Charles L. Ponce de Leon is the author of several books, including Fortunate Son: The Life of Elvis Presley and That's the Way It Is: A History of Television News in America.

"Rolling Stone is more than a music magazine; it is a historical artifact reflecting the times, Ponce de Leon argues in this history of the publication . . . . An engaging cultural history with relevant insight into late 20th-century American society."--Library Journal, STARRED review

"A fascinating new book."--Splice Today

"Ponce de Leon brilliantly contextualizes the history of Rolling Stone while attending to the broader historical transformations that had swept up the magazine by the time of Reagan's ascent. A brilliant examination of the 1960s and its legacies."--Andrew Hartman, author of Karl Marx in America

"In this intellectual and political history of Rolling Stone, Charles Ponce de Leon gives us a clear-eyed picture into how the magazine helped shape America's tumultuous 1960s, scuzzy 1970s, and yuppie 1980s. An entertaining and expansive treatment."--Kevin Mattson, author of We're Not Here to Entertain: Punk Rock, Ronald Reagan, and the Real Culture War of 1980s America

"Every journalist should read Rolling Stone and the Rise of Hip Capitalism."--Chronicles Magazine

Publisher: University of North Carolina Press

Pub date: 2026-04-28

Length: 304 pages