Culture and Customs of the United States



Culture and Customs of the United States

Volume 1 Customs and Society
EditEd by bEnjamin F. ShEarEr

Culture and Customs of North Amerca

GreeNwood Press westport, Connectcut London 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Culture and customs of the Unted states / edted by Benjamn F. shearer. p. cm.(Culture and customs of North Amerca, IssN 19401132) Includes bblographcal references and ndex. IsBN 9780313338755 (set : alk. paper)IsBN 9780313338762 (vol. 1 : alk. paper)IsBN 9780313338779 (vol. 2 : alk. paper) 1. Unted statesCvlzaton. 2. Unted statessocal lfe and customs. 3. Unted statessocal condtons. I. shearer, Benjamn F. e169.1.C843 2008 973dc22 2007039174 Brtsh Lbrary Catalogung n Publcaton data s avalable. Copyrght 2008 by Benjamn F. shearer All rghts reserved. No porton of ths book may be reproduced, by any process or technque, wthout the express wrtten consent of the publsher. Lbrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2007039174 IsBN-13: 9780313338755 (set) 9780313338762 (vol 1) 9780313338779 (vol 2) IssN: 19401132 Frst publshed n 2008 Greenwood Press, 88 Post road west, westport, CT 06881 An mprnt of Greenwood Publshng Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Prnted n the Unted states of Amerca

The paper used n ths book comples wth the Permanent Paper standard ssued by the Natonal Informaton standards organzaton (Z39.481984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

v

Contents

Preface Chronology Introducton Volume 1: Customs and soCiety 1 2 3 4 Context: The Land, the People, the Past, the Present
Benjamin F. Shearer Benjamin F. Shearer Ellen Baier

v x xx

1 69 117 153

Religion and Thought Gender, Marriage, Family, and Education Holidays and Leisure
Wende Vyborney Feller

Volume 2: Culture 5 Cuisine and Fashion

Benjamin F. Shearer

193

v

CoNTeNTs

6 7 8 9

Literature

William P. Toth Agnes Hooper Gottlieb Pamela Lee Gray

231 265 303 343 381 383 407

Media and Cinema Performing Arts Art, Architecture, and Housing

Benjamin F. Shearer

selected Bblography Index About the edtor and Contrbutors

Preface

Culture and Customs of the United States s part of the Greenwood Culture and Customs of North Amerca seres. As such, ths work provdes a glmpse nto contemporary U.s. culture and a context through whch to understand t. A chronology s provded as well as a detaled ndex to the complete work. Bblographes may be found at the end of each chapter, and a selected general bblography s also provded. The frst chapter s a general overvew of the land, clmate, people, language, and hstory of the Unted states. The vastness and abundance of the land s one key to understandng the Amercan characterhow Amercans thnk of themselves. Lkewse, regonal varatons also help to defne Amercans understandng of themselves and ntroduce a certan dversty nto what t means to be an Amercan. Indeed, dversty s the hallmark of ths naton of mmgrants. The ethnc mx of the country has always been and remans ever n flux, and Amercans have never been shy to borrow what they lke from any ethnc group to the effect of redefnng ther culture and customs. The followng chapters delve nto partcular aspects of the Amercan cultural experence. Chapter 2 explores Amercan relgons, overwhelmngly Chrstan, and how relgous thought affects the poltcal and socal arenas. Gender, marrage, famly, and educatonal ssues are consdered n chapter 3. In chapter 4, Amercan holday customs and lesure tme actvtes, ncludng sports, are the subjects. Chapter 5 takes a look at the eclectc world of Amercan food and fashon. U.s. lterature s covered n the sxth chapter, meda and cnema n the next. Chapter 8 covers the performng arts, and fnally, the last chapter dscusses Amercan art and archtecture as well as housng.
v

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Chronology

30,000 b.c.e. 1492 1565 1607 1619 1620 1621 1626 1636 1638 1692 1718 1729 1741

Mgratng groups from Asa and south Amerca begn populatng North Amerca. Chrstopher Columbus lands n the New world. spansh found st. Augustne, Florda. Jamestown, Vrgna, colony founded by the Brtsh. Frst Afrcan slaves arrve n Vrgna. Plgrms land at Plymouth and sgn the Mayflower Compact. Frst Thanksgvng at Plymouth. dutch found New Amsterdam on Manhattan. Harvard College founded. sweden founds a colony n delaware. Frst Baptst church n Amerca s founded. wtchcraft trals n salem, Massachusetts. French found New orleans. Benjamn Frankln buys the Pennsylvania Gazette and s ts publsher. Jonathan edwards gves sermon snners n the Hands of an Angry God, eptomzng Amercas relgous Great Awakenng. x

x 1769 1775 1776 1781

CHroNoLoGy Fr. Junpero serra founds msson at san dego, Calforna. Amercan revoluton breaks out wth the battle of Lexngton and Concord. Newly named Unted states of Amerca declares ndependence from Great Brtan. Amercan vctory n the battle of yorktown ends the Amercan revoluton; Artcles of Confederaton become the law of the land. Treaty of Pars offcally ends the revoluton and expands Amercan terrtory to the Msssspp rver. The Pennsylvania Evening Post s the frst daly newspaper n Amerca.

1783

1789 1790 1793 1796 1800 1803 1808 1812 1817 1818 1819 1821

Consttuton replaces Artcles of Confederaton as Amercas governng document; George washngton becomes frst presdent. The frst U.s. census counts 3,893,874 people, of whom 694,207 are slaves. el whtney nvents the cotton gn, whch proves a boon for the use of slave labor. Amela smmons publshes American Cookery, the frst cookbook n Amerca. Congress convenes n the new U.s. captal, washngton, d.C. Amerca purchases Lousana from France, doublng the sze of the naton. Importaton of slaves ends by federal law. war of 1812, ended wth the Treaty of Ghent n 1814, settles no Amercan ssues. The New york stock and exchange Board s establshed. Unted states and Great Brtan agree on U.s.-Canadan border. wrter washngton Irvngs Sketchbook frst appears. The Adams-ons Treaty wth span, negotated n 1819, s ratfed, endng spansh clams on oregon and U.s. clams on Texas and gvng the Unted states a southwestern border and Florda. James Fenmore Cooper publshes The Last of the Mohicans.

1826

CHroNoLoGy 1830

x

Presdent Andrew Jackson sgns the Indan removal Act nto law. Joseph smth founds a church n New york that takes the name Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants (Mormons) n 1838.

1838 1844 1846

The Tral of Tears begns as the Cherokee are forced to mgrate to Indan Terrtory. wth the ad of government fundng, samuel F. B. Morse proves the commercal effcacy of the telegraph. Frst offcally recorded baseball game takes place at elysan Felds n Hoboken, New Jersey, between the New york Base Ball Club and the New york Knckerbockers. Frederck douglas starts the aboltonst newspaper the North Star. Nathanel Hawthorne publshes The Scarlet Letter. Herman Melvlle publshes Moby Dick. roman Catholcsm becomes Amercas largest sngle relgous denomnaton. Harret Beecher stowe publshes Uncle Toms Cabin. In the dred scott case, the U.s. supreme Court decdes that Afrcan Amercans have no rghts. The Cvl war begns and ends n 1865 wth defeat of the Confederate states. Henry wadsworth Longfellow publshes Paul reveres rde. The Unted states purchases Alaska from russa. Lousa May Alcott publshes Little Women. New york Ctys Metropoltan Museum of Art s founded. Lev strauss and Jacob davs patent blue jeans. Alexander Graham Bell nvents the telephone. The womens Chrstan Temperance Unon s founded n Cleveland, oho.

1847 1850 1851 1852

1857 1861

1867 1868 1870 1873 1874

1875 1876

Mary Baker eddy publshes Science and Health, the bass for Chrstan scence. walter Camp, the father of Amercan football, wrtes the frst rules for Amercan football at the Massasot Conventon. samuel Clemens (Mark Twan) publshes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

x 1877 1879 1889 1890 1891 1896

CHroNoLoGy Henry James publshes The American. Thomas edson nvents the lghtbulb. The Wall Street Journal begns publcaton. Massacre at wounded Knee becomes the last battle of the Indan wars that began n the seventeenth century. James Nasmth nvents basketball at sprngfeld College (Massachusetts) for the yMCA and wrtes the frst rules the next year. U.s. supreme Court decson n Plessy v. Ferguson establshes separate but equal practce n race relatons, thus renforcng segregaton. The Unted states annexes Hawa. The spansh-Amercan war leaves the Unted states wth the Phlppnes, Guam, Puerto rco, and Cuba.

1898

1903

orvlle and wlbur wrght successfully fly ther arplane n North Carolna. Amercas frst narratve flm, the 10-mnute The Great Tran robbery, s shown n theaters.

1908

Henry Ford produces the frst Model-T automoble. Ashcan school (artsts wllam Glackens, robert Henr, George Luks, and John sloan) exhbt ther works n New york Cty.

1909 1911 1913

The Natonal Assocaton for the Advancement of Colored People s founded n sprngfeld, Illnos. radcal magazne the Masses starts publcaton. Cecl B. deMlle makes Hollywoods frst full-length feature flm, The Squaw Man, a smash ht that helped to establsh Hollywood flms. T. s. elot publshes The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Margaret sanger opens Amercas frst brth control clnc n Brooklyn, New york. Unted states enters world war I. Nneteenth Amendment to the Consttuton gves women the rght to vote. KdKA n Pttsburgh, Pennsylvana, becomes the frst rado broadcastng staton n the Unted states.

1915 1916 1917 1920

CHroNoLoGy edth wharton publshes The Age of Innocence. Census reveals that most Amercans now lve n urban areas. 1924 All natve-born Indans are gven U.s. ctzenshp.

x

George Gershwns Rhapsody in Blue s frst performed n New york Cty. 1925 F. scott Ftzgerald publshes The Great Gatsby. John scopes s convcted n court for teachng evoluton at a Tennessee publc school. 1926 1929 ernest Hemngway publshes The Sun Also Rises. The Museum of Modern Art n New york Cty opens to the publc. wllam Faulkner publshes The Sound and the Fury. stock market crash precptates the Great depresson. 1930 1931 1932 1934 1935 1936 1937 1939 wallace Fard Muhammad founds a mosque n detrot that s the orgn of the Naton of Islam. Bors Karloff stars n the flm Frankenstein. Constructon of the empre state Buldng s completed. Amercans are ntroduced to european archtecture as the Internatonal style exhbton opens at the Museum of Modern Art. George Balanchne and Lncoln Kersten found the school of Amercan Ballet. Federal homesteadng ends, except for Alaska. Charle Chaplns flm Modern Times appears n theaters. walt dsneys Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs s the frst anmated full-length feature flm. wrGB makes the frst network televson broadcast from New york Cty to schenectady, New york. Professonal baseball and football games are televsed for the frst tme. John stenbeck publshes Grapes of Wrath. Gone with the Wind s a Hollywood smash ht. 1941 The Natonal Gallery of Art opens on the mall n washngton, d.C.

xv

CHroNoLoGy orson welless Citizen Kane revolutonzes flmmakng. Unted states enters world war II after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawa.

1943 1948 1949 1950 1951 1954

Artst Jackson Pollock has hs frst one-man show. Archtect Phlp Johnson bulds hs glass house. Arthur Mllers Death of a Salesman premers. Unted states enters Korean war, whch ends wth armstce n 1953. J. d. salnger publshes The Catcher in the Rye. In the case of Oliver L. Brown et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka (KS) et al., the U.s. supreme Court overturns the separate but equal provson of Plessy v. Ferguson, allowng for the racal ntegraton of schools. rosa Parks refuses to gve her seat to a whte man, thus startng a bus boycott n Montgomery, Alabama, as a cvl rghts protest. Frst Mcdonalds restaurant opens n des Planes, Illnos. dsneyland opens n Anahem, Calforna.

1955

1956 1957 1958 1960

elvs Presley makes hs frst number one ht, Heartbreak Hotel. Jack Kerouac publshes On the Road. New york Ctys solomon r. Guggenhem Museum, desgned by Frank Lloyd wrght, opens. Televangelst Pat robertson purchases a small Vrgna staton and calls hs operaton the Chrstan Broadcastng Network, thus begnnng conservatve Chrstan network televson. Presdent John F. Kennedy sends 100 specal forces troops to Vetnam. Pop artst Andy warhol executes ol on canvas, pantng 200 Campbells soup Cans. Cvl rghts march on washngton, d.C. Bob dylan records Blown n the wnd. Cvl rghts Act sgned nto law, prohbtng dscrmnaton based on race, color, relgon, or natonal orgn. Natonal endowment for the Arts and Natonal endowment for the Humantes founded.

1961 1962 1963 1964 1965

CHroNoLoGy

xv

Antwar marches n washngton, d.C., and race rots n Los Angeles. 1967 1968 1969 Flm The Graduate s n theaters. dr. Martn Luther Kng Jr. and robert F. Kennedy are assassnated. Group exhbt of conceptual art s mounted n New york Cty. woodstock musc festval takes place. stonewall rot n New york begns the gay lberaton movement. Nel Armstrong becomes frst man on the moon on July 20. 1970 1971 1972 Jesus Christ Superstar s performed on Broadway. The move M*A*S*H s n theaters. All in the Family ntates socally conscous comedy on televson. The equal rghts Amendment, whch prohbts the denal or abrdgement of equalty of rghts on account of sex, passes Congress and s sent to the states for ratfcaton. Ms. magazne appears on newsstands. Move The Godfather sets openng day records. Burglars break nto watergate headquarters of the democratc Party Natonal Commttee offces. 1973 Presdent rchard M. Nxon declares peace wth honor n Vetnam. evangelsts Paul and Jan Crouch found the Trnty Broadcastng Network, whch clams to be the largest Chrstan broadcastng network n the Unted states. U.s. supreme Court overturns state aborton restrctons n Roe v. Wade. People magazne begns publcaton. 1975 1976 Jaws s a megaht n theaters. Alex Haley publshes Roots. Barbara walters becomes frst woman to anchor a U.s. network news broadcast. 1977 Frst nstallment of Star Wars hts theaters.

xv 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982

CHroNoLoGy woody Allens flm Annie Hall starts a new fashon trend. Herman wouk publshes War and Remembrance. Cable sports network esPN s launched. CNN begns 24-hour televsed news reportng. The IBM PC enters the market. MTV comes to cable TV. The equal rghts Amendment fals to be ratfed by the states. Gannett launches the natonwde newspaper USA Today. Mchael Jacksons Thrller s a best-sellng album.

