WRITING LIVES AND WRITING HISTORY

A response not just to the Depression but to the new bureaucratic and administrative structures of modern America, it became extremely influential, especially as it moved beyond the realm of cultural representation and came to shape the personalities of real Americans-especially men, who made this version of "cool" an essential component of modern masculinity. The organization man-or today's cubicle worker-might wear a grey flannel suit, but beneath the dull uniform lay an autonomous individual who could find myriad ways to express his unique personality, not least through leisure-time activities that were associated with this new masculine cool: riding a motorcycle, playing in a rock band, participating in extreme sports, joining the guys for weekly poker games, taking off with them for occasional road trips to Vegas.