Popular Culture in American History

Introducing almost half a century of the best scholarship onpopular culture in the USA, this fully revised second edition has amore focused historical remit, with analysis and primary sourcematerial from the 1830s to the present. Each main essay examines apivotal moment, issue or genre in American popular culture, fromthe penny press to the Internet. Long–term trends,such as the blurring of once–sharp distinctions between high and low culture, are alsoexplored.

This new edition, along with its extended reading lists,illuminating contextual commentary, and chronologies of majorevents, make it an ideal undergraduate text for media and culturalstudies courses. With enhanced presentation of scholarly andprimary source material aimed at prompting and guiding studentdiscussions, this carefully assembled selection offers both ahistorical overview and detailed cultural analysis.

Preface and Acknowledgments to the Second Edition xii

Acknowledgments to the First Edition xv

Introduction: The Worldwide Web of Popular Culture 1

1 New News 11

Timeline 11

Introduction 12

Little Sheets of News and Varieties: The Penny Wonder in NewYork City by Isabelle Lehuu 13

Consider the Source: 33

Excerpt from Great Astronomical Discoveries RecentlyMade, from the Sun (Friday, August 28, 1835) 33

Suggested Further Reading 35

2 The World of the Stage 37

Timeline 37

Introduction 38

William Shakespeare in America by Lawrence Levine 39

Consider the Source: 59

Excerpt from Representative Men, by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1850)60

Suggested Further Reading 66

3 The Racy Appeal of the Minstrel 67

Timeline 67

Introduction 68

The Blackface Lore Cycle by W. T. Lhamon, Jr. 71

Consider the Source: 86

Excerpts from Nineteenth–Century Minstrel Shows 86

Suggested Further Reading 88

4 Western Values 91

Timeline 91

Introduction 92

Women and the Language of Men by Jane Tompkins 94

Consider the Source: 109

First excerpt from The Virginian, by Owen Wister (1902) 110

Second excerpt from The Virginian, by Owen Wister (1902) 112

Suggested Further Reading 113

5 Moving Images 115

Timeline 115

Introduction 116

Nickel Madness by Robert Sklar 118

Consider the Source: 133

Excerpts from The Spirit of Youth, by Jane Addams (1909) 134

Suggested Further Reading 138

6 Waves of Selling 139

Timeline 139

Introduction 140

Arguments over Broadcast Advertising by Susan Smulyan 142

Consider the Source: 180

Excerpt from Sponsoritis, from Radio Revuemagazine (1930) 180

Suggested Further Reading 181

7 The Firmament of Stardom 183

Timeline 183

Introduction 184

Fool s Paradise: Frank Sinatra and the American Dream byJim Cullen 186

Consider the Source: 211

Why the Americans Are So Restless in the Midst of TheirProsperity, from Volume 2 of Democracy in America, by Alexisde Tocqueville (1840) 211

Suggested Further Reading 215

8 Seeing Television 217

Timeline 217

Introduction 218

Reality Bites by Susan J. Douglas 220

Consider the Source: 237

Excerpts from After All, by Mary Tyler Moore (1995) 237

Suggested Further Reading 239

9 Rapping Hip–Hop 241

Timeline 241

Introduction 242

Just Keeping It Real by Tricia Rose 245

Consider the Source: 257

Excerpts from Ladies First, by Queen Latifah (1999) 257

Suggested Further Reading 259

10 Tangled Web 261

Timeline 261

Introduction 262

The Emperor s New Modem by Lee Siegel 266

Consider the Source: 276

Excerpt from The Art of Democracy, by Jim Cullen (2002) 276

Suggested Further Reading 277

Source Credits 279

Jim Cullen is Chair of the high–profile Fieldston Schoolin New York, and a book review editor for the History News Network.His published works include The Civil War Era: An Anthology ofSources (with L. Cullen–Sizer, Wiley–Blackwell, 2005),Essaying the Past: How to Read, Write and Think About History,Second Edition (Wiley–Blackwell, 2013), and Sensing thePast: Hollywood Stars and Historical Visions (2013).