1985 1986 1987 1990 1991 1992 1993

Quantum Computer servces, whch became Amerca onlne, s founded. Fox becomes Amercas fourth natonal TV network, along wth ABC, CBs, and NBC. Ton Morrson publshes Beloved. Unted states sends troops to lberate Iraq-occuped Kuwat n the Persan Gulf war. Condoms advertsed on Amercan televson for the frst tme. race rot breaks out n Los Angeles when polce are acqutted of beatng rodney Kng, an Afrcan Amercan man. Terrorsts set off a car bomb n the garage of the world Trade Center n New york Cty. The mltary adopts a dont ask, dont tell polcy n regard to homosexuals n the servce.

1995 1996 1997 1999 2001

Toy Story s the frst dgtally anmated full-length feature flm. The defense of Marrage Act, whch does not recognze same-sex marrage, becomes federal law. Blogs frst appear on the Internet. Presdent Bll Clnton s acqutted n hs mpeachment tral. Terrorsts attack the world Trade Center n New york Cty and the Pentagon. Unted states nvades Afghanstan n operaton endurng Freedom.

CHroNoLoGy 2002 2003 2006

xv

Playwrght suzan Lor-Parks wns the Pultzer Prze for drama for Topdog/Underdog. Unted states nvades Iraq n operaton Iraq Freedom, and Presdent George w. Bush soon declares the msson accomplshed. The populaton of the Unted states hts 300 mllon. Broad republcan defeat n the November electons vewed as repudaton of Bush admnstratons handlng of the Iraq war.

xv

Introducton

The hope for new lves wth new opportuntes that brought mllons of mmgrants to the Unted states n the past contnues today. The Unted states has always been a naton of mmgrants and therefore constantly n flux as new waves of mgraton from wthout and wthn redefned the Amercan experence. The Unted states s not the worlds bggest country, but most Amercans lke to thnk t s and act as f t were. The rchness and enormty of Amercan resources make the naton vrtually self-suffcent n many areas, most notably n agrculture. wth such abundance, Amercans are bg consumers wth generally hgh ncomes, at least by world standards. Amerca the Beautful, a patrotc poem and song by Katharne Lee Bates, sums up Amercans emoton about ther homeland: from sea to shnng sea, beautful, spacous skes overlook majestc purple mountans, amber waves of gran, and fruted plans. God shed hs lght on the Unted states, where freedom spreads across the wlderness and alabaster ctes gleam. when ths song s sung at publc functons, t s not unusual for the audence to sng along, many wth tears n ther eyes. For many Amercans, the land tself s proof of a good God and a Godgven destny. spaceunknown and often unownedgave early Amercans n real terms a sense of ndvdual freedom. Ths s an old tradton. when the reverend roger wllams of the Church of england arrved n Boston n 1631, he refused to serve the church there because he no longer beleved n an establshed church. In fact, he had become, lke the Purtans he later served
xx

xx

INTrodUCTIoN

for a whle, a separatst, but too radcal even for them. He crtczed the Massachusetts Bay Companyeven questonng the legalty of ts charterand the churches. He befrended the natves and supported ther ownershp of the land. wllams refused to quet hmself or retract hs postons and was gven sx weeks to remove hmself from Massachusetts. He found hs own space, Provdence, where he could practce hs own deas the way he wanted. eght years later, he had a royal patent for a unted rhode Island. For colonsts and the mmgrants who followed them, the New world was freedom from the constrants of the old world and freedom to pursue ndvdual wants and desres n a bountful land. It has been sad that f somethnganythngexsts, t can probably be found n the Unted states. The Unted states seems to have t all, from all the extremes and everythng n between. Amercans take prde n ths. They are an ndustrous and nventve people on the go, who value rsk takng and ts rewards. They lke to thnk that any person born n the Unted states can grow up to be presdent, a belef attrbutable to ther sense of ndependence, self-relance, far play, and hard work. yet the culture of the Unted states seems to be flled wth contradcton. Amerca fashons tself to be a peace-lovng naton, but ts armed forces have been nvolved n some 250 nternatonal mltary actons snce the end of the eghteenth century, from Peru to Turkey, the Fj Islands to Trpol, sumatra to Uruguay, and nearly everywhere n between. The U.s. Consttuton gves ctzens the rght to bear arms but does not recognze equal rghts for women. Hollywood flms have defned Amercan culture nternatonally, however erroneously, but have never been beyond censorshp at home, rghts to freedom of artstc expresson and free speech asde. In the so-called Land of equalty, Afrcan Amercans and Latnos earn less than whtes, and women earn less than men. whte educatonal attanment far surpasses that of most mnorty groups. In a socety that values scentfc advancement, debates about the teachng of evoluton n publc schools stubbornly persst n school boards across the country. even presdental canddates have to declare themselves for or aganst evoluton. These often deep ethnc, economc, poltcal, socal, educatonal, and relgous dvsons are, however, sources of vtalty n Amercan culture. In the end, the culture of the Unted states s based on a seres of compromses, whch, taken together, are a source of self-dentty and prde for most Amercans. Indeed, the Foundng Fathers understood ths qute well, creatng a naton that, from ts begnnng, declared freedom and lberty for ts ctzens and let slavery stand. Amercans beleve they can work out ther problems n tme. Amercans beleve that ther country s the best place to lve on earth. In spte of the fact that the Unted states of Amerca occupes a space n the

INTrodUCTIoN

xx

Amercas, specfcally North Amerca, only ts ctzens refer to themselves as Amercans. In the U.s. lexcon, Amercans do not nclude Canadans, Venezuelans, Argentneans, Hondurans, or any other ctzens of natons n the Amercas. Throughout ths work, the predlecton for U.s. lngustc hegemony s mantaned by usng the terms America and Americans to refer only to the Unted states and ts resdents.

xx

1
Context: The Land, the People, the Past, the Present
Benjamin F. Shearer

The Unted states themselves are essentally the greatest poem.

walt whtman

The United states s a vast land that features most of the geologcal elements known to humanknd: mountans, deserts, swamps, plateaus, glacers, lakes, rvers, caves, volcanoes, canyons, mesas, seashores, plans, and even geysers and tar pts. The country was patched together over tme, not always peaceably, out of Natve Amercan terrtores that had been settled and or clamed by england, France, Holland, sweden, span, Mexco, and russa. Amercan culture was from the frst, therefore, a conglomeraton of all these early nfluences. Afrcans, brought to Amerca n slavery, and the mmgrants who eventually poured nto the country from other natons also affected Amercan culture and lfe from early tmes. Amercan culture, always n a state of redefnton, can be understood n terms of the natons ncreasngly dverse ethnc groups and the regonal varatons that engender dfferences n dalects, food, clothng, the arts, and even relgon. yet beyond ethnc and regonal dfferences, there s somethng that s dstnctly Amercan. The ctzens of the Unted states, clustered largely around the major ctes, value the freedom to say what they want, dress as they lke, eat what they want, and lve where they want. They beleve relgously that ther hard work wll be rewarded wth a pece of the Amercan pe.

CULTUre ANd CUsToMs oF THe UNITed sTATes

t he l and some basc nformaton may help to llustrate the vastness of the Unted states. The Unted states occupes 3,794,083 square mles of the earth. About 79,000 square mles of that area are nland water areas made up mostly by the fve Great LakesLake Mchgan (22,342 square mles), Lake superor (20,557 square mles), Lake Huron (8,800 square mles), Lake ere (5,033 square mles), and Lake ontaro (3,446 square mles). of all the freshwater lakes n the country, and Mnnesota alone clams to have 10,000 of them, only two othersGreen Bay n wsconsn and the Great salt Lake n Utahhave areas of more than 1,000 square mles.1 The Unted states has 58,618 mles of ocean shorelne and 3,962,830 mles of rvers and streams, all feasts for outdoor and sport enthusasts. Twentysx of the rvers are over 500 mles long, and 13 are over 1,000 mles long. The Mssour rver s the longest at 2,540 mles. It flows from red rock Creek n Montana to Mssour, where t dumps nto the Msssspp rver above st. Lous. It has a dranage area of 529,000 square mles. The Msssspp rver, although second n length to the Mssour at 2,340 mles, drans an area of 1,150,000 square mles as t flows from Mnnesota to Lousana. The natons most obvous topographcal feature, t dvdes and untes the country. Alaskas yukon rver s the thrd longest at 1,980 mles, and the st. Lawrence and ro Grande are ted at 1,900 mles. If these knds of data are dzzyng, t s not much help to break t all down by state. Texas (268,581 square mles), Calforna (163,696 square mles), Montana (147,042 square mles), Florda (65,255 square mles), New Hampshre (9,350 square mles), and New Jersey (8,721 square mles) would all ft handly nto the natons largest state, Alaska, wth 663,267 square mles. Imagne the lberatng change n mnd-set that the western european mmgrants who largely populated Amerca underwent. The Unted Kngdom and Ireland together are the sze of New Mexco. France, western europes largest naton n area, denmark, Belgum, Lechtensten, Luxembourg, Vatcan Cty, Monaco, and the Netherlands all would ft nto Texas. Germany and swtzerland together are smaller than Calforna. span, Portugal, and Italy would ft ncely nto Montana, Nevada, and Arzona, wth room to spare. Less than half of Alaska would be needed to contan Norway and sweden. Another perspectve mght be more useful. From Boston on the Atlantc coast to Los Angeles on the Pacfc coast s a 3,406-mle drvewhen you get to Kansas Cty, Mssour, you are about halfway there. (A commercal arlne flght s only sx and a half hours.) A northsouth jaunt from duluth, Mnnesota, to san Antono, Texas, s 1,415 mles. If you decded to take a drve

CoNTexT

from seattle, washngton, to Prudhoe Bay up on the Arctc ocean n Alaska, you could do t, but t mght be more an adventure than a lttle drve n the country. once you get to Anchorage, Alaskas largest cty, located n the south on the Gulf of Alaska, after 2,435 mles, you would stll have another 847 mles up to your ntended destnaton.2 It s astoundng that the Unted states remans a rural country nto the twenty-frst century, at least n terms of land use. of Amercas total land surface of 1,937,700,000 acres (ths excludes Alaska and washngton, d.C.), 71.1 percent s rural land that conssts of cropland (21.7%), pastureland (6.1%), rangeland (20.9%), and forests (20.9%). The federal government owns 20.7 percent of the natons land, whch ncludes 91.9 percent of Nevada, 66.5 percent of Utah, 66.4 percent of Idaho, 50.6 percent of wyomng, and 50.2 percent of Arzona. water areas occupy 2.6 percent of the land. The remanng 5.5 percent s developed land. Amercas large urban and bult-up areas occupy only 4 percent of that developed land, and f Alaska were ncluded, that fgure would, of course, shrnk even further. The geography and clmate of the Unted states provde for an almost easy abundance of bountful harvests and vews of unbrdled natural beauty. The coastal plans along the Atlantc ocean and the Gulf of Mexco have natural ports and nland access through rver systems. whle the mean elevaton of the Unted states s 2,500 feet above sea level, the Atlantc and Gulf coastal states have very low mean elevatons: delaware, wth 60 feet; Georga, wth 100 feet; Florda, wth 150 feet; and Lousana, wth 100 feet. The old Appalachan Mountans dvde the coastal plans from the broad nteror plans, draned by the Msssspp rver, that stretch to the rocky Mountans. The flat to rollng plans are home to Amercas tremendously productve agrcultural ndustry. Above the central plans, the Canadan sheld, cut up by ancent glacers, descends, leavng one of the worlds largest deposts of ron. The rockes rse dramatcally above the plans. Colorados mean elevaton s 6,800 feet; wyomngs s 6,700 feet. The rockes gve way westward to nteror plateaus that grow wder northward all the way to the yukon Basn n Alaska. These plateaus, some carved nto canyons, are rugged, subject to extreme elevaton changes, and have lttle populaton. The natonal parks n ths areaGrand Canyon, yellowstone, Glacerpreserve these scenc wonders and make them accessble. There are sgnfcant ol shale deposts where Utah, Colorado, and wyomng meet. Gold, slver, znc, lead, and uranum have long been mned there. The serra Nevadas and the Cascades form the western borders of the plateaus. Calforna has the hghest pont of elevaton among the 48 contguous states (Mt. whtney at 14,495 feet) and the lowest (death Valley

CULTUre ANd CUsToMs oF THe UNITed sTATes

at 280 feet below sea level), both makng for spectacular sghts. Calfornas gant redwood and sequoa forests also ncely contrast wth ts Mojave desert. Between Calfornas Coast ranges and the serras and Cascades les the Central Valley, whch, wth the Puget sound area and the wllamette Valley, produces a varety of crops more dverse than those grown on Amercas nteror plans. The Cascades have a number of volcanoes, some of whch, lke those n Alaska and Hawa, are stll actve. The Unted states s sad to have a moderate clmate. Generally, ths s true, unless standng on a mountantop, but there are notceable regonal varatons. The average daly mean temperature of Boston n New england s 51.6 degrees (Fahrenhet; Celsius s another term foregn to Amercans). The souths premer cty of Atlantas s 62.2 degrees. The mdwestern hub of Chcagos s 49.1 degrees. The mle-hgh cty of denvers s 50.1 degrees, whle Phoenxs s 72.9 degrees. Honolulus 77.5 degrees s farly constant. Averages can, however, be somewhat msleadng. summer temperatures n Phoenx frequently rse above 100 degrees, but because the ar contans lttle humdty, the deleterous effect on the human body s somewhat mtgated. The opposte s the case n many southern ctes. Mam, wth an average daly mean temperature of 76.6 degrees, s qute pleasant n the wnter, but n the summer, when humdty levels rse to 90 percent and the temperature to 90 degrees and more, the clmate becomes nearly unbearable. The temperatures n the Mdwest are subject to tremendous seasonal varaton. Chcago, for example, has a daly mean temperature of 22 degrees n January, but 73.3 degrees n July, whereas Los Angeles has mean temperatures of 57.1 degrees n January and 69.3 degrees n July. The clmatc condtons that make the Mdwest an agrcultural captalhard freezes n wnter that help to break up the sol n sprng thaws and hot, humd summersmake lfe dffcult n the extremes of summer and wnter. Clams, perhaps spurous, have been made that t s so hot along the Msssspp rver n st. Lous durng md-August that car tres wll melt. At least eggs can be fred on the street. In Chcago, summer buldups of heat and humdty often lead to the deaths of those who have no ar-condtonng or fans. on the other hand, an early February walk down Lakeshore drve, wth the tall buldngs on each sde tunnelng the cold, stff breeze off Lake Mchgan, can only be descrbed as an Arctc verson of hell. Precptaton s generally abundant across the naton. The mdwestern agrcultural breadbasket averages from 30 to 40 nches of ran per year. Boston averages a bt over 40 nches per year; the southern ctes of Moble, New orleans, and Mam ve for the ttle of ranest cty, wth Moble on top at 66.29 nches per year, beatng Mam and New orleans by 8 nches. In the ard

