Quicklet on Mad Men Season 3

Book excerpt: ABOUT THE BOOK Set in 1963, one of the most turbulent years of the 1960s, AMCs Mad Men Season 3 delves into controversial topics such as racism, homosexuality, drug use, infidelity, and the assassination of President Kennedy in a shocking, yet stylish manner. It ups the ante on the built-up tensions of the previous two seasons and explodes into bloodshedliteral and non-literalfor every character involved. In seasons one through three, the series centers around the fictitious Madison Avenue advertising firm Sterling Cooper (which was based off a real ad agency from the 1960s), but the third season finds the companys principals answering to higher powers. Viewers learn in the very first episode that Sterling Coopers been purchased by British advertising powerhouse Putnam, Powell, and Lowe. The Brits have put one of their own in the trenches in an effort to curtail Sterling Coopers infamous atmosphere of boozing, slacking off, and sleeping around. MEET THE AUTHOR An obsession with Chicago's vibrant dining and drinking scenes drove Audarshia Townsend to first write for respected publications like Essence, Chicago Reader and the Chicago Defender. She also has written lifestyle features for the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Upscale magazine. Audarshia continues to write cocktail-, dining- and lifestyle-oriented stories for Dining Chicago, Michigan Avenue Magazine and Playboy (as well as appears regularly on WCIU-TV's "You & Me This Morning" and "The G Spot Radio Show"). EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK In the Mad Men Season 3 premiere opening scenes, viewers learn why Don Draper (Jon Hamm) was named Dick Whitman by his birth mother. Its an important, yet unsexy flashback for the shows resident hunk, as the audience discovers what made him desperate enough to steal a dead mans identity in the first place. Dons darkest secret played an important role in the first two seasons, and while he manages to keep it hidden from everyone (save his boss and a scheming co-worker), it blows up in his face by the end of the third season. But this is Don Draper were talking about: the Old Fashioned guzzling, womanizing, chain-smoking, strutting creative director of Madison Avenue advertising agency Sterling Cooper. To the outside world he appears fearless, from his smooth and effortless way of handling clients to his brazen affairs with beautiful womenincluding his daughters elementary school teacher. The viewers, of course, are truly the only ones who get him, and find themselves torn between cheering him on as he tries to save his company and booing him when he cheats once again. CHAPTER OUTLINE Quicklet on Mad Men Season 3 + About the TV Show + About the Director and Producer + Overall Summary + Episode-by-Episode Commentary & Summary + ...and much more Mad Men Season 3