Rolling Stone and the Rise of Hip Capitalism: How a Magazine Born in the 1960s Changed America - Hardcover

Charles L. Ponce De Leon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1469694395 ISBN 13: 9781469694399

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2026

Synopsis

In its early years, Rolling Stone stood out on the magazine rack: an iconoclastic bimonthly aimed at young Americans, dedicated to music, culture, and politics. Magazine cofounder Jann Wenner’s vision of a magazine that blended politics with sophisticated coverage of rock music and related social and cultural trends was groundbreaking and a surprising commercial success, turning the brash young publisher into the era’s quintessential “hip capitalist.”
This is a history of Rolling Stone’s heyday, from its founding in 1967 to its twentieth anniversary, examining its coverage of notable social, cultural, and political developments and the contributions of its distinguished and often brilliant writers—from Greil Marcus and Hunter S. Thompson to William Greider and P. J. O'Rourke. It also reveals how, in response to shifts in its audience, the magazine industry, and the broader culture, Rolling Stone gradually changed, becoming more successful but also less innovative and influential. In the magazine’s prime, however, Wenner and company showed how a thoughtful, irreverent magazine could attract advertisers as well as readers and spread sixties-inspired values into the mainstream.

About this title

About the Author

Charles L. Ponce de Leon is the author of several books, including Fortunate Son: The Life of Elvis Presley and That’s the Way It Is: A History of Television News in America.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1469694395
• ISBN 13: 9781469694399
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304