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southwest, however, Phoenx averages only about 8 nches of precptaton and Los Angeles a lttle over 13 nches. dams and water dversons provde these two major ctes wth water. Many beleve seattle to be on top of the lst of Amercas ranest ctes, confusng fog, clouds, and drzzle for actual ranfall, whch averages only about 37 nches per year. The Unted states has made sgnfcant progress n mprovng ar qualty snce 1970, even though t has refused to become a sgnatory to the nternatonal Kyoto Accords, whch establsh acceptable levels of polluton n an effort to prevent global warmng. In the last 30 years of the twenteth century, the Unted states sgnfcantly reduced partculate matter and carbon monoxde emssons. Lead emssons were elmnated. sulfur doxde and volatle organc compound emssons were cut n half. only ntrogen doxde emssons rose slghtly. Partculate matter comes from mscellaneous sources, but the sngle largest sources of carbon monoxde, volatle organc compounds, and ntrogen doxdes are the mllons of gasolne and desel cars, trucks, and off-hghway vehcles. sulfur doxde s produced n fuel combuston by ndustres and electrcal utltes. In all of these emsson categores, however, the ambent ar concentratons meet or exceed the governments ar qualty standards. water qualty s a dfferent matter. A samplng of Amercan water qualty condtons n 2000 revealed that 39 percent of the rvers and streams were polluted, agrculture beng the largest contrbutor of the polluton, and another 8 percent were threatened. Forty-seven percent of the sampled lakes, reservors, and ponds were found to be polluted and another 8 percent threatened, mostly by urban runoff and storm sewers, wth agrculture as a dstant second culprt. Contamnated sedments polluted 78 percent of the shorelne sampled along the Great Lakes. The qualty of lfe n the Unted states, lke any country, s affected by envronmental polcy as well as natures whms, whch can sometmes turn volent. Amercans, however, tend to vew major natural dsasters as thngs that happen only n other countres, manly thrd world countres. They beleve that nature s somethng that, wth ngenuty, can ether be harnessed or avoded. The 29 locks and dams on the Msssspp rver between Mnneapols and st. Lous are a prme example. Bult durng the 1930s, the locks and dams were constructed to mantan a nne-foot shp channel for navgaton and to prevent the floodng that had characterzed the rvers hstory. Much of the natons gran harvest s floated to dstrbuton ponts on barges up and down the rver when the waterway s not frozen. Amercans wllngness to tame nature one way or the other has mnmzed the effects of potentally catastrophc events. In 2002, for example, only 49 Amercans lost ther lves n floods and flash floods. Lghtnng klled

CULTUre ANd CUsToMs oF THe UNITed sTATes

51 people. Tornadoes, whch occur largely n the south and Mdwest n what s called Tornado Alley, klled only 55. one hurrcane ht the manland and resulted n 51 deaths. what cannot be controlled can be known. The Unted states has developed excellent sources of nstant nformaton through medarado, televson, Internet, telephone, and cell phonethat can alert people to mmnent natural dangers so that they can seek mmedate safety or prepare to evacuate. The horrendous floods, earthquakes, and tsunams that have taken place around the world, endng tens of thousands of lves, are medated experences for Amercans, who beleve such thngs could not happen n the Unted states. Amercans typcally pour out ther hearts and open ther wallets for the vctms left behnd n these tragedes. when Hurrcane Katrna struck the Gulf Coast n August 2005, Amercans saw what looked to all the world lke any other natural dsaster, wth people clngng on to loved ones and whatever belongngs they could carry as they tred to escape the ravages of total devastaton. Hundreds ded along the Gulf Coast from Alabama and Msssspp to Lousana, and hundreds of thousands were homeless. Most of New orleans, the place where the good tmes rolled, was under water. The Amercan people were no less stunned by ths event than they were by the 9/11 terrorst bombngs n New york and washngton, d.C. The noton that Amerca, so long solated geographcally from the worlds troubles, could be attacked and thousands could lose ther lves was unmagnable. The blow to the Amercan psyche was bewlderngAmercans had never vewed themselves as powerless vctms. Lkewse, the natural devastaton of New orleans agan made Amerca look and feel powerless, vctmzed, and unprepared for somethng that ts technology was desgned to prevent. It was reported that some people from New orleans rado statons managed to get back on the ar n the mdst of the floodng. when one of the broadcasters referred to the wanderng homeless as refugees, a fellow broadcaster corrected hm wth these words: They are not refugees; they are Amercans.
regions

suppose you wanted to do a road trp to see the country, got n your car, and began travelng Amercas nearly 4,000,000 mles of hghways. No matter where you set out, what drecton you took, or where you stopped, you would experence a knd of Amercan megaculture created by corporate Amerca. It s connected by nterstate hghways and defned by a common meda unverse, where englsh s spoken, dollars are traded, and peaceful commerce s mantaned by an overarchng belef n Amercan values. From

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sea to shnng sea, you could overnght at Holday Inns, ramadas, Marrotts, Hampton Inns, days Inns, Hltons, econo-Lodges, and sheratons. you could shop at wal-Marts (Amercas bggest employer), J.C. Penneys, sears, and Targets. you could satsfy your hunger wth all-Amercan hamburgers at Mcdonalds, wendys, or Burger Kng; wth chcken at Chck-fl-A, Churchs, or Kentucky Fred Chcken; wth pzza at Pzza Inn or Pzza Hut; wth sandwches at subway or Arbys; wth fsh at Long John slvers; wth steak at western-szzln or Ponderosa; wth Mexcan food at Taco Bell; wth Italan food at Fazols or olve Garden; wth coffee at starbucks; and wth dessert at Baskn & robbns or dary Queen. If you were n the mood for a delghtfully tacky yet unrefned dnng experence, Hooters would happly fll that need. There s a certan comfort after travelng hundreds or thousands of mles that the currency has not changed, the language remans understandable, and the Bg Mac at Mcdonalds tastes the same as the Bg Mac back home. Indeed, Amercans take t for granted and would even expect to converse about the same major news stores wth anyone they mght meet along the way. Ths layer of megaculture s a knd of affrmaton of Amercas greatness, values, and way of lfe. yet at the same tme, t s also a monument to mass producton and mass marketng desgned to appeal to everyone and offend no one. Beyond the hghways and the shoppng mall parkng lots, the many other layers of racal, ethnc, relgous, lngustc, and cultural dversty may be dscovered that exst n all the regons of Amerca. regons are dffcult to defne exactly, but there s no doubt that there are regonal dfferences wthn U.s. culture that are based on early mgraton patterns, hstorcal and current mmgraton patterns, topography, clmate, and relgon. These dfferences are expressed n language, custom, food, fashon, archtecture, lesure actvtes, and the arts. on a wde scale, most Amercans would agree that the naton dvdes culturally nto east, west, North, and south, although to real southerners, any fellow Amercan not a southerner may be consdered just another yankee. There are ndeed some varatons n the cultural dentty of the people n these four broad regons. Ffty-fve percent of Afrcan Amercans n the Unted states lve n the south. Forty-nne percent of Asans and 55 percent of Mexcans lve n the west. Forty percent of Amercans who clam hertage of two or more races also lve n the west. Certanly, wthn and around these rather artfcal boundares are unque cultural areas. The east may be further dvded between the Md-Atlantc states and the states of New england, each area havng evolved from dfferent hstorcal roots. The Mdwest, n the center of the country, defes the easy boundary of the Msssspp rver, straddlng both ts shores. southern coastal

CULTUre ANd CUsToMs oF THe UNITed sTATes

culture dffers from the culture of the deep south. what mght be called the Northlands near the Canadan border and n Alaska are sparsely populated lands that are unque and not easly classed nto four regons. some have spoken of the space between Boston and washngton, d.C., and Los Angeles and san dego as beng essentally densely populated megactes, ggantc ctes of populaton centers of mllons ted together by transportaton lnes and an urban culture. The mountan areas of Appalacha and the ozarks have developed dstnctve cultures durng years of relatve solaton. The Pacfc Northwest, also geographcally solated durng ts early development, has developed specal characterstcs dstnct from the general western culture. Certanly, the southwest has lkewse developed a regonal culture that s nether entrely western nor southern. one problem wth tryng to dentfy regons s that they have fuzzy boundares. Another s that f you ask Amercans how they dentfy themselves when asked where they are from, Texans wll say Texas and Calfornans wll say Calforna. Alaskans do not dentfy themselves as westerners, and nether do Hawaans. No one from a Md-Atlantc state wll dentfy hmself or herself as a Md-Atlantcan. yet New englanders, southerners, mdwesterners, and westerners do dentfy strongly wth ther regons. A buckeye from oho may just as well say Im from the Mdwest as Im from oho. only crcumstance would determne the answer. If the ohoan s talkng wth a fellow mdwesterner, oho would be the obvous choce for the answer. If, however, a New york Cty natve asks where he s from, the buckeye wll answer that he s from the Mdwest, n deference to the known fact that that New yorkers have a skewed geographcal sense of anythng west of the Hudson rver.
New England

New england s the prototypcal pcture of an dyllc Amerca to many Amercans. Includng the states of Mane, Vermont, New Hampshre, Massachusetts, Connectcut, and rhode Island, New england s home to small towns wth steepled churches, small farms, town meetngs, and craggy landscapes from ts mountans to ts shorelne. It s n many senses the brthplace of Amercats democracy, ts lterature, ts poetry, ts sprt. Plymouth rock n Massachusetts marks the landng of the frst Plgrms n Amerca, and the old North Brdge marks the begnnng of the Amercan revoluton. New Hampshres motto, Lve Free, or de, sums up the sprt of New england ndependence n stark choces. New england spawned Nathanel Hawthorne, ralph waldo emerson, and Herman Melvlle. Another son of New england, wrter Henry davd Thoreau,

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s a natonal symbol of Amercan ndependence and Amercans love of ts natural landscape. wth 6,130 mles of shorelne, lfe n New england has always been ted closely to the sea. whalng at one tme was bg busness; fshng has always been. Clam chowder and codfsh reman culnary hghlghts of New england fare. No one has ever vsted Mane wthout eatng a lobster or vstng one of the lghthouses that lne the rugged and rocky Mane coast. Cape Cod possesses mles of beautful sandy beaches and ts own archtectural style. shpbuldng, not surprsngly, has been a manstay of New england ndustry, supported by forests that cover the nteror. The hghest pont n New england s Mt. washngton, 6,288 feet n elevaton. It s stuated n New Hampshres whte Mountans, whch, lke the Green Mountans of Vermont and the Berkshre Hlls n Massachusetts, seem lke tame lttle hllocks compared to the rockes and the serra Nevadas out west. yet these beautful mountans and the streams that flow from them provde ncredble outdoor recreatonal opportuntes. skng s a major ndustry n wnter, and there s usually plenty of snow. Nature walks, fshng, canoeng, kayakng, and rock clmbng are popular lesure actvtes n the

Covered brdges and colorful fall folage add to the dyllc mage of New england. Getty Images/Photodsc.

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less frozen months, but L.L. Bean wll certanly have the rght boots and clothng for any New england outdoors enthusast. Boston s New englands premer cty. It s a fnancal, educatonal, and cultural center, wth a hstory datng back to 1630. Bostons natural harbor has been the entry pont for mllons of new Amercans and the export pont for New england manufactured products. That harbor was the ste of one of the colonsts frst major protests aganst england, the Boston Tea Party. The Freedom Tral that wnds through Boston for a couple mles passes some of the colonal landmarks n the brth of Amercan democracy. Bostons nckname, Beantown, commemorates ts Purtan pastthe Purtans were sad to have served and eaten beans frequently.
The Mid-Atlantic

The Md-Atlantc states of Pennsylvana, Maryland, New Jersey, and New york share a colonal hertage wth the New england states. delaware declared ts ndependence from Pennsylvana and Great Brtan n 1776, thus becomng the thrteenth colony and, fnally, the frst state. Although all these states were part of the orgnal Brtsh colones, they were much more culturally dverse than New england. New york began as a dutch colony, delaware was full of swedsh settlements, Quakers controlled Pennsylvana, and roman Catholcs were n Maryland. The Md-Atlantc states, therefore, never shared New englands Purtan hertage. Four very dfferent major ctes domnate the Md-Atlantc states, three of themNew york Cty, Phladelpha, and Baltmorebeng major ports for commerce and mmgraton. washngton, d.C., or the dstrct of Columba, s the natons captal cty. New york Cty s Amercas truly nternatonal cty. wth 578 mles of waterfront, an excellent harbor, access to the Great Lakes from the Hudson and Mohawk rver systems, and servce from three arports, New york Cty s a major commercal and transportaton hub. There are over 1,000,000 flghts from New yorks arports each year. It s the fnancal center of the country, f not the world, and home to the New york stock exchange and many major banks. The cty gave brth to Amercas flm ndustry, and t remans the cultural captal of Amercan theater, fashon, art, archtecture, advertsng, and meda. New york Cty has long welcomed the huddled masses yearnng to be free to Amercan shores. The statue of Lberty n New york harbor s an mportant Amercan con, an endurng symbol of freedom. New york Cty has never stopped acceptng new people. Today, 36 percent the people who lve wthn the ctys 303 square mles were born outsde of the Unted states, and 48 percent speak a language other than englsh at home. Twenty-seven percent of the people are Hspanc or Latno, and 10 percent are Asan. Lke

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many nternatonal ctes around the globe, New york Cty represents the worlds dversty n mcrocosm. It s home to over 400 ethnc neghborhoods, where more than 100 languages are spoken. It seems that everythng n New york Cty s bgger and better than anywhere else, at least accordng to one noted Manhattan real estate developer. More than 40,000,000 people vst the cty each year, stayng n ts 70,545 hotel rooms and spendng more than $21,000,000,000. There are over 17,300 restaurants and 12,000 lcensed taxs; 4,465 buses make 44,550 trps per day over 1,871 mles of bus routes carryng 2,200,000 people on the average workday; 6,247 subway cars make 7,400 trps a day over 685 mles of track carryng 4,800,000 people a day to work, pckng them up and droppng them off at 490 statons. The staten Island ferry makes 104 trps a day wth 70,000 passengers.3 In a very real sense, New york Cty s bgger than ts boundares. New yorks major art museumsthe Museum of Modern Art, the Metropoltan Museum of Art, the whtneyare natonal treasures. The Metropoltan opera s Amercas premer opera house. Its ballet companes belong to the naton, not just to New york Cty. Broadway plays and muscals, whch are attended by more than 11,000,000 theatergoers each year, defne Amercan theater.4 They frequently fnd a wder audence n flm and become the stuff of hgh school, college, and communty theater performances throughout Amerca. wth the headquarters of tradtonal network televson companes n New york Cty, news and entertanment programmng as well as commercals spread across Amerca, servng to unte the country n a certan unverse of shared nformaton. There are more than 100 soundstages n the cty. some 40,000 flms, televson shows, musc vdeos, and commercals are flmed there every year. Lke New york Cty, Phladelpha had the advantage of a good port and an accessble hnterland that promoted ts growth. Phladelpha les between the delaware and schuylkll rvers. Independence Hall s an con of Amercan democracythe place where ndependence was born. whle there s stll some evdence of wllam Penns carefully lad out rectangles n hs desgn of the cty, Phladelpha now appears to be a sprawlng, meanderng metropols, Amercas sxth largest cty. The evdence, however, of Penns Quaker roots and the early mmgraton of Germans to the Phladelpha area abounds. Quaker or Frends meetnghouses can be found all over the countrysde, and soft pretzel vendors seem to be on every cty street corner. In Phladelpha, by the way, soft pretzels are to be eaten wth mustard. North and west of the cty s Pennsylvana dutch country, whch, of course, s not dutch, but deutsch, that s, German. German and swss petstc sects were welcome n tolerant Pennsylvana. Today, Amsh and Mennonte communtes thrve there.

