{"id":6235,"date":"2023-08-01T15:40:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T19:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/?post_type=product&p=6235"},"modified":"2024-07-31T11:30:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T15:30:24","slug":"the-beginning-was-the-end","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/product\/the-beginning-was-the-end\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning Was the End"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Beginning Was the End<\/em> is the definitive account of Devo’s vibrant early history, from the authors of the first-ever book about the band. <\/span><\/span>The Beginning Was the End<\/span><\/span><\/em> features <\/span><\/span>more than <\/span>eighty<\/span><\/span> never-before-seen images of the band members and their visual history as it tells the unlikely story of a collection of creative misfits who formed a musical kinship, drawing material and inspiration from the industrial Midwestern environs of Northeast Ohio. With the May 4, <\/span>1970<\/span>,<\/span> Kent State shootings as a catalyst, Devo channeled protopunk energy into a sprawling art project that would pioneer the use of music videos, innovate technology in pop music, define the aesthetic of the 1980s New Wave\/MTV era, and <\/span>m<\/span>aintain<\/span> an edge of social, political, and cultural criticism that continues their relevance <\/span>fifty<\/span> years after their formation.<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About the authors<\/h2>\n

Jade Dellinger is director of the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College where he has curated shows, commissioned installations, hosted lectures and held performances with artists including the Guerilla Girls, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, the Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin and Devo’s Gerald Casale.\u202f He first invited Mark Mothersbaugh to the Sunshine State in 1999 for a project with the Contemporary Art Museum in Tampa, but most recently world-premiered the Devo frontman’s “Postcards For Democracy” exhibition (with collaborator Beatie Wolfe) at the Rauschenberg Gallery in 2021.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

David Giffels is the author of six books of nonfiction, most recently <\/span>Barnstorming Ohio: To Understand America <\/span><\/i>(Hachette Books 2020), one of <\/span>Library Journal\u2019s<\/span><\/i> Best Books of 2020. His other books include the memoirs <\/span>Furnishing Eternity<\/span><\/i> (Scribner 2018) and <\/span>All the Way Home <\/span><\/i>(William Morrow 2008), both winners of the Ohioana Book Award, and <\/span>The Hard Way on Purpose <\/span><\/i>(Scribner 2014), a <\/span>New<\/span><\/i> York Times Book Review<\/span><\/i> \u201cEditors\u2019 Choice.\u201d His writing has appeared in the <\/span>New York Times Magazine<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Atlantic<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Parade<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Iowa Review<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Esquire<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Grantland<\/span><\/i>, and many other publications. He is professor of English at the University of Akron, and serves on the faculty of the NEOMFA creative writing program.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Praise for The Beginning Was the End<\/em><\/h2>\n

\u201cThere are elements of Devo that are almost unfathomable. However, this book is as close as anyone will ever come to explaining where their brilliant absurdity came from\u2014and more importantly, why that absurd brilliance was so culturally essential.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Chuck Klosterman,\u00a0<\/span>New York Times<\/i>-bestselling author of\u00a0The Nineties<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0But What If We\u2019re Wrong?<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!<\/span><\/i>\u00a0frightened me to the point that I became paranoid and suspicious of the intent of punk rock and the direction of rock in general. When the concept and music finally wormed their way into my consciousness, I realized that this is the new prog; this is the future; this is all that matters. De-evolution became my religion, education, and inspiration to seek out and know all truly important rock music. It\u2019s high time this amazing story was told.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Robert Pollard, Guided By Voices<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An extraordinary prehistory of Devo before they are plasticized in cartoon fame, The Beginning Was The End<\/i> is readable, funny, and comprehensive. Anyone who recalls the thrilling initial impact of the band\u2019s cultural interventions will delight in the taste of these raw potatoes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Jonathan Lethem, author of\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Brooklyn Crime Novel<\/span><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As an adolescent growing up in Los Angeles, I found Devo exhilarating, but confusing. Were they an American Kraftwerk? A chaotic-freaky version of the Monkees? Jade Dellinger and David Giffels\u2019\u00a0The Beginning Was the End<\/em>\u00a0disambiguates the band brilliantly, tracing the myriad strands of the band\u2019s only-in-Ohio DNA in a way that both elucidates and enhances Devo\u2019s wondrous singularity. The result is a book as galvanizing as its subject.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Matthew Specktor, author of\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Always Crashing in The Same Car<\/span><\/b><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>American Dream Machine<\/span><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Media<\/h2>\n

Cleveland Scene Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018The Beginning Was the End\u2019 tells Devo\u2019s story |\u00a0Book Talk<\/a><\/p>\n

The Akron Beacon Journal<\/a><\/p>\n

Interview<\/a> with David and Jade at the May 4 Visitors Center<\/p>\n

Cleveland.com<\/a> interview with David Giffels<\/p>\n

David Giffels on From Akron & Beyond, episodes 19<\/a> and\u00a020<\/a> (parts 1 and 2)<\/p>\n

Jade Dellinger and Bob Lewis on From Akron & Beyond, episodes 24<\/a> and 25<\/a> (parts 1 and 2)<\/p>\n

Interview<\/a> with Brittany Moseley and David Giffels at Signal Akron<\/p>\n

Feature inside 25A Magazine on page 82<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Devo in Ohio<\/span><\/h1>\n

Jade Dellinger and David Giffels<\/span><\/p>\n

Size: 6×9<\/span><\/p>\n

Page count: 285<\/span><\/p>\n

Images: Over 80 never-before-seen images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6236,"template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[80162,85984,80523],"product_tag":[98461,98462,98460,98459,98458,98457,97283,98456,98455],"class_list":{"0":"post-6235","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-forthcoming-books","7":"product_cat-ohio-history-and-culture","8":"product_cat-recent-releases","9":"product_tag-1970-kent-state-shootings","10":"product_tag-devo","11":"product_tag-jerry-casale","12":"product_tag-mark-mothersbaugh","13":"product_tag-mtv","14":"product_tag-new-wave","15":"product_tag-ohio-history","16":"product_tag-punk","17":"product_tag-rock-music-history","19":"first","20":"instock","21":"shipping-taxable","22":"product-type-simple"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/6235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=6235"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=6235"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/uapress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=6235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}