Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character - Brossura

Fischer, Claude S.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0226251446 ISBN 13: 9780226251448

Casa editrice: University of Chicago Press, 2011

Riassunto

Our nation began with the simple phrase, “We the People.” But who were and are “We”? Who were we in 1776, in 1865, or 1968, and is there any continuity in character between the we of those years and the nearly 300 million people living in the radically different America of today?

With Made in America, Claude S. Fischer draws on decades of historical, psychological, and social research to answer that question by tracking the evolution of American character and culture over three centuries. He explodes myths—such as that contemporary Americans are more mobile and less religious than their ancestors, or that they are more focused on money and consumption—and reveals instead how greater security and wealth have only reinforced the independence, egalitarianism, and commitment to community that characterized our people from the earliest years. Skillfully drawing on personal stories of representative Americans, Fischer shows that affluence and social progress have allowed more people to participate fully in cultural and political life, thus broadening the category of “American” —yet at the same time what it means to be an American has retained surprising continuity with much earlier notions of American character.

Firmly in the vein of such classics as The Lonely Crowd and Habits of the Heart—yet challenging many of their conclusions—Made in America takes readers beyond the simplicity of headlines and the actions of elites to show us the lives, aspirations, and emotions of ordinary Americans, from the settling of the colonies to the settling of the suburbs.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Claude S. Fischer is professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of many books, includingCentury of Difference: How America Changed in the Last One Hundred Years andAmerica Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: University of Chicago Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0226251446
• ISBN 13: 9780226251448
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 522