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Pttsburgh s Pennsylvanas second largest cty. Its skylne s dotted wth skyscrapers and many brdges, as the Allegheny and Monongahela rvers merge to form the oho rver wthn the cty. Corbs.

Maryland shares wth Pennsylvana a hstory of relgous toleraton. Quakers settled n Maryland as well as Pennsylvana, and Amsh communtes reman n both states. Baltmore, Marylands largest cty, has the dstncton of beng the frst roman Catholc archdocese n the Unted states, organzed n 1808. Now n the mdst of revtalzaton, Baltmores Inner Harbor has become a major tourst destnaton on the coast. whle Baltmore, wth a populaton of 629,000, s a major Atlantc port, t lacks the developed supportng hnterland that allowed ctes lke New york and Phladelpha to develop. Black urban mgraton from the south helped the ctys populaton to swell at one tmeAfrcan Amercans number 64.3 percent of Baltmoreans but the cty actually lost 11.5 percent of ts populaton n the last decade of the twenteth century. on the other hand, the Maryland suburbs around the natons captalslver sprng, Bethesda, Chevy Chaseseem to have grown exponentally and are stark contrasts to Marylands eastern shore, a bucolc area on the shore of Chesapeake Bay where Maryland crab cakes are served n abundance. washngton, d.C., only 35 mles from Baltmore, s surrounded by Maryland, whch donated the land for a federal captal. washngton, lke Phladelpha, s a planned cty, but not wth the rectlnear clarty of old Phladelpha.

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washngton s desgned as a seres of wheels (traffc crcles) and connectng spokes (major arteres) that serve to confound most toursts drvng n the dstrct. Happly, toursts do not have to drve because the subway system s easy to use and gets toursts to the dstrcts many attractons as well as people to work. It s an Amercan rte of passage to vst the natons captal. A trp to washngton s often the frst famly vacaton many chldren remember. It s a lesson n ctzenshp. The Consttuton and the declaraton of Independence are on dsplay at the Natonal Archves n what feels lke a temples most sacred space. Vsts to the neoclasscal buldngs that house the three branches of governmentthe U.s. Captol, the supreme Court, and the whte Houserecall the ancent worlds democraces, whch Amerca conscously replaced. The museums chroncle the development of Amercan technology and dsplay Amercas artstc rches and cultural hertage. Memorals to past presdentsJefferson, Lncoln, Frankln rooseveltand the heroes of Amercan wars make patrotc hearts str. regonal defntons have blurred somewhat owng to the extensve urban and suburban growth along the east Coast from north of Boston all the way to the natons captal. A trp south down multlane Interstate 95 from

Mllons of vstors come to the Vetnam Memoral wall n washngton, d.C. every year. Many make pencl rubbngs of the names of famly members or loved ones whose lves were lost durng the Vetnam war. Getty Images/Photodsc.

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Portsmouth, New Hampshre, around Boston and through Provdence, rhode Island, on further through Farfeld and stamford, Connectcut, nto New york and past New york Cty to Newark, New Jersey, then rght through Phladelpha, past wlmngton, delaware, under the Fort McHenry Tunnel at Baltmore, and fnally to washngton, d.C. wll prove exctng or harrowng, dependng on ones psychc dsposton. There s plenty of tme for sghtseeng from the car whle under way, unless trucks block the vew, because the multple lanes of the hghway are randomly closed every few mles to repar parts of the road that have crumbled under the weght of mllons of tons of daly traffc, salt to melt ce n the wnter, and the natural effects of wnter freezng and sprng thaws. Thus, durng the frequent stops and starts of an I-95 adventure, the sghtseer wll fnd t nearly mpossble, save for hghway sgns, to tell one cty from the next or where one cty begns and another ends as suburban sprawl blends together any sense of boundares.
The South

The south ncludes the states of Vrgna, west Vrgna, North Carolna, south Carolna, Georga, Florda, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Msssspp, Arkansas, Lousana, and the eastern part of Texas as well as parts of Mssour and oklahoma. Most of the south s unque among Amercas regons because t once seceded from the Unon to establsh the Confederate states of Amerca. The Cvl war served to soldfy from wthn and wthout the dentty of southerners as regonally separate. Today, the south refers to tself as the New south. The old south of whte-hared, whte-suted colonels sttng n rockng chars on the verandas of ther plantaton houses and sppng mnt juleps wth favored lades n pastel hoop skrts exsts only n tourst attractons. Indeed, ths old stereotype never explaned the complexty of the south that southern wrters lke wllam Faulkner, eudora welty, and Flannery oConnor understood and portrayed so well. There was never one south. wthn the southern regon, there are cultural varatons among the Gulf Coast, the southern hghlands, the GeorgaCarolnas Pedmont, and the northern nteror. Certanly the Creoles and Cajuns n French Catholc Lousana never qute ft the old stereotype. some remnants of the old south do persst. The New south s stll flled wth cotton felds, peanut felds, and farms wth tobacco allotments. southern hosptalty remans a valued commodty that s only enhanced by a southern drawl. Grts, bscuts, and red-eye gravy can stll be found on southern breakfast menus, pork s stll more popular than beef, and Carolna-grown rce s stll preferred to potatoes. Country musc, centered n Nashvlle, Tennessee, s stll preferred on the regons rado statons. yet the New south s beng radcally transformed. The south has, for the frst

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tme snce t was settled by whtes mostly of Brtsh extracton and blacks extrcated from ther homelands to be New world slaves, become a preferred destnaton for mmgrants of all knds. The tred, pastoral, slow old south has gven way to a New south of broad dversty and opportunty that s on the go. Amercas corporate megaculture s as much part of the New south as any other regon. Northerners have flocked to the sunbelt for jobs and warmer weather n what s now a dversfed southern economy. even Afrcan Amercans whose famles earler forsook the black codes and hopelessness of the old south have begun returnng. The nternal mgraton to the south, at the expense of northern ctes, has been so extensve as to endanger the famed southern accent n the boomng southern ctes. The south has fnally become ntegrated nto the rest of the naton. The cty of Atlanta, left n flames after the Cvl war, s the symbol and the proof of southern renewal. All roads n the south seem to lead to Atlanta, whose metropoltan populaton grew over 38 percent from 1990 to 2000 and whose skyscrapers put to rest the stereotype of the old south and the Atlanta of Gone with the Wind. Atlanta, wth over 4,600,000 people, was the center of Amercas cvl rghts movement and s now Amercas nnth largest metro area, wth more than 1,000 nternatonal busnesses located there.5 The Coca-Cola Company, whose trademarks have worldwde recognton, has long been headquartered n Atlanta. Many southerners consder a Coke a sutable f not preferable alternatve to a mornng cup of coffee. Coke became so ubqutous n the south that many southerners stll use the word Coke to refer to any soft drnk. entrepreneur Ted Turner, who founded Turner Broadcastng Company, made Atlanta a cable-broadcastng center wth CNN and afflated networks. The Hartsfeld-Jackson Atlanta Internatonal Arport s one of Amercas busest, wth over 83,000,000 passengers passng through t each month.6 whle Atlanta s the souths nland hub, the south also enjoys a number of mportant seaports. Norfolk and Newport News, Vrgna, are stuated at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. on down the Atlantc coast, wlmngton, North Carolna, Charleston, south Carolna, and savannah, Georga, are major ports. Charleston, a planned cty datng from 1680, and savannah have managed to preserve the feel and archtecture of the old south. Florda has two major seaports on the Atlantc: Jacksonvlle and Mam. Jacksonvlle, a fnancal captal, has the dstncton of beng Amercas largest cty n terms of area841 square mles. Mam can be sad to be one of Amercas nternatonal ctes, but wth a decded southern orentaton. It s the pont of entry for Carbbean and south Amercan toursm and mmgraton. Mam, wth a heavy nfluence of Cuban culture, has become a center of spansh language broadcastng and Hspanc fashon n Amerca. Mam has also experenced a large Hatan mmgraton.

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Mams beaches n Florda are an Amercan paradse for travelers. Getty Images/ Photodsc.

Florda real estate was the subject of skeptcal humor even before the Marx brothers made fun of t n ther 1929 move The Cocoanuts. yet buyng some swamp land n Florda turned out to be a good nvestment for most. Florda beaches are among the best n the world, and there are mles and mles of them. retrees have flocked to south Florda from the cold North. About 18 percent of Flordas populaton s age 65 or older. orange groves n central Florda have been dmnshng to make way for tourst attractons that draw nternatonal clentele. orlando s now a golfng mecca that s also home to walt dsney world resort, the Unversal orlando resort, sea world orlando, dscovery Cove, and Cypress Gardens. Tourst dollars fuel Flordas economy and make a state ncome tax anathema to Florda legslators. Tampa s a major port on Flordas Gulf Coast, whch features Busch Gardens among ts many tourst attractons. Moble, Alabama, New orleans, and Houston are other mportant ports along the Gulf of Mexco. wth the excepton of these ctes, the Gulf Coast s generally populated sparsely. Fshng has tradtonally been a major enterprse n the small towns along the coastlne. The dscovery of ol and natural gas deposts n the gulf, however,

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have made the energy ndustry and related ndustres the bass of most of the coasts economy. refneres and chemcal and paper plants surround the coast from Moble to Corpus Chrst. Unfortunately, the hot and humd Gulf Coast, whch rses lttle above sea level, has a contnung hstory of beng ravaged by hurrcanes. when the 2005 hurrcane season knocked out part of the Gulf Coasts energy exploraton, refnng, and transportaton capabltes, the entre naton felt the squeeze of hgher fuel prces and shortages. The Gulf Coast from Moble through Lousana shared a very dfferent hstory from the nteror south. Moble and New orleans were French ctes, whch meant that roman Catholcsm took root there from the earlest colonal tmes, rather than the evangelcal Protestantsm that flourshed n most of the south. By 1820, French Jesuts were operatng a roman Catholc college n Moble. Along the coast and most notably around New orleans, French, spansh, whte, black, and natve cultures created an ethnc jambalaya unlke anywhere else n Amerca or, for that matter, n the world. The east Texas ctes of Houston and dallas are major cultural and fnancal centers whose tall buldngs reflect the gleamng Texas sun. Thanks n great part to the televson seres Dallas, we tend to thnk of bg ol and bg cattle when we thnk of ths part of Texas, but agrculture and ndustry have

The Alamo n san Antono, Texas remans a symbol of lberty and freedom even today. Getty Images/Photodsc.

