Taking as its starting point Alberto Banti’sbook, Wonderland, the author reflects on the use of the products of mass culture in historical research. Songs, films, television series and comics have marked (and continue to mark) an important part of cultural consumption, from the decades following the Second World war and even more so in the second half of the twentieth century. These products raise a number of questions for contemporary historians in terms of methodology and of their potential use as sources for the historical reconstruction of those decades.
Keywords: Cultura di massa, Consumo culturale, Mainstream, Controcultura