Major Problems in American Popular Culture

"Comprises essays and documents that focus on a particular aspect of American popular culture. These essays and documents will prompt students to think about the centrality of popular culture in American life and its powerful role in forging identity, historical memory, and relationships among consumers, producers, citizens, and the state. They reinforce the idea that popular culture is the ground on which cultural and social transformations are worked. Race and class are at the center of the analysis, and these categories, along with gender and nationalism, thread through the chapters. They all argue for seeing popular audiences as active creators rather than passive receivers of popular culture"--

About the author

Kathleen Franz is an associate professor of history and director of public history at American University. She has a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University and specializes in 20th Century U.S. cultural history with a focus on popular culture and the history of technology. She's also an active curator and public historian who regularly works with local and national cultural institutions. In 2005 the University of Pennsylvania Press published her book, TINKERING: CONSUMERS REINVENT THE EARLY AUTOMOBILE.

Product details

• Authors: Kathleen Franz, Susan Smulyan
• Publisher: Cengage Learning
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 04.04.2011
• EAN: 9780618474813
• ISBN: 978-0-618-47481-3
• No. of pages: 496
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 229 mm x 20 mm
• Weight: 635 g
• Series: Major Problems in American His; Major Problems in American His
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > School education, didactics, methodology; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous