If It Ain't Got That Swing

In a world dominated by teenagers, it is easy to forget that popular culture once catered to adults. A countercultural "Gen-X" writer shows in his new book that the rise of rock and roll and the suburbanization of America have produced a narcissistic society drained of joy and hope. Yet in the spreading revival of swing dancing &%8212; an artifact of a more sophisticated and convivial way of life — he detects a harbinger of cultural renewal.