Occupation Writer, critic Spouse(s) Peter Skerry | Name Martha Bayles Role Critic | |
 | ||
Born April 22, 1948 (age 76) ( 1948-04-22 ) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Books Hole in our soul, Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America's Image Abroad | ||
Martha bayles distorted representations of american culture
Martha Bayles has written widely on the arts, media, cultural policy, and U.S. public diplomacy.
Contents
- Martha bayles distorted representations of american culture
- american public diplomacy crisis and solutions martha bayles
- Life and career
- Published work
- For Through a Screen Darkly
- For A Hole in Our Soul
- Media
- Awards and honors
- Articles
- References
Her essays and reviews have appeared in many national and international publications, including the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Boston Globe, Atlantic Monthly, and The New Republic. She is a former TV and arts critic for the Wall Street Journal and a regular contributor to the Boston Globe, Weekly Standard, and Claremont Review of Books. She is also an educator, having taught at Harvard University, Claremont McKenna College, and Boston College. She has lectured around the world on public diplomacy and popular culture. Her books, Hole In Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music, Ain't That a Shame? Censorship and the Culture of Transgression, and, most recently, Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America's Image Abroad, have received high praise. Sam Schulman called Bayles "one of the great unsung critics of the baby boom generation." Bayles received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University and her master's in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.
As of 2014, Bayles teaches humanities at Boston College and lives in Newton, Massachusetts.
american public diplomacy crisis and solutions martha bayles
Life and career
Bayles is a native of Boston and a Harvard graduate.
After her undergraduate degree, she taught in various public schools of Philadelphia, Boston, and Cambridge, MA. From 1997 and 2003, she taught humanities at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. Since 2003 she has been a lecturer in the Arts & Sciences Honors Program at Boston College, teaching humanities and the Western cultural tradition.
Bayles has been arts and television critic for the Wall Street Journal, arts correspondent for the PBS program, "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly," a Visiting Scholar at the Getty Institute in Los Angeles, and a (in 2006) a Fulbright Lecturer at Poland’s Marie Curie Sklodowska University, Catholic University, and Warsaw University.
Bayles has lectured widely on American culture, globalized popular culture and news, and US public diplomacy. In the United States, she has spoken at the American Foreign Service Association; the Center for Advanced Cultural Studies at the University of Virginia; George Washington University; the Institute for International Education; the University of Oklahoma; the American Enterprise Institute; the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University; the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.: and Humanity in Action. Abroad, she has given two speaking tours in Germany (organized by the U.S. Embassy) and one in Poland (as a Fulbright Senior Scholar). She has also spoken at the Kolegium Artes Liberales at the University of Warsaw; the University of Alberta; the Aspen Institute Berlin; the Women in Memory Forum in Cairo; Koç University in Istanbul; and several universities in China, including Tsinghua University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Foreign Studies University; as well as at the Hong Kong Forum, Hong Kong Press Club, and University of Hong Kong.
Bayles currently belongs to the Public Diplomacy Council (2008–present), a "nonprofit organization committed to the importance of the academic study, professional practice, and responsible advocacy of public diplomacy." She has been a member of the Business for Diplomatic Action (2008–2011).
Published work
Bayles has written three books. Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music is a critical look at the disappearing cultural roots in American music that traces the elements of jazz, blues, country, and gospel music through the rise of rock 'n' roll, punk, heavy metal, and rap. Her argument of "perverse" modernism created much discussion among responding critics.
Ain't That a Shame? Censorship and the Culture of Transgression published by the Institute for US Studies at the University of London, takes a comparative look at censorship in Britain and the United States. Her most recent book, Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America's Image Abroad, was published by Yale University Press in 2014. In preparation for the book, she conducted hundreds of interviews in eleven countries across the world, and in it she discusses foreign perceptions of Americans based on our media exports and recommends ways of renewing US public diplomacy to engage with those perceptions.
Besides her own publications, Bayles has contributed a number of book chapters to other popular works, including the chapter on "Popular Culture" in The Oxford Companion to United States History. Other contributions include:
Bayles is a regular contributor to Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Weekly Standard. She occasionally contributes to Wilson Quarterly, New York Times, and Washington Post.
Bayles has maintained a few blogs as well: "Hearts and Minds," a blog on culture and foreign affairs in World Affairs; "Serious Popcorn," a film blog for ArtsJournal.com; and "Television," a weekly column in the Wall Street Journal (1983–1990).
For Through a Screen Darkly
For A Hole in Our Soul
Media
Bayles has appeared on multiple television and radio programs to discuss her work including PBS NewsHour, OnPoint with Tom Ashbrook, the "Kojo Nnambi Show", the "Dennis Prager Show", "Midday with Dan Rodericks", The Public Diplomat, and the American Enterprise Institute.
Most recently she has promoted her work and foreign policy on C-Span's "Washington Journal" with John McArdle, "Greater Boston" with Jared Bowen on WGBH Boston, and "Newshour" with Jeffrey Brown on PBS (WETA, Washington).
Awards and honors
Bayles has been awarded numerous honors from a variety of cultural, academic, and national institutions, including: