February”
“Ira’s wit, intelligence, and reverence for pop culture is on full display in this fantastic essay collection. What a pleasure to read.”—Phoebe Robinson, award winning comedian and NYT bestselling author of You Can’t Touch My Hair
“If you’re old enough to have typed A/S/L in AOL chat rooms this will unlock so many core millennial memories. If you don’t know what that means, this book will help you talk to your boss at work!”—Cody Rigsby, NYT bestselling author of XOXO, Cody
“A brilliant critical voice for millennials, those on the cusp, or anyone who has had their eyes open over the past few decades, Madison proves a worthy successor to his own idol, Chuck Klosterman. An engaging and often hilarious memoir-in-essays from a pop-culture fiend.”—Kirkus Reviews
“True to the book’s title, Madison’s humorous and perceptive essays will light a spark of recognition for those who came of age glued to their televisions at the turn of the century.”—The Washington Post, “10 Noteworthy Books for February”
“Ira’s wit, intelligence, and reverence for pop culture is on full display in this fantastic essay collection. What a pleasure to read.”—Phoebe Robinson, award winning comedian and NYT bestselling author of You Can’t Touch My Hair
“If you’re old enough to have typed A/S/L in AOL chat rooms this will unlock so many core millennial memories. If you don’t know what that means, this book will help you talk to your boss at work!”—Cody Rigsby, NYT bestselling author of XOXO, Cody
“A brilliant critical voice for millennials, those on the cusp, or anyone who has had their eyes open over the past few decades, Madison proves a worthy successor to his own idol, Chuck Klosterman. An engaging and often hilarious memoir-in-essays from a pop-culture fiend.”—Kirkus Reviews
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