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bult these ggantc and growng ctes, too. The dallasFort worth metropoltan area s the ffth largest n Amerca; Houstons s the eghth largest. In Texas, we begn to see a transton from southern culture nto southwestern culture, and not just n the substtuton of boots for dress shoes and stetsons for baseball caps. In the ctes of Houston and dallas, the whte populaton s about 50 percent, and the Afrcan Amercan populaton s about 25 percent, but over one-thrd of each ctys populaton clams a Hspanc or Latno hertage. In san Antono, a cty of 1,200,000 people about 200 mles southwest of Houston, the whte populaton approaches 68 percent, the Afrcan Amercan populaton s less than 7 percent, and 59 percent of the populaton are of Hspanc or Latno orgn.
The Midwest

The states of oho, Mchgan, Indana, wsconsn, Mnnesota, Illnos, Iowa, Nebraska, North dakota, south dakota, Kansas, eastern Colorado, and parts of Mssour and western Pennsylvana make up Amercas Mdwest, ts breadbasket. Chcago s ts center. The nfluence of the many Germans who settled n oho, Illnos, Mssour, and wsconsn, the swedes and Norwegans n wsconsn and Mnnesota, and southern Afrcan Amercans n the larger Mdwestern ctes can stll be felt. Chcago has the largest Polsh populaton of any cty outsde of Poland. Huck Fnn and Tom sawyer were, n a sense, born on the Msssspp rver. Mdwesterners are down-to-earth folks who speak planly and straghtforwardly n the preferred accent of the natonal meda. Mdwesterners wll tell you they have no accent. The Mdwest s steak and potatoes country. If t s true that southerners would have to go through Atlanta even to get to heaven, Mdwesterners would have to go through Chcago. Incorporated as a town wth a populaton of 350 n 1833, t was a cty of over 4,000 people four years later. Now wth a populaton of nearly 3,000,000 lvng on 228 square mles of land, Chcago clams the worlds busest arport, oHare Internatonal, the worlds largest conventon center, McCormck Place, the worlds largest food festval, the Taste of Chcago, and the worlds bggest parochal school system, whch s run by the roman Catholc archdocese of Chcago. Chcagos geographcal locaton n the mddle of the country and ts 29 mles of lakefront on Lake Mchgan helped to make t a transportaton hub and a ggantc manufacturng and ndustral power. Long the natons second cty to New york Cty, Chcago has typfed the trend among large Mdwestern ctes of losng populaton as southern, southwestern, and western ctes contnue to grow. Chcago lost ts second cty status to Los Angeles n the later twenteth century, but the years of New yorkChcago rvalry

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caused Chcagoans to start countng everythng n sght to prove thers was no tny toddln town. They counted 148,000 manholes and 47,330 fre hydrants on 3,780 mles of streets. They found 4,300 mles of sewer mans, 4,290 mles of water mans, and even 6,400 bke racks. Chcagos 30,000,000 vstors each year could enjoy 560 parks, 200 lve theaters, 49 museums, and more than 7,000 restaurants and 200 annual parades.7 The Mdwest ncludes what s commonly called Americas industrial heartland or, perhaps somewhat pejoratvely, the Rust Belt. The fact s that n the Mdwest, manufacturng and farmng lve closely together. In addton to Chcago, the ctes of Cleveland, oho, Pttsburgh, Pennsylvana, Mlwaukee, wsconsn, Cncnnat, oho, and detrot, Mchgan, grew to become large manufacturng centers. The oho rver Valley and the Great Lakes helped to create these ndustral ctes, empowered by the needs of local agrculture. Pttsburgh means steel; detrot means automobles; Mlwaukee means beer; Kansas Cty means beef; and st. Lous s the gateway to the west. The Mdwest s also called Middle America and ncludes the Corn Belt, flled wth small towns separated by lots of open space. The towns are populated wth people who have sold and ndependent values. Hot summers and cold wnters combne wth rather flat land and generally good sol to create some of the most abundant agrcultural land n the world. Corn, wheat, and soybeans are the major crops. rasng hogs and cattle augment ncome from gran farmng. There s extensve dary farmng n wsconsn and Mnnesota above the plans. wsconsn produces about 50 percent of the cheese n Amerca. Frut orchards dot the western Great Lakes. The famly farm s dsappearng, but the Corn Belt s stll about 80 percent farmland, notably n places lke Illnos and Iowa.8 The Mdwestern states of Kansas, Nebraska, south dakota, and North dakota le n the Great Plans. The plans extend from Texas up nto Canada, wth eastern boundares that roughly straddle the western lmts of Lousana, Arkansas, Mssour, Iowa, and Mnnesota. Portons of eastern New Mexco, Colorado, wyomng, and much of Montana also le wthn the plans. The Hgh Plans stretch from south Texas nto southern Nebraska. Tornadoes and tremendous thunderstorms rule ths area, whch s hot n summer and cold n wnter. Buffalo herds once roamed these grassy prares. Not even the Indans much settled there. ranchng became the thnghard wnter wheat n the south and sprng wheat n the north plans. In the north, barley and oats are major second crops, along wth sunflowers.
The West

The west covers a lot of terrtory: the nteror states of wyomng, Montana, Utah, Idaho, and western Colorado; the Pacfc Northwest states of oregon,

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washngton, and Alaska; Hawa; and most of Calforna. The nteror states of the west are perhaps most emblematc of the Amercan poneer tradton. They have small populatons that are largely whte and non-Hspanc. wyomng, for example, s typcal of the area, wth a lttle over 500,000 people, 89 percent of whom are non-Hspanc whtes. The land does not gve way to an easy exstence, but the people there seem to have a certan open and welcomng frendlness that leaves no room for pretenson. wyomng gave women, equal tolers on the fronter, the rght to vote n 1869. The rocky Mountans rse out of the Great Plans n wyomng, and the Contnental dvde cuts drectly through t. Although rasng cattle and sheep and growng a few crops have always been essental parts of wyomng lfe, agrculture lags behnd mnng and mneral extracton n wyomngs economy. wyomng s the natons largest coal producer. Its natonal parksyellowstone and Grand Tetonand ts natonal monumentsdevls Tower and Fossl Buttehelp to place toursm second n mportance to the states economy. Mllons of acres of natonal forests are also located n wyomng. wyomng s truly the land where the antelope roam. Montana, stretchng to 559 mles east to west along the Canadan border and 321 mles north to south, calls tself Bg sky Country. Its western thrd les n the rocky Mountans, where the Contnental dvde descends; the remanng part of the state les n the Great Plans. Around 65 percent of Montana s occuped by ranches and farms whose major products are wheat and beef. Twenty-fve percent of the state s covered by forests, thus makng the tmber ndustry mportant to the local economy, but toursm s second only to agrculture. Glacer Natonal Park s an mportant destnaton, but Montana has over 17,000,000 acres of publc land and seven Indan reservatons. Montana also contans mmense coal deposts.9 Idaho, on the western sde of the Contnental dvde, s flled wth scenc rvers and streams that make whtewater raftng a smple pleasure. Utah has some of the natons hghest peaks but s better known for the Great salt Lake, a brny remnant of an ancent freshwater lake, and the desert next to t. For most poneers, Utah held lttle promse for settlement. For the members of the Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants, however, Utah became the Promsed Land on earth after a long and arduous exodus from persecuton n Illnos.
California

Calforna s larger n area and has a larger gross domestc product than most natons. Lke the northeast coasts megacty, the area between santa Barbara and san dego s Calfornas answer, a blur of ctes and suburbs that seem to make one ggantc metropols wth almost mperceptble boundares.

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Calforna s a land of beautful coasts along the Pacfc ocean, mountans, broad valleys, southeastern deserts, and northern forests. The Coast ranges lne the coast along fault zones that make Calforna prone to earthquakes. The Central Valley, whch s east of the ranges, s agrculturally rch. The valley s a dstnct geologcal feature that was formed between the Coast ranges and the rugged serra Nevadas by dranage of the sacramento and san Joaqun rvers. More than 430 mles long and, on average, 50 mles n wdth, thanks to the dammng of rvers and streams and rrgaton, the valley s one of Amercas rchest agrcultural regons. The abundance of crops grown there nclude almonds, barley, corn, cotton, grapes, oats, pstachos, rce, sorghum, sugar beets, sunflowers, tomatoes, walnuts, and wheat.10 ralroads and the dscovery of ol also fueled the valleys growth and the development of ts ctesBakersfeld, Fresno, Merced, stockton, sacramento, Chco, and reddng. North of the Central Valley s a plateau that contans volcanoes, notably Mount shasta and Mount Lassen. Northern Calforna gets more precptaton than the south, where rrgaton s needed to support agrcultural crops. In fact, water for Los Angeles s suppled through two aqueducts. The 1913 aqueduct s 223 mles long; the 1970 aqueduct s 137 mles long. Fres n dry southern Calforna, where there are major ol felds, are sometmes drven by strong wnds. The Imperal Valley n southern Calforna can grow crops all year. Grapes are grown around san Francsco n Calfornas famed wne country; flowers are grown n the Lompoc Valley; oranges and lemons are grown around the Los Angeles Basn. specalty crops add to the fresh cusne of Calforna. Los Angeles and san Francsco are Calfornas two man urban hubs. They are very dfferent ctes. Los Angeles, Amercas second largest cty, wth 3,800,000 people and a metro populaton of almost 13,000,000, s a coagulaton of ctes connected by freeways wth no real center. The manmade port of Los AngelesLong Beach s the major west Coast mport-export pont. whle Hollywood and the entertanment ndustry gve t ts gltter, Los Angeles retans ts affnty wth the southwest. Although the Asan populaton s 10 percent of the total, some 47 percent of the populaton clams Hspanc, mostly Chcano, hertage; 58 percent of the people do not speak englsh at home; and 41 percent were born outsde of the country. The Los Angeles barrio, a word that smply means neghborhood, has an area of 193 square mles and a populaton of almost 2,000,000 people. san Francsco s a more tradtonal cty of a bt more than 750,000 people and a metro populaton of 4,100,000. san Francscos Hspanc populaton s only about 14 percent, n sharp contrast to Los Angeles. Its Asan populaton, however, s nearly 31 percent. The san Francsco Bay area, home to slcon

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Valley and award-wnnng wnes, s one of Amercas most scenc places, wth an excellent harbor that s a gateway for Asan mmgraton.
Hawaii

Hawa, an archpelago of volcanoes that stretches west from the bg sland more than 1,800 mles, has long been an entry pont for Asan mmgraton. only about 114,000 of ts 1,263,000 nhabtants are natve slanders. Asans outnumber whtes fve to three. Hawa, the bg sland, s two-thrds of the landmass. Nearly all the populaton lves on the eght man slands: Hawa, oahu, Mau, Kaua, Lana, Moloka, Nhau, and Kahoolawe. The state controls most of the land, about 80 percent. Hawa s n the mddle of nowhere: some 3,600 mles from Tokyo and 2,100 mles from san Francsco. Klauea and Mauna Loa are the most famous volcanoes on the bg sland. wth a consstently temperate clmate, toursm s a central economc force. Hawaan musc, the hula, and the luau have long been a staple of Amercan culture that s constantly renforced n flm and on televson. when manland Amercans thnk about Hawa, they typcally pcture the bg blue waves offshoresurfng s the state ndvdual sportand recall the tastes of pneapples, Kona coffee, and macadama nuts.
The Pacific Northwest

The three states of the Pacfc Northwest are home to about 10,000,000 Amercans. Portland, oregon, and seattle, washngton, are the man ctes, characterzed by whte populatons of over 70 percent. Both have good harbors, and both are ndustral centers. There s hgh ranfall along the rugged coast that produces tall evergreensdouglas frs, red cedar, and stka spruceand the valleys created between the Coast ranges and the volcanc Cascades, the wllamette n oregon and the Puget sound lowlands n washngton, provde agrcultural opportuntes. east of the Cascades, whch make up two-thrds of oregon and half of washngton, the clmate s rather ard. The Columba rver provdes needed rrgaton as well as hydroelectrc power. Lke the dams on the Msssspp rver, the 11 dams on the Columba, ncludng Bonnevlle and Grand Coulee, are further trbutes to Amercan can-do engneerng n the conquerng of nature. Lumber and the fur trade bult the Pacfc Northwest, solated as t once was on the northwest tp of the country, but Boeng and Mcrosoft now help to sustan t. The sprt of ndependence that relatve solaton promoted can stll be felt there. It s as f the Pacfc Northwest were ts own separate country. It could produce everythng from apples to mlk and cheese, hops to spearmnt, and even grapes to grow ts own wne ndustry. wheat s a major crop n the hlly Palouse of washngton, and farmng s a major undertakng

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Alaska s one of Amercas many natural treasures, full of natonal parks, lakes, and glacers. Mt. McKnley, found n Alaska, s North Amercas tallest mountan. Getty Images/Photodsc.

n the Columba Plateau on the oregon-washngton border. even wth the dmnuton of the mportance of the salmon busness, the Pacfc Northwest nonetheless has created ts own cusne based on the fresh foods avalable there. It s an envronmentally frendly place where strangers are welcome, but not asked to stay. Alaska, the largest state n the Unted states n terms of land, s popularly thought to be the land of eskmos, whch, of course, t s. yet today, these natve people account for only about 22 percent of the states sparsely populated terrtory. whtes consttute some 71 percent of the total populaton, and the cty of Anchorage contans some 40 percent of the states entre populaton. whle the fshng and ol and gas ndustres are very mportant to the Alaskan economy, the vast majorty of Alaskas people are engaged n the servce sector. Alaska s a gorgeous yet forbddng land. Toursm s a major summer ndustry as vstors come to the Land of the Mdnght sun to see the wonders of ts many natonal parks and preserves, ts thousands of lakes and glacers, and ts hundreds of slands. Mt. McKnley n the Alaska range reaches 20,320 feet, the hghest elevaton n the Unted states. Alaska truly s Amercas Last Fronter.
The Southwest

The southwest ncludes the states of New Mexco, Arzona, and Nevada as well as southern nteror Calforna, west Texas, and parts of oklahoma. The ro Grande rver s one of ts defnng characterstcs. Flowng south out of snow-packed mountans n Colorado, the ro Grande cuts through New Mexco and, north of el Paso, Texas, forms a 1,250-mle border wth Mexco as t makes ts way southeasterly to the Gulf of Mexco near Brownsvlle.

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The Falcon dam above Msson and the Amstad dam above del ro have helped to mtgate the severe floodng that had been common downstream. In New Mexco, the reservors formed by the elephant Butte and Caballo dams provde sources for rrgaton. The ro Grande remans the lfeblood of ths part of the regon, one of the few avalable sources of water to sustan human, anmal, and plant lfe. The plans, mountans, deserts, rvers, and canyons of the generally ard southwest provde some of Amercas most dramatc landscapes and vtal natural resources. The plans that stretch northwest beyond the Texas border from san Antono and dallas through Mdland and Lubbock are cowboy country and home to mmense herds of cattle, even some of the famous Texas longhorn cattle, on ggantc ranches. It s also ol country. Texas contnues to be a major ol and natural gas producer, especally snce the development of resources off the coast n the Gulf of Mexco. ol bult both Mdland and Houston. New Mexco calls tself the Land of enchantment wth good reason. Its eastern plans, punctuated by the Carlsbad Caverns to the south, gve way to the red sangre de Crsto (blood of Chrst) Mountans n the north and the san Andres Mountans west of the Pecos rver as t wends southward. The whte sands Natonal Monument southwest of Alamogordo appears as mounds and mounds of sugar dunes, but t s really gypsum. on the western sde of the ro Grande, the Jemez Mountans and the Black range cozy up to the Contnental dvde, whch roughly parallels the ro Grande. As the desert contnues from the southwestern part of the state, forests of pnes and frs le along the hlls to the Black range and the Mogollon Mountans. The northwestern New Mexco desert ncludes Indan lands and the otherworldly Bst Badlands wlderness Area. In New Mexco, perhaps more than n any other southwestern state, the mx of natve, Mexcan, and Anglo cultures has coexsted for so long that t s often mpossble to dentfy whch culture contrbuted what. New Mexco had the greatest number of Hspanc settlers of all the old spansh terrtory Amerca took after the Mexcan war. evdence remans of ther adobe homes as well as the pueblos of the natves. Beans, corn, and chls are the basc staples of the cusne of both cultures. In fact, red chls are one of New Mexcos major crops. Four trbes have reservatons of over 400,000 acres n New Mexco: the Jcarlla Apache, the Keresan, the Mescalero Apache, and the Zun. Although the Anglo culture predomnates overall, t developed ts own dstnctve southwestern flavor. Arzona s the Grand Canyon state. The Colorado rver cuts across northwestern Arzona to the Nevada lne, then to the Hoover dam, where t flows south eventually to form Arzonas border wth Calforna. The Grand

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Canyon s perhaps Amercas best-known, most photographed and panted natural wonder, but Arzona s flled wth natural wonders. Gant saguaro cact populate the southeast. The Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo reservaton n northeast Arzona s as breathtakng as the Grand Canyon. The Petrfed Forest east of Holbrook and the Panted desert above Flagstaff are unquely beautful. The burgeonng cty of Phoenx s surrounded by desert, copper mnes, and Indan reservatons. There are 18 federal reservatons n the state. The Navajo reservaton s by far the largest, occupyng nearly 14,000,000 acres. The Tohono oodham (Papago) reservaton s almost 2,800,000 acres; the san Carlos reservaton of the Apache trbe s 1,800,000 acres; the Fort Apache reservaton s 1,600,000 acres; and the Hop reservaton s 1,500,000 acres. The rest are consderably smaller. Nevada s stuated n the ancent seabed called the Great Basin. It s extremely dry, wth a landscape that sometmes resembles Mars wth scrub brush. yet the Great Basn Natonal Park shows off the natural beauty of the basn, and Lake Tahoes forests and clear water are joltng contrasts from the desert. slver and gold made Nevada; the gamblng and toursm ndustres sustan t. Gltterng Las Vegas rses out of the desert on borrowed water, promotng tself as a place where what happens there, stays thereas f the

Known around the world for ts beauty, the Grand Canyon s only one of the southwests precous stes. Getty Images/Photodsc.

