This article describes the U-X-L encyclopedia "Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th Century America," a five-volume set, arranged chronologically with two decades in each volume. Each decade then is divided into topics, such as commerce (more exciting than it sounds with lots of inventions, consumer goods, and technology); film and theater (and later radio and TV); fashion; food and drink; music; print culture (another boring term that includes comics, series, books, and magazines); sports and games; and a catch-all category, the way we live. The scope of the content is impressive, from Jack Benny to Beavis and Butt-Head, from Alka-Seltzer to Prozac, from Sears Roebuck to the Mall of America. Students will learn about the history of the kinds of things that affect their daily lives. The set does not ignore unpleasant features of social life, as articles show how the Depression, Aids, Anorexia, and Blacklisting also are part of that history.