The American Way Of Life

Author : Lawrence R. Samuel
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 173 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2017-05-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9781683930839

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The American Way of Life by Lawrence R. Samuel Pdf

Telling the full story of the American Way of Life (or more simply the American Way) in the United States over the course of the last century reveals key insights that add to our understanding of American culture. Lawrence R. Samuel argues that since the term was popularized in the 1930s, the American Way has served as the primary guiding mythology or national ethos of the United States. More than that, however, this work shows that the American Way has represented many things to many people, making the mythology a useful device for anyone wishing to promote a particular agenda that serves his or her interests. A consumerist lifestyle supported by a system based in free enterprise has been the ideological backbone of the American Way, but the term has been attached to everything from farming to baseball to barbecue. There really is no single, identifiable American Way and never has been—it becomes clear after tracing its history—making it a kind of Zelig of belief systems. If our underlying philosophy or set of values is amorphous and nebulous, then so is our national identity and character, Samuel concludes, implying that the meaning of America is elastic and accommodating to many interpretations. This unique thesis sets off this work from other books and helps establish it as a seminal resource within the fields of American history and American studies.

Author : Kevin B. Witherspoon
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2018-12
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781682260760

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Defending the American Way of Life by Kevin B. Witherspoon Pdf

The Cold War was fought in every corner of society, including in the sport and entertainment industries. Recognizing the importance of culture in the battle for hearts and minds, the United States, like the Soviet Union, attempted to win the favor of citizens in nonaligned states through the soft power of sport. Athletes became de facto ambassadors of US interests, their wins and losses serving as emblems of broader efforts to shield American culture--both at home and abroad--against communism. In Defending the American Way of Life, leading sport historians present new perspectives on high-profile issues in this era of sport history alongside research drawn from previously untapped archival sources to highlight the ways that sports influenced and were influenced by Cold War politics. Surveying the significance of sports in Cold War America through lenses of race, gender, diplomacy, cultural infiltration, anti-communist hysteria, doping, state intervention, and more, this collection illustrates how this conflict remains relevant to US sporting institutions, organizations, and ideologies today.

Author : Ashley Montagu
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 358 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 1967
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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The American way of LIfe by Ashley Montagu Pdf

Author : Paul L. Atwood
Publisher : Pluto Press (UK)
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2010-03-15
Category : History
ISBN : PSU:000067901371

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War and Empire by Paul L. Atwood Pdf

In this provocative study, Paul Atwood attempts to show Americans that their history is one of constant wars of aggression and imperial expansion. In his long teaching career, Atwood has found that most students know virtually nothing about America's involvement in the wars of the 20th century, let alone those prior to World War I. War and Empire aims to correct this, clearly and persuasively explaining US actions in every major war since the declaration of independence. The book shows that, far from being dragged reluctantly into foreign entanglements, America's leaders have always picked their battles in order to increase its influence and power, with little regard for those killed in the process. This book is an eye-opening introduction to the American way of life for undergraduate students of American history, politics and international relations.

Author : Michael Lind
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2008-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9780195341416

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The American Way of Strategy by Michael Lind Pdf

In The American Way of Strategy, Lind argues that the goal of U.S. foreign policy has always been the preservation of the American way of life--embodied in civilian government, checks and balances, a commercial economy, and individual freedom. Lind describes how successive American statesmen--from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton to Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan--have pursued an American way of strategy that minimizes the dangers of empire and anarchy by two means: liberal internationalism and realism. At its best, the American way of strategy is a well-thought-out and practical guide designed to preserve a peaceful and demilitarized world by preventing an international system dominated by imperial and militarist states and its disruption by anarchy. When American leaders have followed this path, they have led our nation from success to success, and when they have deviated from it, the results have been disastrous. Framed in an engaging historical narrative, the book makes an important contribution to contemporary debates. The American Way of Strategy is certain to change the way that Americans understand U.S. foreign policy.

Author : Laura A. Belmonte
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2013-03-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780812201239

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Selling the American Way by Laura A. Belmonte Pdf

In 1955, the United States Information Agency published a lavishly illustrated booklet called My America. Assembled ostensibly to document "the basic elements of a free dynamic society," the booklet emphasized cultural diversity, political freedom, and social mobility and made no mention of McCarthyism or the Cold War. Though hyperbolic, My America was, as Laura A. Belmonte shows, merely one of hundreds of pamphlets from this era written and distributed in an organized attempt to forge a collective defense of the "American way of life." Selling the American Way examines the context, content, and reception of U.S. propaganda during the early Cold War. Determined to protect democratic capitalism and undercut communism, U.S. information experts defined the national interest not only in geopolitical, economic, and military terms. Through radio shows, films, and publications, they also propagated a carefully constructed cultural narrative of freedom, progress, and abundance as a means of protecting national security. Not simply a one-way look at propaganda as it is produced, the book is a subtle investigation of how U.S. propaganda was received abroad and at home and how criticism of it by Congress and successive presidential administrations contributed to its modification.

