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xxiii Fads and crazes are ­ those popu­lar fancies that might be called “tremendous trivi- alities.” Ken Hakuta, no stranger to fads himself as the man who introduced the Wacky Wallwalker toy to Amer­i­ca, defines a fad as “something every­one wants yesterday and no one wants tomorrow.” Fads and crazes lend themselves to italics, as in “The ­ thing to do” or “Every­body’s ­ doing it.” In what sounds like a malaprop- ism, fads are only “cool” when ­ they’re “hot.” Though they often begin with youth, fads and crazes generally appeal to the masses, crossing demographic lines of age, income, and social class (even in our “classless” society). When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the most famous ­ woman of the 1960s, was seen ­doing the Twist or Frug in a mini­skirt, social arbiters raised their eyebrows, then their hemlines. Often the adult population begins by looking askance at the current fads and crazes of youth, much like Cicero in ancient Rome who lamented “O tempora, O mores!” (“Oh the times, oh the customs!”). Adults adopt a bemused or cynical stance—­until they themselves are caught up in the craze. At that point, young ­ people have generally moved on. IN WITH THE IN CROWD In his book, Sixty Trends in Sixty Minutes, writer Sam Hill says, “Fads are short-­ term trends that are caused by popu­lar momentum.” While that is certainly accu- rate, fads and crazes might also be long-­term byproducts of our earliest development as ­ human beings. Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm, wrote about ­human development in a June 2015 Vanity Fair article, “The Bonds of ­Battle,” stating, “Group affiliation and cooperation ­ were clearly adaptive ­ because in many ani- mals, including ­ humans, they trigger a surge in levels of a neuropeptide called oxytocin. Not only does oxytocin create a glow of well-­being in ­people, it promotes greater levels of trust and bonding, which unite them further still.” Introduction