Wiley Popular Culture in American History (Wiley Blackwell Readers in American Social and Cultural History)

Popular Culture in American History collects the most widely cited and important writings on three hundred years of American popular culture. Each of the ten essays serves as a case study of a particular moment, issue, or form of popular culture, from seventeenth–century chapbooks to hip hop. Pedagogical features include further reading lists, contextualizing editorial introductions, discussion questions and chronologies of key events. Review " Popular Culture in American History is an immensely appealing – and successful – effort to do the impossible: to provide a series of thematic snapshots that effectively covers US cultural history. The selected primary sources are rich and provocative; the scholarly pieces represent a wide range of perspectives and approaches; the major themes treated will outfit students to undertake work far beyond the bounds of the topics explicitly included here; and the prose is sharp and always accessible. I′ve been waiting for a volume like this for some time, and I can′t imagine that I′m alone." Matthew Frye Jacobson, Yale University "More than a collection of essays, this book is a leap forward in the comprehension of the always–emerging cultural world around us, shrewdly historical but also utterly up–to–date, respectful but not uncritical of its subject, illuminating of the entire national experience." Mari Jo Buhle, Brown University "Popular Culture in American History is designed to introduce undergraduate students to material that is informative yet easily readable ... [it] might serve as a good addition to any American history survey course: The introductions to each essay are concise and informative; the selections of primary sources are appropriate; and the discussion questions should help students in their understanding of the material. The briefly annotated suggestions for further reading at the conclusion of each essay serve as a good introduction to the topic discussed." History: Reviews of New Books From the Back Cover Popular Culture in American History collects the most widely cited and important writings on 300 years of American popular culture. Each of the ten essays serves as a case study of a particular moment, issue, or form of popular culture, from seventeenth–century chapbooks to hip hop. Each essay is paired with relevant primary sources, among them illustrations, advertising, and excerpts from works ranging from dime novel fiction to the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville and Ralph Waldo Emerson. With further reading lists, contextualizing editorial introductions, discussion questions, and chronologies of key events built into the book′s pedagogical framework, Cullen has created an indispensable teaching tool for instructors in American History and American Studies and the first book of its kind on the history of pop culture in the United States. About the Author Jim Cullen teaches in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University. He is the author of The Civil War in Popular Culture: A Reusable Past (1995), The Art of Democracy: A Concise History of Popular Culture in the United States (1996), and Born in the USA: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition (1997).