Traces the evolution of American popular culture over the past two centuries. In a lengthy chronology of landmark events, and ten chapters, each revolving around the lives of two individuals who are in some way emblematic of their times, this provides a window on the social, economic, and political history of US democracy from the antebellum period to the present.

Robert C. Cottrell

Chapter One Democratic Showmen, James Gordon Bennett, P.T. Barnum; Chapter Two Exponents of the Culture of Consumption, Marshall Field, Horatio AlgerJr.; Chapter Three Stars of Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley, Lillian Russell, Irving Berlin; Chapter Four The Cinematic Artist and the Literary Lion, D.W. Griffith, Ernest Hemingway; Chapter Five The "New Woman" and the "New Negro", Clara Bow, Bessie Smith; Chapter Six Voices of Radical Culture, MargaretBourke-White, WoodyGuthrie; Chapter Seven American Heroes, Hank Greenberg, Edward R. Murrow; Chapter Eight American Rebels, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley; Chapter Nine American Icons in a Time of Unrest, John F. Kennedy, Muhammad Ali; Chapter Ten American Dreamers, MichaelJordan, JenniferLopez;