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toursts were prospectors who had just ht the mother lode and came to town to have a nght on the town. The wld west lves on.
The Appalachians and Ozarks

of specal note are two cultural regons that le wthn the larger regons. They are notable for ther tradtonally solated mountan culture. The Appalachan Mountans are a seres of what the locals call hlls that stretch from northeastern Alabama to southern New york. They encompass western portons of North Carolna and Vrgna, northern Georga, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, southeastern oho, all of west Vrgna, and central and northeastern Pennsylvana. The Blue rdge Mountans form the eastern boundary. The Central Valley then gves way to the Appalachan Plateau, wth the Allegheny Front to the east of the valley. The shenandoah Valley provdes the only vable agrcultural land n Appalacha. Coal mnng n southeastern Kentucky, west Vrgna, Pennsylvana, and western Vrgna has provded a means of ncome for ths otherwse poor area of small farms, but at no small cost to the health and safety of the mners. The Appalachans began to be populated n the 1730s by englsh, scottsh, and welsh settlers. They were later joned by the scotch-Irsh from Ulster. Ther enthusastc Protestant relgon prolferated nto tens of sects just among Baptsts. The Appalachans became nvolved n the Great Awakenng that began n the 1740s and lasted for about 80 years. Camp meetngstent revvals were a manstay of Appalacha by the early 1800sand the emotve gospel musc, featurng old world fddles, merged wth bluegrass and became what we call today country musc. The ozarks were settled largely by Appalachan people who mgrated westward. The ozarks extend from central Mssour through northern Arkansas and nto eastern oklahoma and mark the only sgnfcant hlls n Amercas mdsecton. ozark culture features many of the same characterstcs as Appalachan culture, and both have preserved folk crafts and musc from an earler perod. t he P eoPle There are about 300,000,000 people n the Unted states now, rankng t thrd behnd Chna and Inda, each wth populatons of more than 1,000,000,000 people. However, the populaton densty of Chna s 359 per square mle, and of Inda, 914 per square mle. In the Unted states, on the other hand, there are only 82 people per square mle, well below the world fgure of 125. Ths s attrbutable not only to the vastness of the country, but also to ts generally temperate clmate save for nteror and northern Alaska. russa, for example, has almost twce the landmass of the Unted states, but

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much of the land s unnhabtable, thus leavng t wth only 22 people per square mle. Canada, wth about the same area as the Unted states, has only nne people per square mle. Calforna s the most populous state, wth 35,484,000 people (228 per square mle), followed by Texas, wth 22,119,000 (84.5 per square mle); New york, wth 19,190,000 (407 per square mle); Florda, wth 17,019,000 (316 per square mle); and Illnos, wth 12,654,000 (228 per square mle). New Jersey s the most crowded state, wth 1,165 people per square mle, and rhode Island s a close second, wth 1,030 people per square mle. wyomng has the least populaton of all the states at 501,000, wth only 5.2 people per square mle. Alaska has the most wde open spaces, wth only 1.1 persons per square mle. The legacy of spacousness can be found n Amercans personal sense of dstance, whch s comfortable at about two feet. Gettng any closer would cause vsble unease and be consdered an affront, f not an assault, most lkely resultng n an angry request that the offendng party get out of my face and stop breathng my ar before pushng and shovng begns. yet whle Amercans enjoy havng room to roam and a personal sacrosanct space, the vast majorty lve n urbanzed areas. The new mllennum fnds 19,450 ncorporated places n the Unted states wth a total populaton of nearly 180,000,000. Nne of those places are ctes of more than 1,000,000 people, whch are home to 23,300,000 people. New york Cty, the largest of them, wth over 8,000,000 ctzens, has 26,403 people per square mle. sprawlng Los Angeles, wth 3,800,000 people, has a populaton densty of 7,877 per square mle, but Chcagos 2,800,000 people are packed nto the cty at the rate of 12,633 per square mle. Houstons 2,000,000 ctzens have 3,372 neghbors n every square mle, but Phladelphas 1,500,000 ctzens have 11,234. Phoenx (1,400,000), san dego (1,300,000), san Antono (1,210,000), and dallas (1,200,000) round out the lst of Amercas largest ctes, all wth populaton denstes of more than 2,700 per square mle.11 Fourteen mllon Amercans lve n the 22 ctes wth populatons between 500,000 and 1,000,000. More than 40,000,000 lve n the 214 ctes wth populatons of 100,000500,000. Almost 28,000,000 lve n the 397 ctes wth populaton between 50,000 and 100,000. small-town Amerca, however, s very much alve. Nearly 52,000,000 Amercans lve n the 18,143 ctes and towns wth populatons of less than 25,000. of those ctes and towns, 16,683 have populatons under 10,000 and are home to about 10 percent of all Amercans. The ctes alone do not tell the whole story of where and how most Amercans lve. An entrely dfferent knd of automoble-enabled culture has

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developed n the suburban areas that surround Amercas great ctes. when the suburban and other areas that are dependent largely on core ctes are consdered as metropoltan areas, a clearer pcture emerges. The metropoltan area of New york Cty, whch ncludes parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvana, swells to 18,600,000 people, more than twce the number n the cty tself. The Los Angeles metropoltan area, wth 12,800,000 people, s more than three tmes the populaton of the cty alone. Chcagos metropoltan area has 9,300,000 nhabtants, Phladelphas has 5,800,000, and dallass has 5,600,000. These are Amercas largest fve metropoltan areas, toppng the lst of 50 metropoltan areas wth populatons of more than 1,000,000. Today, 79 percent of Amercans lve n urbanzed areasmore than half of them n urbanzed areas of over 1,000,000. The urban populatons of Calforna, Hawa, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, and rhode Island exceed 90 percent. only about 2 percent of Amercans lve on farms. so who are these Amercans? Amerca s now more racally and ethncally dverse than at any tme n ts hstory. Nearly 2 percent of the populaton clams the hertage of two or more races. of those clamng a sngle race, whtes stll comprse the majorty at over 75 percent. Afrcan Amercans are a lttle over 12 percent of the populaton, Amercan Indans and Alaska natves a bt under 1 percent, Asans 4.2 percent, and 2 percent clam some other race. over 14 percent of the total populaton of any race clam Latno or Hspanc hertage.12 Ffty percent of Hspancs are Mexcan n orgn; 36 percent lve n Calforna, wth large contngents of Cubans n Florda, and others n Illnos, Texas, and New york. of whtes, most clam a Brtsh ancestry, but about 22 percent are of German descent, and 18 percent are of Irsh descent. The mx keeps changng. Around 1,000,000 legal mmgrants are admtted each year, 70 percent of them relatves of U.s. ctzens. In 2002, for example, of the 1,063,700 admtted mmgrants, 174,200 came from europe; 342,100 from Asa; 60,300 from Afrca; 404,400 from North Amerca, of whom 219,400 were Mexcan; and 74,500 from south Amerca. The number one destnaton for Mexcan, Indan, Chnese, Flpno, and Vetnamese mmgrants was Calforna. Most Cubans went to Florda. New mmgrants have tended to cluster n the large ctesLos Angeles, san Francsco, New york, Chcago, and Houston, for examplewhere others of the same hertage are already ensconced. However, ctes such as Las Vegas, Atlanta, salt Lake Cty, and Mnneapols have growng Hspanc populatons. Asan populatons are growng n denver, seattle, Boston, detrot, and Mam. In addton to ths legal mmgraton, estmates are that there are 7,000,000 unauthorzed mmgrants lvng n the Unted states: 4,808,000 from Mexco, wth szable numbers also from el salvador

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(189,000), Guatemala (144,000), Colomba (141,000), and Honduras (138,000). of these 7,000,000 unauthorzed mmgrants, 2,209,000 were n Calforna; 1,041,000 were n Texas; and 489,000 were n New york. About 12 percent of the people n the Unted states were born elsewhere. Not surprsngly, 49,600,000 people, 18.7 percent of the U.s. populaton fve years old and older, speak a language other than englsh at home. whle some natve-born Amercans fnd ths stuaton alarmng, corporate Amerca has welcomed these new consumers, especally those who speak spansh, now Amercas second language. spansh can be heard frequently n Los Angeles, san Antono, and Mam, but all over Amerca, packagng has suddenly appeared n spansh and englsh, votng ballots may be obtaned n spansh, and blngual sgns have sprung up n retal stores, even n suburba. It s not just a plattude that Amerca s a land of mmgrants. It always has been and contnues to be a destnaton for refugees and those seekng a better lfe. The real story about Amerca s not ts growng and changng populaton, but ts ablty to assmlate new mmgrants nto the Amercan dream. To be sure, the process s seldom quck and sometmes dffcult. somehow though, the once undesrable neghborhoods of Amercas bggest and oldest ctes segregatng Italans, Irsh, Jews, Afrcan Amercans, Chnese, Puerto rcans, and Poles became centers for the pursut of happness Amercan style. Amercas publc educaton system, desgned at the outset to teach ctzenshp as well as readng, wrtng, and arthmetc, s perhaps one of the unheralded causes of ths transformaton. As Amerca expanded westward, land was set asde for schools, grade school through college. Today, the Unted states s a hghly educated naton: 186,500,000 Amercans (83.9%) who are at least 25 years old are hgh school graduates, and 27 percent have bachelors degrees or further hgher educaton. Amercans lke to thnk they lve n a classless socety. No one s better than anyone elseeverybody puts hs pants on one leg at a tme. Amercans do not bow, curtsey, or nod ther heads when they meet frends or strangers. wth a frm grp and a handshake, Amercans look nto the eyes of the people they meet and mmedately begn a new relatonshp on an equal, frst-name bass. yet the self-confdence and ndependence ths behavor connotes s also the power behnd the nnovaton and nventveness that Amercans chersh, and entrepreneural rsk takng can lead to ncredble wealth. Bll Gates of Mcrosoft, Mchael dell of dell Computer, and serge Brn of Google are to the computer age what Andrew Carnege, J. P. Morgan, and John d. rockefeller were to the ndustral age. There are about 70 personal computers for every 100 Amercans. sometmes poltcans runnng for offce can fnd just the rght slogan that resonates wth a fundamental belef nearly everyone holds closely. Bll

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Clnton promsed good thngs to those who work hard and play by the rules, much lke a preacher promsng heaven to those who pray and keep the 10 Commandments. Most Amercans beleve that hard work, whether backbreakng physcal labor or long hours at the offce (some 45,000,000 people lst ther occupaton as managers or professonals, the largest sngle occupatonal category), s the path to the Amercan dream. It s understood that salared employees who work only 40 hours a week wll not move up n the organzaton. dong the mnmum shows no ntatve. The good thngs hard work s expected to brng are fnancal ndependence, whch s tantamount to personal ndependence, new homes, new cars, nce vacatons, and a lfestyle of choce. Amercans seem to enjoy showng off the bounty of ther success. A bg house, a bg car, season tckets to football gamesthe thngs money can buytell everyone I made t. It s as f there were an magnary ladder of success Amercans try to clmb, and near the top rung, money talks. Clnton cleverly juxtaposed the noton of work and play. Amercans work hard and play hard, too, as we shall see, but what absolutely galls most Amercans s anyone who tres to get ahead by cheatng. Playng by the rules at work, at play, and n lfe s a basc expectaton. what the rules are s not partcularly mportant, and they are always subject to change. The dea that someone who was undeservng would get somethng for nothng s, however, almost too much to bear. Ths was vewed as the problem wth the welfare system; people who could have worked were gettng checks for not workngnot playng by the rules. on the other hand, Amercans pour out ther hearts and wllngly open ther wallets for people who cannot help themselves or are vctms of dsasters. Amercan generosty s legendary. Mllons of dollars from ndvdual Amercans have gone to survvors of tsunams, earthquakes, and terrorst attacks. Lkewse, mllons of Amercans volunteer n varous socal and relgous organzatons to help the less fortunate. you do not have to be rch to partcpate n the Amercan dream. readly avalable credt allows dreams to come true. Amercans are carryng $9,709,000,000 n personal debt. It starts for many wth college. The medan educatonal loan for graduates s $16,500. The average amount fnanced for a new car s more than $24,000. The average household has credt and car loan debt of $18,700. Then there s the mortgage on the house. Amercans carry more than $7 trllon n mortgage debt. Payment of debt accounts for 13.6 percent of Amercans after tax ncome, but only about 5 percent fal to keep up wth ther payments. easy credt s an nvtaton to a lfe of hard work. recent surveys have shown that the vast majorty of Amercans vew themselves as hard workng, nventve, and honest. A majorty of Amercans also vew ther compatrots as greedy and not relgous enough. one n fve Amercans, on the other hand, thnks Amerca s too relgous. Nearly half vew