Author : Jessica Mitford
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2011-11-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780307809391

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The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford Pdf

Only the scathing wit and searching intelligence of Jessica Mitford could turn an exposé of the American funeral industry into a book that is at once deadly serious and side-splittingly funny. When first published in 1963, this landmark of investigative journalism became a runaway bestseller and resulted in legislation to protect grieving families from the unscrupulous sales practices of those in "the dismal trade." Just before her death in 1996, Mitford thoroughly revised and updated her classic study. The American Way of Death Revisited confronts new trends, including the success of the profession's lobbyists in Washington, inflated cremation costs, the telemarketing of pay-in-advance graves, and the effects of monopolies in a death-care industry now dominated by multinational corporations. With its hard-nosed consumer activism and a satiric vision out of Evelyn Waugh's novel The Loved One, The American Way of Death Revisited will not fail to inform, delight, and disturb. "Brilliant--hilarious. . . . A must-read for anyone planning to throw a funeral in their lifetime."--New York Post "Witty and penetrating--it speaks the truth."--The Washington Post

Author : Tracie McMillan
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2012-02-21
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781439171950

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The American Way of Eating by Tracie McMillan Pdf

A journalist traces her 2009 immersion into the national food system to explore how working-class Americans can afford to eat as they should, describing how she worked as a farm laborer, Wal-Mart grocery clerk, and Applebee's expediter while living within the means of each job.

Author : Robert C. Hauhart
Publisher : Springer
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2016-04-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781137540256

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Seeking the American Dream by Robert C. Hauhart Pdf

Historically, the United States has been viewed by generations of immigrants as the land of opportunity, where through hard work one can prosper and make a better life. The American Dream is perhaps the United States’ most common export. For many Americans, though, questions remain about whether the American Dream can be achieved in the twenty-first century. Americans, faced with global competition and increased social complexity, wonder whether their dwindling natural resources, polarized national and local politics, and often unregulated capitalism can support the American Dream today. This book examines the ideas and experiences that have formed the American Dream, assesses its meaning for Americans, and evaluates its prospects for the future.

Author : Sasha Abramsky
Publisher : Bold Type Books
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2013-09-10
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781568589558

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The American Way of Poverty by Sasha Abramsky Pdf

Selected as A Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review Fifty years after Michael Harrington published his groundbreaking book The Other America, in which he chronicled the lives of people excluded from the Age of Affluence, poverty in America is back with a vengeance. It is made up of both the long-term chronically poor and new working poor—the tens of millions of victims of a broken economy and an ever more dysfunctional political system. In many ways, for the majority of Americans, financial insecurity has become the new norm. The American Way of Poverty shines a light on this travesty. Sasha Abramsky brings the effects of economic inequality out of the shadows and, ultimately, suggests ways for moving toward a fairer and more equitable social contract. Exploring everything from housing policy to wage protections and affordable higher education, Abramsky lays out a panoramic blueprint for a reinvigorated political process that, in turn, will pave the way for a renewed War on Poverty. It is, Harrington believed, a moral outrage that in a country as wealthy as America, so many people could be so poor. Written in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse, in an era of grotesque economic extremes, The American Way of Poverty brings that same powerful indignation to the topic.

Author : Talal Abu Shawish,Najwa Bin Shatwan,Hassan Blasim,Paige Cooper,Lina Meruane,Fariba Nawa,Jacob Ross,Bina Shah,Kim Thúy,Carol Zardetto,Gianfranco Bettin,Gioconda Belli,Gabriel Ángel,Ahmel Echevarría Peré,Ahmet Haluk Ünal,Hüseyin Karabey,Wilfredo Mármol Amaya,Lidudumalingani,Fiston Mwanza Mujila,Payam Nasser
Publisher : Comma Press
Page : 573 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2021-09-23
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781912697618

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The American Way by Talal Abu Shawish,Najwa Bin Shatwan,Hassan Blasim,Paige Cooper,Lina Meruane,Fariba Nawa,Jacob Ross,Bina Shah,Kim Thúy,Carol Zardetto,Gianfranco Bettin,Gioconda Belli,Gabriel Ángel,Ahmel Echevarría Peré,Ahmet Haluk Ünal,Hüseyin Karabey,Wilfredo Mármol Amaya,Lidudumalingani,Fiston Mwanza Mujila,Payam Nasser Pdf

