In the late 1970s, Athens, Georgia, might have seemed an unlikely source for the next waves of alternative culture, but as Hale shows in this vivid study, on the eve of Reagan’s America, the smallish southern college town was a dynamic hub of creative ferment. Using her expertise as Commonwealth Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Virginia, Hale guides us through the Athens she knew as a student, small-business owner, and band member, tracking the advent of pioneering bands like the B-52s, R.E.M., and Pylon as well as the work of the many experimental artists and progressive innovators who created new kinds of art and made lasting changes to mainstream American culture. Hale will be in conversation with Jack Hamilton, author of Just Around Midnight.