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the country as volent, and over one-thrd vew ther fellow Amercans as mmoral and rude.13 Hard work, nventveness, and honesty are core Amercan values that have perssted over tme and are elemental to the formaton of Amercan character. These values are also expectatons that Amercans have for each other and certanly for ts newest ctzens. It s not surprsng that Amercans are often vewed by others as too bg for ther brtches. Amercans expectaton for thngs beng done n the Amercan way, whatever that may be, appears as arrogance. In fact, the Amercan penchant for effcent use of tmegulpng down fast food, always on tme for appontmentsseems to have created a robotc socety tuned to the clock as f n the last two mnutes of a football game. when expectatons are not metf a traffc jam causes one to be late, for exampleAmercans feel a certan stress that may manfest tself as haughtness. yet as self-relant problem solvers, they also beleve that whatever caused the system to go awry can be fxed. we wll see n more detal later that Amercans are generally a relgous people, and Amerca s home to perhaps 150 or more relgous groups. There s a dversty of relgous values and belefs among Amercans, but that relgon plays a role n buldng Amercan character s ndsputable. Nether can t be dsputed that volence s part of everyday Amercan lfe, whch seems to contradct the relgous and cvc values that hold the naton together. In 2003, for example, 1,381,000 volent crmes were known to polce across Amerca: 17,000 murders; 93,000 forcble rapes; 413,000 robberes; and 858,000 aggravated assaults. over 10,400,000 property crmes were also reported. Nnety percent of the volent crmes occurred n large metropoltan areas. Handguns were the weapons used n more than half of the murders. The offcal language of the Unted states of Amerca s . . . well, there s no offcal language. That s probably a good thng because f Congress declared an offcal language, most Amercans would refuse to speak t. Government and government motves have always been vewed wth a certan suspcon, and any attempt to regulate language would probably be consdered a volaton of chershed ndvdual rghts. Thus, n a sense, there are some 300,000,000 dalects of Amercan englsh n the Unted states. The fact s, however, that language may be a clue to what regon a person grew up n or lves n. It also may hnt at socal class, age, educaton, and ethncty. when Amercans hear expressons lke these, they can usually sze up the speakers background:
was you gon to town? Lke eeeeyoooo, thats gross! They are vacatonng n warshngton! The delegaton arrved n Cuber to see Castro!

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How yall don? Leave the paper on the stoop! Hes all hat and no cattle! Are you gong to the shore ths weekend? do she have the book? so, yous wanna go get a cheesesteak? That maht could work! you betcha! Lets get a grnder for lunch! Ive got to red up the house already! I asked for a soda, not a Coke! dame un bpeo later! The machnes all tore up! Go out to the bahn and check on the horses. dose doyty boyds are nestng rght under my wndow!

Broadly consdered, there are only two general dalects n the Unted states, northern and southern, each wth numerous varatons. The general northern dalect s spoken n all areas of the country outsde the old south of the Confederacy. Greatly nfluenced by the language of New england, further dalects of the general northern dalect developed wth westward expanson. The Great Lakes dalect s spoken from syracuse to Mlwaukee, and ts nasal As can be heard n Chcago, detrot, Buffalo, and Cleveland. The North Mdland dalect, wth full Rs pronounced, stretches from south Jersey and northern Maryland across most of oho, Indana, Illnos, Iowa, Mssour, Nebraska, and eastern oklahoma. The western dalect, also wth general northern dalect roots, s relatvely new n lngustc hstory terms and s mxed wth regonal sounds. subsets or subdalects of the western dalect nclude the southwest, the Pacfc Northwest, central and northern Calforna, and the nteror western states. The general southern dalect has only two dvsons. The southern dalect s spoken n the southeast from Maryland south to Florda and n the lowlands of Georga, Alabama, Msssspp, Lousana, and east Texas. The south Mdland dalect s spoken n the hghlands and nland from southern oho through the Texas panhandle.14 such broad classfcatons hardly do justce to the varety of the Amercan language. ethnc groups brng ther own flare to the languageAfrcan Amercans, Cajuns, Chcanosand Amercas major ctes, notably Boston, New york, and san Francsco, have developed a dstnctve patos. Teenagers of all ethnc groups contnue to make and remake ther own languages. yet

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even n the face of ths complexty and dversty, t has been argued that Amercans moblty and the constant, flat sounds of so-called standard Amercan over rado and televson wll wpe out regonal lngustc varatons. Lngustc boundares may change and blur, but the fact remans that people n Boston do not sound anythng lke people n New orleans. what s really mportant to the fabrc of Amercan lfe, however, s that Bostonans and New orleanans, Texans and Mchganders, can all understand each other. Any englshman wll tell you that there s an Amercan accent. t he P ast
the natives and European Exploration

The earlest mmgrants to Amerca began arrvng perhaps 30,000 years ago from Asa over a land brdge that connected sbera wth the North Amercan contnent. Archaeologcal evdence also suggests that ndgenous populatons n south Amerca mgrated northward. By the tme europeans dscovered ths New world at the end of the ffteenth century, there were anywhere from 1,500,000 to 6,000,000 natves n the contnental Unted states and probably around 75,000,000 n the entre New world. Mgratons to North Amerca and wthn the contnent contnued for thousands of years. These mmgrants spread from the west to the Atlantc ocean. There was a substantal mgraton from establshed Mexcan cultures northward nto the Msssspp Valley and beyond through whch the cultvaton of maze spread. They created empres, tradng routes, and a great number of dstnct languages and cultures. They were artsts, artsans, farmers, hunters, and traders who rased famles n relgous tradtons wth socal values. The complexty of the natve cultures was lost on early european explorers. Indeed, we stll lve wth Chrstopher Columbuss confuson that he had found Inda and therefore named these Amercan natves Indans. These explorers were confronted by people who spoke languages unntellgble to them, who were naked, who were suspcous of ther motves, and who approached them carefully. one voyager chroncled hs astonshment that the women could swm and run faster than the men. women athletes had been dscovered. The explorers referred to themselves as the Chrstans and to the naked natves as savages. These european atttudes nformed what quckly became a european race to clam whatever rches the New world had to offer. To the mnds of the cvlzed Chrstan europeans, the natves owned no clams to the land. Chrstopher Columbus, salng for span, dscovered Amerca n 1492, but never saw what would become the Unted states. John Cabot made clams for england to North Amerca n 1497. The spansh, however, seemed to have

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a leg up on the Brtsh. Juan Ponce de Lon explored the coasts of Florda n 1513. After Corts conquered the Aztecs and Mexco n 1522, spansh explorers went north from there and from Cuba. Cabeza de Vaca explored the Gulf Coast from Florda to the southwest from 1528 to 1536. Hernando de soto explored what would be 14 states from Florda to Mchgan and west between 1539 and 1542. Francsco Vsquez de Coronado explored the southwest from 1539 to 1541 and dscovered the Grand Canyon. Juan rodrguez Cabrllo explored Calforna n 1542. In 1565, the spansh establshed the frst cty n the future Unted states, st. Augustne, Florda. srs walter ralegh and Humphrey Glbert dd not establsh roanoke Island, the lost colony, untl 1585. Jamestown, establshed n 1607, was englands frst successful settlement. France, the Netherlands, and sweden were also n the race. France commssoned Govann de Verrazanno to seek the fabled Northwest Passage n 1524, but t was Jacques Carter who establshed French North Amercan clams n 1535. The spansh elmnated French settlements n Florda. In 1673, Lous Jolet and Jacques Marquette explored the upper Msssspp rver, and n 1698, seur de Lasalle explored Lake Mchgan and the upper Msssspp rver. seur de Benvlle establshed New orleans n 1698, and a year later, seur dIbervlle was the frst european to enter the Msssspp rver from the Gulf of Mexco. Henry Hudson made a clam for the Netherlands for all the land from the rver named for hm to Albany n 1609, but about 30 years later, the dutch government ssued a patent to the New Netherlands Company for the area between Vrgna and New France. sweden establshed a colony near wlmngton, delaware, n 1638, but the dutch took t from them n 1655. Nne years later, however, the dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the englsh owng to a bt of englsh brnksmanshp. New Amsterdam became the englsh colony of New york, and the dutch were out of busness n North Amerca. By 1700, englands colones, huggng the Atlantc coast, were surrounded by French terrtory to the north and west and spansh terrtory to the south. New France was an mmense land that extended from Newfoundland and Nova scota all the way to Lake superor, southward down the Msssspp to the Gulf of Mexco, wth eastern borders along the englsh colones. wars would make dramatc changes. england took Nova scota and Newfoundland from France n the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, whch ended Queen Annes war. england found tself ptted aganst France and span n the French and Indan war that lasted from 1756 untl 1763 and thus s also known also as the seven years war. wth englands vctory, n part thanks to ts Amercan colonsts, the so-called Frst Treaty of Pars n 1763 gave england all of New France as well as the Flordas, whch had been owned by span.

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even wth englands tremendous vctory, the war dd not settle the socalled Indan queston. settlers were movng nto Indan terrtory rapdly and ceaselessly. Kng George III tred to stop them by drawng the 1763 Lne of demarcaton along the backbone of the Appalachan Mountans, a lne whch settlers were forbdden to cross. It dd not work. The great chef Pontac rebelled aganst the constant encroachment of the europeans onto natve lands from 1763 untl he was defeated n 1766.
the birth and development of the United States

when the next Treaty of Pars was sgned on september 3, 1783, endng the Amercan revolutonary war, the Unted states borders suddenly stretched to the Msssspp rver. england was out of the south as span had alled wth France and the colones and repossessed the Flordas. when the Consttuton replaced the Artcles of Confederaton, whch had not been approved untl 1781, George washngton became the natons frst presdent n 1789. He became the leader of 3,893,874 Amercans, of whom 694,207 were slaves, accordng to the 1790 census. The new naton set out on ts own, no longer under Brtsh control, but wth the legaces of havng been Brtsh ctzens: a Protestant Chrstan relgon, common law, democratc nsttutons, statements of rghts, the englsh language, and englsh manners and customs. Already n 1780, Congress envsoned new states n the new terrtory. states began cedng ther land clams to the federal government. In 1785, Congress provded funds for surveys to lay out townshps n 36 numbered subdvsons of one mle each. Lot 16 was reserved for publc schools. No land was to be sold for less than $1 an acre. The 1787 Northwest ordnance set nto operaton the development of the states of oho, Mchgan, Illnos, Indana, and wsconsn. sellng land would help the bankrupt federal government. In 1796, Congress approved the sellng of one square mle (640 acres) for $2 an acre. In 1800, you could buy 320-acre plots for $2 an acre on four years of credt. In 1804, 160-acre plots went for $1.64 an acre. In 1820, 80-acre plots went for $1.25 an acre. Presdent Thomas Jefferson just wanted to buy New orleans. Control of that port cty was vtal to Amercan commerce. Much to hs surprse, Napoleon was wllng to sell not only the port cty, but also all of Lousana Terrtory, whch span had quetly ceded to France. For a purchase prce of $15,000,000, the Unted states got 800,000 square mles of land, whch would nclude the future states of Lousana, Arkansas, Mssour, Iowa, Nebraska, south dakota, and parts of seven other western states. The Unted states contnued to tdy up ts borders. In 1818, the Unted states and england agreed to a 49 degree lattude northern border and jont

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occupaton of oregon country. In 1819, the Unted states pad span $5,000,000 for Florda and establshed a southwest boundary that cut span off at the 42nd parallel, thus wth no clam to the Pacfc Northwest. In return, the Unted states gave up the Texas Gulf Coast. Mexco became Amercas new neghbor n 1821 when t became ndependent of span. The republc of Texas, ndependent of Mexco snce 1836, was annexed n 1845 at ts behest. In 1846, the Unted states and Brtan sgned an agreement to settle the oregon country border along the 49th parallel, whch permtted establshment of the states of washngton, oregon, Idaho, and parts of Montana and wyomng. The treaty settlng the Mexcan war n 1848 gave Texas ts ro Grande border as well as south and west Texas. The Unted states receved Calforna, Arzona, the oklahoma panhandle, and the southwestern corners of Kansas and wyomng. In just 60 years snce washngton took offce, the Unted states stretched from sea to sea. yet as the Unted states reached the longsought dream of what some thought to be ts manfest destny, the year 1848 also marked the strrngs of a revoluton n Amerca. women had steadly been makng headway along the avenues long closed to them. They were gradually gettng legal control of ther own property n marrage, and teachng grade school had become an acceptable callng. educaton beyond elementary school was begnnng to open upMount Holyoke College became the natons frst womens college n 1837. women were begnnng to emerge as leaders n educaton, socal ssues, lterature, and journalsm, but they lacked cvl rghts equal to mens as well as the equal opportuntes men enjoyed. In 1848, delegates to the frst womens rghts Conventon assembled n seneca Falls, New york. In the conventons declaraton of sentments and resolutons, the delegates declared that men had establshed absolute tyranny over women, and the facts proved t. Men dd not permt women to vote, and women were forced to lve under laws n whch they had no voce. Marred women were cvlly dead, and men had usurped womens rghts to ther own property and wages. Men had taken the good jobs for themselves and left to women only poorly payng postons. Men had blocked women from educatonal opportuntes and created a dfferent code of morals for women. Perhaps most appallngly, men had tred to destroy womens confdence n themselves, lessen ther self-respect, and make them wllng to lead a dependent and abject lfe.15 Ths was the frst volley n a contnung struggle for cvl rghts, whch, lke the Afrcan Amercan struggle for basc rghts, would have a long and contnung hstory. whte men were not nterested n lettng people unlke themselves nto ther prvate club. The westward expanson of the Unted states took place wthn the framework of sectonal controversy, whch was explctly played out n the U.s.

