Joel Dinerstein

writer & professor
race, music & cool

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TEDtalk: 17 minutes in 1 sentence

December 05, 2014

Honored to be invited to give a TED Talk on American Cool, March 2015 in Nashville. Not sure how I'm going to -- in 17 minutes -- speak of the origins of cool as a cultural concept, as a process of negotiating identity in modernity, and of the relationship of cool and photography...but hey, that's the challenge. The TED people need a one-sentence pitch by next month and that may be the toughest assignment of all.

Joel Dinerstein is the author of three books on cool, including the first history of the concept (The Origins of Cool in Postwar America), the first major exhibit of cool icons (American Cool), and a corporate history, Coach: A Story of NY Cool. My TED Talk, entitled "Why Cool Matters," can be found on YouTube. I am also the author of the award-winning Swinging the Machine, a theory of swing-era jazz and technology, and Jazz: A Quick Immersion, a short history and listening guide.

I am a cultural historian and Professor of English at Tulane University, and hold a Ph.D in American Studies from the University of Texas @ Austin.

In 2014, I curated the exhibit American Cool at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. American Cool featured 100 cool icons and 100 photographs, and it was based on my historical research.