The iconic images of Uncle Sam and Marilyn Monroe, or the “fireside chats” of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the oratory of Martin Luther King, Jr.—these are the words, images, and sounds that populate American cultural history. From the Boston Tea Party to the Dodgers, from the blues to Andy Warhol, dime novels to Disneyland, the history of American culture tells us how previous generations of Americans have imagined themselves, their nation, and their relationship to the world and its peoples.
This Very Short Introduction recounts the history of American culture and its creation by diverse social and ethnic groups. In doing so, it emphasizes the historic role of culture in relation to broader social, political, and economic developments. Across the lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as language, region, and religion, diverse Americans have forged a national culture with a global reach, inventing stories that have shaped a national identity and an American way of life.
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Eric Avila is an urban cultural historian and professor of history, Chicano studies, and urban planning at UCLA. He is the author of Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight and The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City.
Tanya Eby is a novelist and an audiobook narrator who has earned several AudioFile Earphones Awards and been nominated for the Audie Award. She has a BA degree in English language and literature and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Southern Maine.