One of the most misunderstood, and perhaps under appreciated, forms of art emerged in the post WWII period; termed the "culture of spontaneity" by Daniel Belgrad. Many people considered (and many continue to consider) the art, music, dance, and literature of the 1940's and 1950's avant-garde to be less than artistic. The art is often satirized in popular culture as a fringe subculture that possesses odd characters whose productions are simply weird. Though the art is often misunderstood, there was a diverse and spiritual culture tied to it. Daniel Belgrad examines postwar avant-garde culture (and art) and treats it with a delicate respect that it disserves in his book The Culture of Spontaneity: Improvisation and the Arts in Postwar America.
Belgrad is not the first author to examine the art of the postwar period, where Belgrad differs in approach is his decision to not focus on one single element of postwar art but attempts a broad examination of the art of postwar avant-garde. Belgrad identifies "an accurate understanding of American intellectual and cultural life" by "recognizing the existence of a coherent aesthetic of spontaneity and its social significance." Belgrad undertakes his research to discuss the social significance of spontaneity - its causes, evolution, implications, etc. Belgrad states the reason for the emergence of a significant avant-garde was in direct response to 'corporate liberalism.' Corporate liberalism, a pervasive ideology of the pre and postwar periods, "preserves the ideology of mass production central to Progressive thinking" and is characterized by a pervasive governing system that influenced everyday lives of American citizens ("'bureaucratic control'"). The avant-garde emerged as a direct counter to the growing control in American life, as well as, a conscious rejection of culture (Western culture) that could reap the mass immorality seen during the Second World War.
Rather than develop his work chronologically Belgrad develops his book by looking at important threads within the avant-garde. His first chapter is dedicated to the emergence and development of the culture of spontaneity. Belgrad draws distinct connections between the culture of spontaneity to earlier movements of spontaneity such as Surrealism and Dada. Belgrad also points to the influence of the alienation with western traditions as a factor in the emergence of spontaneity. The alienation caused a conscious abandonment of traditional western artistic forms (i.e. pentameter, meter, perspective, etc.). "Most broadly spontaneity implied an alternative to the vaunted rational progress of Western civilization, which had succeeded in developing technologies and principles...that threatened human life and freedom on an unprecedented scale." Belgrad then discusses, in following chapters, the influence of Carl Jung's psychology (the importance for art to have social meaning), Native American spiritual art beyond and prior to the destructive forms of Western culture, Zen Buddhism, Existential philosophy, the Gestalt of Paul Goodman, as well as, many other influences to the culture of spontaneity.
The first half of Belgrad's book covers mostly covers spontaneous art (Pollack, de Kooning, Daum, Kline, etc) while touching on, at the same time, other areas such as dance, sculpture, and pottery. Belgrad investigates the culture of spontaneity in music and literature at the end of his book. For music he mainly concentrates on the work of the great Charlie Parker; for literature the focus falls on beat laureates Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Belgrad concludes his book with a chapter entitled "Into the Sixties." The final chapter looks at the transition of the spontaneous arts to the 1960s and the influence the art and artists had on the artists and the developing counterculture.
At the end of the book Belgrad posits two very interesting points that he does not answer in depth leaving the reader something to contemplate. The first point is found in the final chapter of the book and concerns the counterculture and "rock music." Belgrad discusses the comericality of rock music and how it was a revolution not in form (like bebop) but in its "verbal message." "This enabled rock to become the musical voice of a mass movement, although it diffused much of its potential radicalism through commodification." Belgrad develops a very interesting (and very debatable) topic in his conclusion and though it does not deal directly with the culture of spontaneity it is truly and interesting point to consider. The other interesting point that Belgrad posits yet does not develop is the apparent contradiction within the claimed spirituality of the avant-garde. Belgrad questions,
How well does a sense of the obstacles imposed by the dominant culture explain the gap between this idealistic vision and the biographies of spontaneity's leading figures? Can Charlie Parker, Jack Kerouac, and Jackson Pollack, with their huge failures in human relationships, really be understood as advocates of intersubjectivity?

Belgrad attempts to answer this very powerful question quickly, defending the men's respective turmoil well appealing logically to the difficulty of going against the accepted norms of culture. Belgrad's entire book is dedicated to investigating fairly complex and abstract subject in depth, yet all too quickly posits and answers a very difficult and interesting question. Perhaps Belgrad did not recognize the power and importance of this question in the overall consideration of the importance and impact of spontaneity; or he does not wish to dedicate too much time to a question that might break the lovely façade that he established for spontaneity. Either way, it is a fascinating point for Belgrad to make and one that can be contemplated for quite sometime.
Belgrad does an excellent job tackling a complex and broad topic such as the art of the postwar period. Though it is a broad topic, Belgrad unites the works together very well. Any reader, though, cannot approach this book; the book is very complex and requires some background in the art, music, literature etc as well as in philosophy, psychology and other influential factors on the artists of spontaneity. Belgrad's work is excellent and ties together both Graebner and Herman quite well. The Culture of Spontaneity goes past Graebner's discussion of the 1940s (to show how Graebner's "Age of Doubt" went into the 1950s) and also how psychology (Jung and Goodman specifically) impacted the arts in the postwar period.

Whether your interest is in improvisation, spontaneity, creativity, performance, popular culture, or modern history, this book provides necessary background in understanding origins of much of the creativity that defines the lives we lead in the Western World today. Mr. Belgrad's work is academically rigorous and beautifully written at the same time. The connections among and between the people who have often previously been thought of as individuals or members of subcultural cliques is amazing. Belgrad's list is long and impressive and beautifully researched. From the beat poets and writers (Keroac, Ginsberg, Leroi Jones), to the abstract impressionists (Pollack); from the Zen potters to the modern and improvisational dancers (Merce Cunningham); from New York to Black Mountain College to San Francisco, the era of Post War America was explored by amazing people. This book links and weaves the lives, ideas, work, and play of these people as no one has ever done before. Mr. Belgrad's reference list is a gold mine of research directions. If you are seriously involved in Improvisation at any level this is absolutely required reading.