"A Quest for Liberty Otherwise Denied"

"Music plays a large role in Beckman’s outline of the challenging, riotous fun of recent times. The syncopated, erotic rhythms of jazz, often enjoyed by interracial groups, inspired laughter, dancing and partying, much as Pinkster had done in an earlier era. The anarchic nature of punk pulled outcast kids into their own community, symbolized by the raw, reckless and physically dangerous mosh pit. Hip-hop was (and is) a do-it-yourself culture that empowered dispossessed black youths, followed by alienated white youths, to challenge authority, especially the cops.

"After presenting these and other examples of frolic and defiance, Beckman concludes that 'fun—especially fun in the midst of struggle—is the personal and communal experience of freedom. All it requires is a cavalier attitude toward killjoys, tyrants, limits and timidity.'"

Howard P. Chudacoff in The New York Times reviews John Beckman's American Fun: Four Centuries of Joyous Revolt.