From Revolution to Revelation offers a new paradigm for Cultural Studies. Tara Brabazon explores our understanding of our own past and the collective past we share with others through popular culture. She investigates Generation X, the ’post-youth’ generation born between 1961 and 1981, and the popular cultural literacies that are the basis of this imagining community. She looks at the ways in which popular culture offers a vehicle for memory, providing the building blocks of identity - the politics and passion of life captured in an unforgettable song, an amazing nightclub, or an unexpected goal in extra time. For a fan, the joy and exhilaration is enough, but it is the task of cultural studies to understand why particular cultural forms survive the passage of time and space. Brabazon argues, with Lawrence Grossberg, that Cultural Studies is ’the Generation X of the academic world’. She tracks its journey away from Marxism and subcultural theory and looks at its future. In particular she explores the possibilities of popular memory studies in reclaiming and repairing the discipline of Cultural Studies - making it as relevant and as revelatory as in its revolutionary past.

’People like to call psychoanalysis Freudian, philosophy Hegelian, postmodernism Baudrillardian...but when it comes to cultural studies, make mine Brabazonian. From Revolution to Revelation is a superb book that picks apart popular memory, separating useless, morbid nostalgia from inspiring, vital recall. In her racy, electric writing, Brabazon takes us from the smallest, most endearing details of popular texts and events through to the full-blown creation of new, fluid communities. Hers is a cultural politics that comes with anger, laughter, style and wisdom. This is a book that brings both revolution and revelation.’ Adrian Martin, Film Critic 'From the first to the last page, From Revolution to Revelation is a very personal book. Brabazon's interest in popular memories that are partly hr own guarantees for an immensely entertaining style of writing...her studies keep the promise of providing revelation.' American Studies

Tara Brabazon is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Australia