{"id":40802253499,"date":"2021-03-03T11:10:22","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T16:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/?p=40802253499"},"modified":"2024-10-28T13:18:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T17:18:50","slug":"professor-womack-co-edits-fandom-and-the-beatles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/professor-womack-co-edits-fandom-and-the-beatles\/","title":{"rendered":"Prof. Womack Co-Edits \u201cFandom and the Beatles\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenneth Womack, Ph.D., professor of English and popular music at Monmouth University, and co-editor Kit O\u2019Toole, Ed.D., have just released their latest collection of academic writing, \u201cFandom and the Beatles: The Act You\u2019ve Known for All These Years,\u201d published by Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n

Unlike other bands of their era, the Beatles seem permanently frozen in time, having never descended into “nostalgia act” territory. Instead, even after the announcement of the band’s breakup in 1970, the group has maintained its cultural and musical relevance; their timeless quality appeals to younger generations while maintaining the loyalty of older fans.<\/p>\n

Womack, co-editor of the new collection who also teaches a Beatles course at Monmouth, says, \u201cWhile the Beatles definitely represent a specific period of time, their music and words address issues as meaningful today as they were in the \u201860s: politics, war, sex, drugs, art, and creative liberation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through chapters by some of the top Beatles and music writers in the world (including \u201cThe Beatles: Today\u2026and Tomorrow\u201d by Monmouth University Professor Kenneth L. Campbell), \u201cFandom and the Beatles\u201d defines and explores the unique qualities and ways in which the Beatles have enjoyed such loyalty and multigenerational popularity. It is the first anthology to completely assess the nature of fan response and the band’s enduring appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeatles fandom has transformed in the over 50 years since the band broke up,\u201d says co-editor O\u2019Toole. \u201cOur volume examines such issues as how technology has changed the way fans connect with one another, how fans have contributed to Beatles\u2019 history through scholarship, and how they have expressed their fandom through art, music, and writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFandom and the Beatles: The Act You\u2019ve Known for All These Years\u201d is 296 pages and is available from Oxford University Press, Amazon, and other major booksellers.<\/p>\n

Womack is the author or editor of more than 35 books, including \u201cLong and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles\u201d (2007), the \u201cCambridge Companion to the Beatles\u201d (2009), \u201cThe Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four\u201d (2014), and a multivolume study devoted to the life and work of Beatles producer George Martin. His book, “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles,\u201d was released in October 2019 and has received praise from \u201cThe L.A. Times \u201cand \u201cPublishers Weekly\u201d amongst others. His most recent book, \u201cJohn Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life,\u201d was published in September 2020 to rave reviews. The Music Culture writer for Salon and the host of their \u201cEverything Fab Four” podcast, Womack is also a guest author at \u201cSlate,\u201d \u201cBillboard,\u201d \u201cVariety,\u201d NBC News, \u201cSmithsonian Magazine,\u201d \u201cTime,\u201d and \u201cUSA Today.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Toole is a Chicago-based writer and music journalist, is the author of \u201cSongs We Were Singing: Guided Tours Through the Beatles\u2019 Lesser-Known Tracks\u201d and \u201cMichael Jackson FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the King of Pop.\u201d In addition to her two books, O\u2019Toole is also a longtime writer and associate editor for \u201cBeatlefan magazine,\u201d reviewer and \u201cDeep Beatles\u201d columnist for “Something Else Reviews,” the DeepSoul columnist for \u201cBlinded by Sound,<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>a frequent contributor to\u00a0Cinema Sentries, and a regular speaker at The Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago and New York. O\u2019Toole has also presented at the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, and written chapters for several academic collections. Her next authored book will be,\u00a0\u201cSoul Searching: Buried Treasures of R&B, Soul, Dance, and Hip-Hop.\u201d\u00a0She holds a doctorate in Instructional Technology.<\/p>\n

\"Womack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenneth Womack, Ph.D., professor of English and popular music at Monmouth University, and co-editor Kit O\u2019Toole, Ed.D., have just released their latest collection of academic writing, \u201cFandom and the Beatles: The Act You\u2019ve Known for All These Years,\u201d published by Oxford University Press. Unlike other bands of their era, the Beatles seem permanently frozen in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":40802253502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[322,423,1],"tags":[],"person":[1448,323,1237],"audience":[],"school":[26],"program":[],"class_list":["post-40802253499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-accomplishments","category-faculty-perspectives","category-uncategorized","person-kenneth-campbell","person-kwomack","person-kit-otoole","school-school-of-humanities-and-social-sciences"],"squareimage":{"id":40802253502,"rendered":"\"Womack","original":{"url":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2021\/03\/9780190917852.jpg","width":364,"height":550}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802253499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802253499"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802253499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802285091,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802253499\/revisions\/40802285091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40802253502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802253499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802253499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802253499"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=40802253499"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=40802253499"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=40802253499"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=40802253499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}