Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing—The Marketing of Culture

American culture, says Seabrook, a regular contributor to The New Yorker, no longer draws a clear line between taste and hype. In fact, he writes, it gleefully topples any remaining walls between art and commerce in everything from music to magazines to museums. Written in a feverish, quick-read style — part memoir, part reportage — Nobrow is most compelling when it dissects the clash of cultures at The New Yorker that was precipitated by the arrival (and later, abrupt departure) of its legendary editor, Tina Brown. But Seabrook also dissects such "cultural capitalists" as George Lucas, David Geffen and gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dog in his exploration of a world where the culture of marketing and the marketing of culture have become one.