Brat Pack America: Visiting Cult Movies of the '80s

From the fictional towns of Hill Valley, CA, and Shermer, IL, to the beautiful landscapes of the "Goondocks" in Astoria and the "time of your life" dirty dancing resort still alive and well in Lake Lure, NC, '80s teen movies left their mark not just on movie screen and in the hearts of fans, but on the landscape of America itself. Like few other eras in movie history, the '80s teen movies has endured and gotten better with time. In Brat Pack America, Kevin Smokler gives virtual tours of your favorite movies while also picking apart why these locations are so important to these movies.

Including interviews with actors, writers, and directors of the era, and a Trapper Keeper full of interesting facts about your favorite '80s movies, Brat Pack America is a must for any fan of The Breakfast Club and Back to the Future, of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty in Pink, and Dead Poets Society. Smokler went to Goonies Day in Astoria, OR, took a Lost Boys tour of Santa Cruz, CA, and in the present visited retro arcades, movie theaters and record stores. His exploration of highways and main streets of Brat Pack America remind us why we loved the teen movies of the '80s so much and, three decades later, still do.

Kevin Smokler is the author of the essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven't Touched Since High School (2013), which the Atlantic Wire called "truly enjoyable," and the editor of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His work has appeared in the LA Times, Fast Company, BuzzFeed, Vulture, the San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly, and on NPR. In 2013, he was BookRiot's first ever Writer-in-Residence.