In this illuminating book, Hale delves into the social, cultural, and political forces that converged to create a vibrant and influential music scene in this small Southern town that literally rocked the world.

Unfortunately, I blew it. Really wanted to read this book, and still do, but I waited too long to download it and its since been archived. Lesson learned! Hope it does well.

(Forced to include a star rating which I could not accurately do so opted for the middle. Bet I would have rated higher if I didn't slack so long.)

I had a hard time reading this book even though I am interested the subject. The book was too long and there was a lot of repetition. I also felt that the author over analyzed a lot. The author takes a look at Athens, Georgia during the eighties and what made it unique. She shows how Athens influenced music and the arts. I did like reading the personal stories. It was fun to learn that Athens was more than just the B-52s and REM. This book will appeal to music lovers as well as those interested in Southern History.

As a fan of REM and the B52's I was interested in learning more about their formative years. I guess I'm just not THAT much of a fan of them, as I found this book a bit impenetrable as it goes into way too much detail. I imagine it's interesting if you were actually there, and knew all these people. If you weren't, it just becomes a random blur of scenesters, references that go over your head, and what feels like a peripheral hanger-on, trying to prove that they were there. Disappointing.

I just could not for the life of me enjoy this book. I was just not engrossed by it in any way. I think that a ton of hard work was put into it and you can tell the author has such a roaring passion for the subject but I was just not grasped by the tile.

Great deep dive into the early Athens music scene. This book is impossible to read without meandering through hours of Spotify and old cassette tapes. Well researched, but the author was part of the scene a few years in and her descriptions fill in all of the nostalgic details.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC. This is a well researched, well documented, pretty straightforward history of the Athens music scene. It is not for everyone. If you are a big fan of these bands, you will like this, but if you are not, I don't think this book will grab you and make you want to listen. This is a book written by someone who was there for people who care. It is essentially fan service and that is totally fine.

The heyday of Athens, Georgia was a little before my time but it was so interesting to read about such a specific time and place in music history. I learned so much about indie '90s bands. One of my favorite music history books and that's saying a lot! You really were put right in the scene.

Hale crafts a veritable "There and Back Again" of Athens culture as we examine the genesis of the city's status into a music mecca, its power at the height of influence, and, of course, its legacy.

An elongated introduction helps acquaint you with the author's prose, which helps separate this from your rank-and-file music history book (with all due respect to those) and galvanizes her authority on this subject. A seamless transition into precisely the how and the who of Athens' burgeoning musical oasis follows before we lock arms with some straight-on music history of not just the most famous (B-52s, R.E.M.), but the most influential. Hale begins to explain her own role/contributions to the story as we settle in on a latter section that further explains the process in developing an environment conducive to making art.

If you want a drinking game, take a sip every time the word "bohemian" is used; seriously, though, it's been a word that I admit I didn't really know the definition of but, thanks to Hale, I'm pretty clear on it now.

A hip, packed, and illustrious account of a musical movement I had no idea about until Hale's work. A solid contender for the best music history book of 2020--the bar has been set high.

Many thanks to NetGalley and University of North Carolina Press for the advance read.

A really interesting history of the creation and fostering of the Athens, GA music scene, I missed the college radio years of indie so it was great to understand how the transition from hippie to indie (through punk) happened. I also didn't realize just how many artists I've enjoyed came from or through Athens (R.E.M., B-52s, Vic Chestnutt, Widespread Panic, Matthew Sweet).

Three things really struck me with this book. First, how important the geography, culture, economics, institutions, and people of Athens were to making the scene. Bands may have played up , played down, or alternated between accepting and rejecting the "southern" label, but Hale does a good job showing how the culture, contradictions, and relative isolation of Athens helped foster the scene.

The second was the unique point of view of the author. She is both a trained academic and was an active participant in the scene (playing in a band and co-owning and operating a cafe/performance venue). I actually think the book (as far as I can tell) does a good job both as an objective-ish work of history and as a personal look inside the scene.

Thoroughly enjoyable and interesting.

This is a gem of a book, by an author that couldn't be more perfect for the task of chiseling out this diamond. Grace Elizabeth Hale actually lived through the crucial years, when Athens GA was cultivating and producing all those great artists; then she went onto to get some scholarly creds, that gave her the expertise to say something worthwhile about all that she lived through and observed. One such nugget that stuck with me: Hale said the participants way back when would have been a bit bemused at the proliferations of labels such as LGBTQ and so forth about sexuality. The whole point back then was to get rid of such a bourgeois thing as labels. The point was to simply be, and to blend and to mix. Another nugget: Athens GA is still a cool town, she says. It's still cheap and cool. I may have to move there. Another nice thing: Hale goes into a bit of detail about my favorite band from that era, Love Tractor. I put on their song Cartoon Kiddies today, and it still sounds as good as ever.
-- Alex Marshall
Author:
How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl and the Roads Not Taken
Beneath The Metropolis: The Secret Lives of Cities
The Surprising Design of Market Economies

This book shines a spotlight directly at a brief period in a small town that launched a seismic movement in American music culture. _Cool Town_ is an exhaustive account of how Athens, Georgia, in the 80s was the right place at the right time to grow a scene out of which thrived bands like the B-52s, R.E.M., Pylon, Love Tractor, Mercyland, and more, as well as artists, zines, poets, and a new kind of bohemian lifestyle. The author, Grace Elizabeth Hale, was a part of that scene as a musician and University of Georgia undergrad and grad student specializing in American cultural studies. I myself caught a glimpse of Athens culture when I worked for Atlanta's alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing straight out of college. I was drawn to Hale's book because a lot of the bands, venues, folk artists, and characters on the scene were familiar to me. Hello, Rockfish Palace! It brought me back to a time when every night meant another chance to be a +1 or put my name +1 on another list at the door. Another chance to hang with the cool freaks. Another chance to "discover" a folk artist's installation in the woods.
_Cool Town_ skews very specialized, but if you're into meticulously crafted cultural history of popular music, you'll want to read it.

Never got this book Never got this book, Never got this book. Never got this book. Never got this book. Never got this book.

Like the first reviewer, I am unable to read documents in pdf as well. Please let us know if the documents are only available as pdfs, so I will not request them.