fourteen interdisciplinary essays the importance of American Studies and the excitement that arises from studying it. Providing a coherent and developing portrait of American history, literature, culture and society, the book also deals with some of the central themes and preoccupations of American life. Fundamental influences like the machine and the city, and subjects such as imagery and iconography, myth, national identity, ideology, popular culture and painting are analysed in order to provoke us into thinking about what it actually means to study a culture, and how such a study can be achieved. The fourteen chapters are chronologically arranged and cover the whole of American history, although there is substantial emphasis on the twentieth century. They discuss regions, themes and periods central to America's development. The emphasis on history and literature reflects the general direction of much work in American Studies and the nature of most courses on it. This new edition has been written by scholars at the forefront of American Studies and has been fully revised and updated to take account of the changes in American society that have occurred since the second edition was published in 1989. In particular, a new chapter which discusses the developments that have occurred during the 1990s has been included. The interdisciplinary nature of the study and the broad coverage of material makes Introduction to American Studies essential reading for all students of American Studies, from sixth form through to undergraduate, as well as for the general reader who is interested in the diverse factors that have shaped the America of today.

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