Eastwick, the thrillerSuspect, and the comedyMoon-
struck. She received the Academy Award for Best Ac-
tress for her role inMoonstruck.
Cher’s varied career achievements proved her to
be adaptable and flexible. One example of this
adaptability was her response to having dyslexia, a
reading disorder. To overcome the problems pre-
sented by the disorder, Cher had to read her scripts
and other material more slowly and carefully than
would an average actor. However, she benefited from
an excellent memory, so rereading the material was
not frequently required.
Cher’s fame and reputation in the 1980’s were in-
fluenced by her unique fashion sense. Her signature
bell bottoms were replaced with exquisitely beaded
gowns by Bob Mackie, her fashion designer. One of
the most controversial outfits he designed for Cher
was a Mohawk outfit she wore as a presenter at the
1986 Academy Awards. The black ensemble in-
cluded a headdress with two-foot-tall bird feathers
and knee-high satin boots. It was easily the most
talked-about outfit at an event almost as famous for
its clothing as for its attendees.
As the 1980’s drew to a close, Cher returned to
her musical roots and released two albums,Cher,
which was certified platinum, andHeart of Stone,
which was certified triple platinum. She also helped
start a trend when she marketed her own signature
perfume, Uninhibited.
Impact By the end of the decade, Cher had been
nominated for two Oscars, of which she won one,
and four Golden Globe awards for film, of which she
won two. Her film celebrity and outlandish fashions
made her an icon of the 1980’s. Since her television
and music careers had already made her an icon of
the 1970’s, Cher’s changing image came to repre-
sent some of the differences between 1970’s Ameri-
can culture and 1980’s American culture. She also
demonstrated an ability to turn herself from a star
into a brand, leveraging her success in one arena,
such as film, to promote efforts in other arenas, such
as musical performance—a strategy that resonated
with the popular and economic cultures of the de-
cade.
Further Reading
Bego, Mark.Cher: If You Believe.Lanham, Md.: Taylor
Trade, 2004.
Coplon, Jeff.The First Time: Cher.New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1998.
Taraborrelli, J. Randy.Cher.New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1986.
Elizabeth B. GrahamSee also Academy Awards; Fashions and clothing;
Film in the United States; Music; Music videos;
Women in rock music; Women in the workforce.Children’s literature
Definition Books written and published for
childrenDuring the 1980’s, children’s literature entered the era of
big business, as increased sales and corporate consolidation
were accompanied an increasingly corporate culture within
the publishing industr y. However, a decision by U.S. educa-
tors to shift to a literature-based curriculum prevented
the corporate mind-set from resulting in a streamlined,
blockbuster-centric catalog, because schools required a vari-
ety of books in a variety of voices.Newly published children’s literature prospered in
the 1980’s, especially in the categories of infor-
mational books, picture books, beginning-reader
picture books, and poetry books. Literature-based
curricula in kindergarten through twelfth-grade
schools expanded the market for newly published
children’s literature, while the mergers and acquisi-
tions of the 1980’s made more money available to
pay top artists for their illustrations.
Independent publishing houses with a long tradi-
tion, however, became mere imprints of ever larger
businesses, and some disappeared altogether. Fewer
books about minorities and about other cultures
were published. Publishers also found it problem-
atic to keep backlisted, previously published books
on the shelves. Such books had lower annual sales
than new books, but they appealed to adults’ nostal-
gia for their childhoods, so they kept selling year
after year. However, censorship and the generally
conservative climate of the 1980’s encouraged chil-
dren’s book publishers to back down somewhat
from the controversial fare popular in the 1960’s
and 1970’s.Background The 1980’s was a decade of mergers
and acquisitions in the publishing industry. Many
well-known old publishing houses became imprints
of larger companies. The impact of this generalThe Eighties in America Children’s literature 199
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