American Cultural History

From the Boston Tea Party to the Dodgers, from the blues to Andy Warhol, and from dime novels to Disneyland, the history of American culture tells us how previous generations of Americans have imagined themselves, their nation, and their relationship to the world and its peoples. This Very Short Introduction lays out a chronological map of American culture, its thematic currents, and its creation by diverse social groups, emphasizing the role of culture in the shaping of national identity. Across the lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, generation, and geography, diverse Americans have helped to forge a national culture with an ultimately global reach, inventing stories to underscore the problems and possibilities of an American way of life.

Eric Avila is Professor of Chicano Studies, History, and Urban Planning at UCLA. An urban cultural historian, he is the author of Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles and The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City.