After four years of Trump, America seems set to return to political normality. But for much of the rest of the world, that normality is a horror story: 75 years of US-led invasions, CIA-sponsored coups, election interference, stay-behind networks, rendition, and weapons testing... all in the name of Pax America, the world’s police. If you are not an ally of the US, in this ‘normality’, your country can find its democratic processes undermined and its economic wellbeing conditioned upon returning to the fold. If you’re not strategically important to the US, you can find yourself its dumping ground. This new anthology re-examines this history with stories that explore the human cost of these interventions on foreign soil, by writers from that soil. From nuclear testing in the Pacific, to human testing of CIA torture tactics, from coups in Latin America, to all-out invasions in the Middle and Far East; the atrocities that follow are often dismissed in history books as inevitable in the ‘fog of war’. By presenting them from indigenous, grassroots perspectives, accompanied by afterwords by the historians that consulted on them, this book attempts to bring some clarity back to that history. Stories are accompanied by afterwords written by historians, providing historical context. Afterwords by: Olmo Golz, Emmanuel Gerard, Felix Julio Alfonso Lopez, David Harper, Ertugrul Kurkcu, Francisco Dominguez, Maurizio Dianese, Julio Barrios Zardetto, Brian Meeks, Victor Figueroa Clark, Raymond Bonner, Daniel Kovalik, Meral Cicek, Ian Shaw, Matteo Capasso, Neil Faulkner, Xuan Phuong, Iyad S. S. Abujaber & Chris Hedges. Translated by: Orsola Casagrande, Mustafa Gundogdu, Sawad Hussain, Jonathan Wright, Basma Ghalayini, Nicholas Glastonbury, Sara Khalili, J. Bret Maney, Adam Feinstein, and Megan McDowell. Part of our History-into-Fiction series.

Author : Charles F. McGovern
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
Page : 553 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2009-01-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807876640

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Sold American by Charles F. McGovern Pdf

At the turn of the twentieth century, an emerging consumer culture in the United States promoted constant spending to meet material needs and develop social identity and self-cultivation. In Sold American, Charles F. McGovern examines the key players active in shaping this cultural evolution: advertisers and consumer advocates. McGovern argues that even though these two professional groups invented radically different models for proper spending, both groups propagated mass consumption as a specifically American social practice and an important element of nationality and citizenship. Advertisers, McGovern shows, used nationalist ideals, icons, and political language to define consumption as the foundation of the pursuit of happiness. Consumer advocates, on the other hand, viewed the market with a republican-inspired skepticism and fought commercial incursions on consumer independence. The result, says McGovern, was a redefinition of the citizen as consumer. The articulation of an "American Way of Life" in the Depression and World War II ratified consumer abundance as the basis of a distinct American culture and history.

Author : Wendy L. Wall
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2009-09-03
Category : History
ISBN : 0199736820

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Inventing the "American Way" by Wendy L. Wall Pdf

In the wake of World War II, Americans developed an unusually deep and all-encompassing national unity, as postwar affluence and the Cold War combined to naturally produce a remarkable level of agreement about the nation's core values. Or so the story has long been told. Inventing the "American Way" challenges this vision of inevitable consensus. Americans, as Wendy Wall argues in this innovative book, were united, not so much by identical beliefs, as by a shared conviction that a distinctive "American Way" existed and that the affirmation of such common ground was essential to the future of the nation. Moreover, the roots of consensus politics lie not in the Cold War era, but in the turbulent decade that preceded U.S. entry into World War II. The social and economic chaos of the Depression years alarmed a diverse array of groups, as did the rise of two "alien" ideologies: fascism and communism. In this context, Americans of divergent backgrounds and beliefs seized on the notion of a unifying "American Way" and sought to convince their fellow citizens of its merits. Wall traces the competing efforts of business groups, politicians, leftist intellectuals, interfaith proponents, civil rights activists, and many others over nearly three decades to shape public understandings of the "American Way." Along the way, she explores the politics behind cultural productions ranging from The Adventures of Superman to the Freedom Train that circled the nation in the late 1940s. She highlights the intense debate that erupted over the term "democracy" after World War II, and identifies the origins of phrases such as "free enterprise" and the "Judeo-Christian tradition" that remain central to American political life. By uncovering the culture wars of the mid-twentieth century, this book sheds new light on a period that proved pivotal for American national identity and that remains the unspoken backdrop for debates over multiculturalism, national unity, and public values today.

Author : Frederick Buell
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2004-03
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781135953140

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From Apocalypse to Way of Life by Frederick Buell Pdf

From Apocalypse to Way of Life is a comprehensive and in depth survey of environmental crisis as it has been understood for the last four decades. Buell recounts the growing number of ecological and social problems critical for the environment, and the impact that the growing experience with, and understanding of, them has had on American politics, society and culture.

Author : Lawrence R. Samuel
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 172 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2019-07-15
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1683930843

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The American Way of Life by Lawrence R. Samuel Pdf

The American Way of Life is a cultural history of the American Way of Life (or more simply the American Way). The book argues that since the term was popularized in the 1930s, the American Way has served as the primary guiding mythology or national ethos of the United States.