Cambridge Companion To Modern American Culture, The

Description:
The Cambridge Companion to Modern American Culture offers a comprehensive, authoritative and accessible overview of the cultural themes and intellectual issues that drive the dominant culture of the twentieth century. This companion explores the social, political and economic forces that have made America what it is today. It shows how these contexts impact upon twentieth-century American literature, cinema and art. An international team of contributors examines the special contribution of African Americans and of immigrant communities to the variety and vibrancy of modern America. The essays range from art to politics, popular culture to sport, immigration and race to religion and war. Varied, extensive and challenging, this Companion is essential reading for students and teachers of American studies around the world. It is the most accessible and useful introduction available to an exciting range of topics in modern American culture.

Table of Contents:
1. What then is the American? Christopher Bigsby; 2. The American century Godfrey Hodgson; 3. The regions and regionalism Richard King; 4. Immigration to the United States in the twentieth century Roger Daniels; 5. Religion in the United States in the twentieth century: 1900-1960 Peter W. Williams; 6. Shifting boundaries: religion and the United States 1960-present Wade Clark Roof and Natalie Caron; 7. The Hispanic background of the United States Nicolas Kanellos; 8. African Americans since 1900 Werner Sollors; 9. Asian Americans James Kyung-Jin Lee; 10. Women in the twentieth century S. J. Kleinberg; 11. Queer America Robert McRuer; 12. The road to Empire: the United States, war and the twentieth century Kenneth P. O'Brien; 13. The culture of the Cold War Stephen J. Whitfield; 14. Secret America: The CIA and American culture Hugh Wilford; 15. Vietnam and the 1960s John Hellmann; 16. New York City and the struggle of the modern Eric Homberger; 17. Music: sound: technology William Brooks; 18. African American music of the twentieth century Paul Oliver; 19. Hollywood cinema Walter Metz; 20. Popular culture Paul Buhle; 21. Theatre Brenda Murphy; 22. Society and the novel in twentieth-century America Emory Elliott; 23. 'Preferring the wrong way': the ethical diversity of US twentieth-century poetry Tim Woods.

Author Biography:
Christopher Bigsby is Professor of American Studies at the University of East Anglia.