Radio National Breakfast

Was it James Dean who was the world's first cool dude?
Was it the leather jacket or the brooding countenance of his character in "Rebel Without a Cause" that made him stand out from the rest?
Even before that 1950's film about troubled youth, young people and older people who should know better, have been trying to be hip and cool.
It's not just attitude, though plenty of it can help.
And it's not just fashion or the number of body adornments or piercings.
Once upon a time, 'hip' was reserved for the icons of popular culture like singers, musicians and actors.
Now everyone wants to be cool and hip and it's become a commodity with fashion labels, hairstyles, and music genres defining what's cool, uncool and stuff that's so uncool that its cool.
But what exactly is the essence of cool? Why is it so pervasive? And what does it say about us?
To discuss this I'm joined from Washington by Thomas Frank, the editor of "The Baffler" a journal of cultural criticism and the author of "The Conquest of Cool" and "One Market Under God".
and from Toronto is Mark Kingwell, professor of Philosophy from the University of Toronto, who is the author of "Better Living: In Pursuit of Happiness from Plato to Prozac".