American Dream, 1930-1995 PDF Download

Author: Jean-François Côté
Publisher: Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa = University of Ottawa Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Author: Susan Nance
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807894052
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Americans have always shown a fascination with the people, customs, and legends of the "East--witness the popularity of the stories of the Arabian Nights, the performances of Arab belly dancers and acrobats, the feats of turban-wearing vaudeville magicians, and even the antics of fez-topped Shriners. In this captivating volume, Susan Nance provides a social and cultural history of this highly popular genre of Easternized performance in America up to the Great Depression. According to Nance, these traditions reveal how a broad spectrum of Americans, including recent immigrants and impersonators, behaved as producers and consumers in a rapidly developing capitalist economy. In admiration of the Arabian Nights, people creatively reenacted Eastern life, but these performances were also demonstrations of Americans' own identities, Nance argues. The story of Aladdin, made suddenly rich by rubbing an old lamp, stood as a particularly apt metaphor for how consumer capitalism might benefit each person. The leisure, abundance, and contentment that many imagined were typical of Eastern life were the same characteristics used to define "the American dream." The recent success of Disney's Aladdin movies suggests that many Americans still welcome an interpretation of the East as a site of incredible riches, romance, and happy endings. This abundantly illustrated account is the first by a historian to explain why and how so many Americans sought out such cultural engagement with the Eastern world long before geopolitical concerns became paramount.

Author: Jean-François Côté
Publisher: Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa = University of Ottawa Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Author: Kevin Starr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199924309
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 601

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A narrative tour de force that combines wide-ranging scholarship with captivating prose, Kevin Starr's acclaimed multi-volume Americans and the California Dream is an unparalleled work of cultural history. In this volume, Starr covers the crucial postwar period--1950 to 1963--when the California we know today first burst into prominence. Starr brilliantly illuminates the dominant economic, social, and cultural forces in California in these pivotal years. In a powerful blend of telling events, colorful personalities, and insightful analyses, Starr examines such issues as the overnight creation of the postwar California suburb, the rise of Los Angeles as Super City, the reluctant emergence of San Diego as one of the largest cities in the nation, and the decline of political centrism. He explores the Silent Generation and the emergent Boomer youth cult, the Beats and the Hollywood "Rat Pack," the pervasive influence of Zen Buddhism and other Asian traditions in art and design, the rise of the University of California and the emergence of California itself as a utopia of higher education, the cooling of West Coast jazz, freeway and water projects of heroic magnitude, outdoor life and the beginnings of the environmental movement. More broadly, he shows how California not only became the most populous state in the Union, but in fact evolved into a mega-state en route to becoming the global commonwealth it is today. Golden Dreams continues an epic series that has been widely recognized for its signal contribution to the history of American culture in California. It is a book that transcends its stated subject to offer a wealth of insight into the growth of the Sun Belt and the West and indeed the dramatic transformation of America itself in these pivotal years following the Second World War.

Author: Kevin Johnson
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 159213792X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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The disconnect between national rhetoric, the law, and public policy.

Author: Marvin Lazerson
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9639776793
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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"Marvin Lazerson’s new book is exactly what is needed: a readable, cogent explanation of how the U.S. can have the best system of higher education in the world, but also a system that seems to be coming apart at the seams.” —Susan Fuhrman, President Teachers College, Columbia University, President of the National Academy of Education "In prose remarkable for its clarity and analysis remarkable for its fair-mindedness, this volume delivers a penetrating, nuanced account of American universities in the twenty-first century. Blessedly without rant or cant, the book tackles topics that range from the rise of the managerial class to the failed attempts to reform practice in the classroom. It’s a smart provocation—a must-read for anyone who cares about where our universities are heading.” —David L. Kirp, Professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and author of Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education "Professor Lazerson gives an insightful account of American higher education based on years of study and first-hand experience. He discusses both the problems and the accomplishment of our universities with equal care and thus, succeeds in providing a useful and illuminating analysis.” —Derek Bok, Harvard University, President-emeritus "Marvin Lazerson’s magnificent book is not only comprehensive, but it is written from an all-embracing point of view: seeing higher education in America as an expression of the American Dream. This book should be on the reading list of all who want to understand America’s actions, role and image in the world today, with and equal emphasis on their successes and the discontents they create.” —Yehuda Elkana, Rector and President-emeritus, Central European University

Author: David Eldridge
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748629777
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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This book provides an insightful overview of the major cultural forms of 1930s America: literature and drama, music and radio, film and photography, art and design, and a chapter on the role of the federal government in the development of the arts. The intellectual context of 1930s American culture is a strong feature, whilst case studies of influential texts and practitioners of the decade - from War of the Worlds to The Grapes of Wrath and from Edward Hopper to the Rockefeller Centre - help to explain the cultural impulses of radicalism, nationalism and escapism that characterize the United States in the 1930s.

Author: Kevin R. Johnson
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814743099
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Seeking to re-imagine the meaning and significance of the international border, Opening the Floodgates makes a case for eliminating the border as a legal construct that impedes the movement of people into this country. Open migration policies deserve fuller analysis, as evidenced by President Barack Obama’s pledge to make immigration reform a priority. Kevin R. Johnson offers an alternative vision of how U.S. borders might be reconfigured, grounded in moral, economic, and policy arguments for open borders. Importantly, liberalizing migration through an open borders policy would recognize that the enforcement of closed borders cannot stifle the strong, perhaps irresistible, economic, social, and political pressures that fuel international migration. Controversially, Johnson suggests that open borders are entirely consistent with efforts to prevent terrorism that have dominated immigration enforcement since the events of September 11, 2001. More liberal migration, he suggests, would allow for full attention to be paid to the true dangers to public safety and national security.

Author: William H. Young
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313077479
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Most historical studies bury us in wars and politics, paying scant attention to the everyday effects of pop culture. Welcome to America's other history—the arts, activities, common items, and popular opinions that profoundly impacted our national way of life. The twelve narrative chapters in this volume provide a textured look at everyday life, youth, and the many different sides of American culture during the 1930s. Additional resources include a cost comparison of common goods and services, a timeline of important events, notes arranged by chapter, an extensive bibliography for further reading, and a subject index. The dark cloud of the Depression shadowed most Americans' lives during the 1930s. Books, movies, songs, and stories of the 1930s gave Americans something to hope for by depicting a world of luxury and money. Major figures of the age included Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Irving Berlin, Amelia Earhart, Duke Ellington, the Marx Brothers, Margaret Mitchell, Cole Porter, Joe Louis, Babe Ruth, Shirley Temple, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Innovations in technology and travel hinted at a Utopian society just off the horizon, group sports and activities gave the unemployed masses ways to spend their days, and a powerful new demographic—the American teenager—suddenly found itself courted by advertisers and entertainers.

Author: Jane R. Plitt
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 9780815606383
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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"Born in Ontario, Canada, Harper struggled for twenty-five years as a servant to change her life and that of other working-class women. In 1888, after immigrating to the United States, she pioneered the idea of a public hairdressing salon based on health-conscious precepts. Within three years, her concept was enthusiastically embraced by both the social elite and suffragettes across the country, including Susan B. Anthony and Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell.".