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senate. southern senators had long tred of what they saw as the attempts of northern senators to usurp power by lmtng the expanson of slavery and the southern way of lfe. The southerners felt left behnd poltcally. Northern senators, many of whom beleved the exstence of slavery n the Unted states was n tself an abomnaton, also were dsgusted by the fact that southern poltcal power n the House of representatves was propped up by the consttutonal provson that slaves be counted as three-ffths of a person n the decennal census. (Natve Indans were not counted at all because as members of separate natons, they were not ctzens. women were counted on both sdes, but not allowed to vote or even hold property n most states.) Ths meant that southerners could clam greater representaton based on a populaton wth no rght to vote. Thus, as the south stagnated n a largely rural, plantaton economy wth lttle urbanzaton and poor transportaton, the North was burstng wth new populatons and growng ndustry, and excellent transportaton routes had developed to market t products. The great senate compromse that allowed new states to enter the Unon traded slave states for free states once the old Northwest Terrtory entered the Unon wth slavery banned. The Cvl war, fought from 1861 to 1865, ended that compromse and, more mportantly, gave former slaves freedom and votng rghts, at least consttutonally. realty was qute a dfferent thng. Black slaves from the west Indes and Afrca were some of the very frst Amercans, havng been mported n large numbers n the early 1700s and present early n the precedng century. The mportaton of slaves nto the country ceased n 1808 (ths was another compromse that helped to pass the Consttuton), and thus the Afrcan Amercan populaton became ndgenous. yet Afrcan Amercans efforts to enjoy the fullness of Amercan ctzenshp reman a contnuous struggle. Amerca and Amercans cannot be fully understood wthout consderng what s popularly called the race question. whle no Amercan alve today can magne that people of any color were once bought and sold as property n ths naton conceved n lberty, nether has any Amercan been untouched by ths legacy. The Cvl war was horrfc. The 1860 census counted 31,400,000 Amercans. over 3,800,000 troops (2,800,000 Unon solders; 1,000,000 Confederate solders) had served n the war by ts end, and 558,052 were klled (359,528 Unon solders; 198,524 Confederate solders). More than 412,000 solders were wounded and survved.16 Famles were decmated and dvded. Much of the south was left n runs. The concluson of the war left two major questons: what would become of the suddenly freed former slaves, and how would the south be repatrated nto the Unon? Congress, for ts part, outlawed slavery and created the Freedmens Bureau n 1865. The bureau was to provde educaton, food, clothng, and advce to the freed slaves.

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It was also to dstrbute confscated land, but ths proved mostly a futle effort. wdely hated n the south, the bureau dd, however, provde the only educatonal opportuntes avalable to Afrcan Amercans at that tme n the south. The bureau was also helpng Afrcan Amercans negotate contracts for ther labor, an entrely new concept for former slaves, and the bureau also began recordng the legal marrages of the former slaves, also somethng new. By 1872, however, the Freedmens Bureau was gone. Presdent Andrew Johnson, lke hs predecessor Abraham Lncoln, wanted to brng the southern states back nto the Unon quckly, requrng only that 10 percent of a seceded states voters take an oath of allegance to the Unon and accept the prohbton of slavery before a new state government be created, whch would then be recognzed as legtmate. Johnson acted quckly to use Lncolns formula to brng n some states and then ssued hs own somewhat more dffcult 10 percent soluton. The recognzed states then began to pass the nfamous Black Codes, whch placed Afrcan Amercans nto second-class status by law, wthout the nsttuton of slavery yet stll wthout the rght to vote. In reacton, Congress passed the 14th Amendment to the Consttuton n 1866, whch was adopted n 1868. Ths consttutonal amendment declared all persons born or naturalzed n the Unted states, notably former slaves, to be ctzens. Furthermore, t provded that no state shall make or enforce any law whch shall abrdge the prvleges or mmuntes of ctzens of the Unted states. The amendment also forbad states to deny to any person wthn ts jursdcton the equal protecton of the laws, yet t stopped short of explctly gvng Afrcan Amercans the rght to vote. That would not come untl 1870 wth adopton of the 15th Amendment to the Consttuton. The poltcal squabbles among Congress, the presdent, and recalctrant state governments led, n 1867, to Congresss placng the old Confederate states, wth the excepton of Tennessee, under mltary rule n fve dstrcts. Under mltary jursdcton, all of the 10 formerly rebellous states were readmtted to the Unon by 1870, and new governments under new and better consttutons were n place three to four years after readmsson. It was not untl 1877, however, that all the mltary dstrcts n the old Confederacy were closed. Thus ended the reconstructon of the south. The federal government gave up any effort to reform southern racal thnkng or enforce the laws t had passed to assure Afrcan Amercan equalty. Left to ther own devces, southern states developed Jm Crow laws that entrenched racal segregaton, dsenfranchsed Afrcan Amercans, and encouraged racal njustce. Followng the Cvl war, the Unted states contnued to expand ts terrtory. The 1867 purchase of Alaska from russa for $7,200,000 ncreased U.s. terrtory by 20 percent. Pro-Amercan revolutonares tossed out the

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royals n Hawa n 1893, and t was annexed to the Unted states n 1898. Thus, at the dawn of the twenteth century, the Amercan states as we know them today were secured. Hawa and Alaska both offcally entered the Unon n 1959. The country was populated and settled. Homesteadng, except n Alaska, ended n 1935. The U.s. Consttuton was constantly renforced as new terrtores pettoned for statehood. state consttutons had to be wrtten and approved by Congress, and nothng n a state consttuton could be antthetcal to or contradct the federal document. The voters n a prospectve state had to vote n favor of the state consttuton and vote n favor of jonng the Unon. The state consttutons, therefore, are often reteratons of the U.s. Consttuton, settng up three equal branchesexecutve, legslatve, and judcalas checks and balances and adoptng the lbertes expressed n the Consttutons frst 10 amendments, the Bll of rghts. even at a tme when We the People meant whte men, arstocratc or common, the values of Amercan consttutonal democracy spread across the naton, eventually creatng 50 unted, soveregn republcs. Thus, for Amercans, the Consttuton, the declaraton of Independence, and the Bll of rghts are revered lvng documents. They together form the foundaton for understandng how Amercans thnk of themselves and lve n a naton of laws.
American Indian Policy

The 1783 Treaty of Pars that gave the land east of the Msssspp rver to the new Unted states of Amerca also by default gave the Unted states all of the land n that area belongng to the natve Indans. They, too, were lvng n a new country, but wth no voce. Indan trbes were treated from the start as separate natons, and thus the presdent was responsble for dealng wth them as part of hs foregn polcy. The early presdents enjoyed ther status as so-called great whte fathers. Presdent washngton lad out what the polcy objectves would be: peace, Indan happness, and ther attachment to the Unted states. Presdent James Monroe acknowledged n 1821 that the federal Indan polcy had faled. He noted that Indans had been treated as ndependent natons, wthout ther havng any substantal pretensons to that rank.17 A war department report found that there were 129,266 Indans then n the states and terrtores of the Unted states and that ther land clams totaled 77,402,318 acres.18 somethng had to be done. Indans would be gven the Great Plans, thought worthless to european whtes, and Congress gave the war department power to negotate treates, to be ratfed by the senate, and eastern Indans were to be moved nto a place where they could lve peaceably wth western Indans. Between

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1825 and 1841, numerous treates were made and ratfed, and the Indan fronter formed around the western borders of Lousana, Arkansas, and Mssour, east almost to Illnos, and ncludng what would be most of Iowa and southern wsconsn. wth the passage of the Indan removal Act n 1830, gettng the natves out of whte settlements east of the Msssspp rver became offcal U.s. polcy. yet no matter the ncety of the treates, many natves had no desre to move. In the wnter of 1838, the army forcbly removed 15,000 Cherokee from ther homeland n northwestern Georga to Indan Terrtory over the Tral of Tears at the cost of some 4,000 Cherokee lves. semnoles, who waged a long, ll-fated war; Chckasaw; Creek; and Choctaw took dfferent trals to the same end. In 1823, the supreme Court declared that Indans had occupancy rghts but no ownershp rghts to ther land. By 1840, the Indans were secured n lands away from settlers, but only 10 years later, they were beng squeezed by both westward and eastward expanson, unted by ralroads. There were around 83,000 northern Plans Indanssantee, yankton, oglala, Teton, soux, Northern Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Crow. There were about 65,000 southern Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Navajo, and Apache lvng n Colorado, the southwest, and the central rockes. The Fve Cvlzed Trbes removed earler from the southeastCherokee, Choctaw, Chckasaw, Creeks, and semnolesshared the southern plans wth the Comanche, Kowa, and Pawnee trbes. These numbered 75,000. After the Cvl war, Congress acted to restrct Indan lands even more. As the Indans revolted, the government sought to lmt them to an Indan Terrtory n the future state of oklahoma. In 1871, Congress took natonhood status away from the trbes. oklahoma was organzed n 1890 as two enttes: oklahoma Terrtory and Indan Terrtory. By ths tme, the mllons of buffalo that had roamed the west and had provded the bass for Plans natves lves even after the Cvl war were reduced to only about 1,000 by wholesale slaughter. In 1898, trbal courts were abolshed. on March 3, 1901, the Indans n oklahoma became U.s. ctzens by act of Congress. oklahoma became the 46th state n 1907. The Unted states pursued a number of Indan polces, ncludng the 1887 dawes Act, whch allowed allotment of reservaton land to Indans to turn them nto somethng lke whte farmers. on June 2, 1924, all natve-born Indans became U.s. ctzens thanks to ther war servce. In 1934, the wheelerHoward Act (Indan reorganzaton Act) reversed Indan polcy and negated the dawes Act, whle promotng Indan customs, and gave trbes the rght to organze themselves wth consttutons and bylaws nto trbal councls. It was extended to Alaska and oklahoma Indans n 1936. By 1947, 195 trbes or groups were operatng under the act.

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In 2001, there were slghtly over 4,000,000 Amercan Indans and Alaska natves, ncludng over 180,000 Latn Amercan Indans, n the Unted states. In rounded numbers, the largest trbes are the Cherokee, wth 730,000; Navajo, wth 298,000; Choctaw, wth 158,000; soux, wth 153,000; Chppewa, wth 150,000; Apache, wth 97,000; Blackfeet, wth 86,000; Iroquos, wth 81,000; Pueblo, wth 74,000; Creek, wth 71,000; eskmo, wth 55,000; and Lumbee, wth 58,000. All other trbes have populatons of less than 50,000, ncludng the Cheyenne, Chckasaw, Colvlle, Comanche, Cree, Crow, delaware, Kowa, Menomnee, osage, ottawa, Paute, Pma, Potawatom, and so on.19 By far the largest and the only reservaton/trust land wth over 100,000 Indan nhabtants s the Navajo Naton reservaton and off-reservaton Trust Land n Arzona, New Mexco, and Utah, whch has about 174,000 Indan nhabtants.
Immigration and Migration

we have seen that the Unted states developed prmarly out of englsh culture and tradton. In 1780, 75 percent of Amercans were of englsh or Irsh descent. Germans and dutch were a dstant second and thrd of the populaton. The nneteenth century, however, brought streams of mmgrants to Amerca. The potato famne n Ireland durng the 1840s brought Irsh to the Unted states at a peak rate of over 100,000 per year. German mmgrants swelled the populaton after the falure of the lberal 1848 revoluton. German mmgraton was also encouraged by the Unon government, n need of solders durng the Cvl war. Promses of free land fueled the numbers wllng to fght for the North. About 1,000,000 AsansChnese, Flpnos, Japanese, Indanscame to the Unted states n the last half of the nneteenth century and begnnng of the twenteth century, but ther numbers were dwarfed by the mgraton of europeans. Jews began mgratng to the Unted states from eastern europe durng the last quarter of the nneteenth century to escape relgous persecuton. Contnued persecuton n western europe, most notably n Htlers Germany, brought more Jews to the Unted states.20 At the begnnng of the twenteth century, there were 76,212,168 Amercans. of these, 10,431,276 were born elsewhere. Imagne buldng a natonal dentty out of 1,167,623 people from Great Brtan; 1,615,459 Irsh, who dd not lke the Brtsh; 1,134,744 scandnavans, swedes beng the largest group; 104,197 French and 2,663,418 Germans, who were usually at war wth each other back home; 484,027 Italans; 145,714 Hungarans; 383,407 Poles; 423,726 russans; 81,534 Chnese; 24,788 Japanese; 11,081 Cubans; and 103,393 Mexcans, wth smatterngs of people born n Inda, Portugal, Czechoslovaka, Turkey, Austra, Greece, Belgum, and even Luxembourg.21

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Although the number of Asan mmgrants was rather small, especally n comparson to the number of europeans, U.s. polcy begnnng n 1924 excluded Asan mmgraton and encouraged mantenance of the same mx of people who had already come nto the country. Chnese were not allowed nto the Unted states for almost 20 years. Country mmgraton quotas were abandoned n 1965 for hemspherc quotas, whch n turn were abandoned n 1978 for a total worldwde celng. Those who apply for mmgraton vsas frst now have the best chance of gettng them. Preference s gven to mmgrants wth famly already n Amerca and wth job sklls needed n the Unted states. Poltcal refugees may have specal status. More than 1,000,000 mmgrants receved permanent resdental status under varous refugee acts between 1991 and 2000. of these, 426,555 came from europe, prmarly the Ukrane and the sovet Unon/russa. Another 351,347 came from Asa, more than half of them from Vetnam, and followng n order thereafter from Laos, Iran, Thaland, and Iraq. North Amercans numberng 185,333, all but about 40,000 Cubans, came nto the Unted states wth refugee status. over 51,000 Afrcans came n, most of them to escape the human dsasters n ethopa and somala. They were joned by 5,857 south Amercans. As part of the state departments dversty Vsa Program, 50,000 vsas are ssued annually to people from countres underrepresented n the mmgrant pool. whle russans, Indans, Canadans, Mexcans, Flpnos, Poles, Pakstans, and several other natonaltes are excluded from ths program, Amerca s now recevng small numbers of mmgrants from Afrca, south Amerca, and elsewhere who are not otherwse subject to refugee acts. Between 1892 and 1954, more than 12,000,000 mmgrants entered the Unted states just from ells Island.22 yet whle mmgrants from abroad poured nto Amerca, two other ncredble mgratons were takng place nsde the country. In the space of 80 years, from 1890 to 1970, Afrcan Amercans forsook the rural south for northern and western ctes. More than 6,000,000 people sought freedom from overt racsm and a better lfe n ndustral ctes that provded jobs. Ths grassroots mgraton fundamentally transformed Afrcan Amercan culture nto an urban phenomenon. Not untl the 1970s dd Afrcan Amercans begn to return to the south as racal barrers dmnshed, and the general populaton movement was away from northern ctes nto a quckly developng sunbelt. The ongong Mexcan mgraton nto the Unted states s lkewse havng transformng effects on Mexcan-Amercan culture. whtes, too, were mgratng. Mgraton out of the southwestern agrcultural plans began n earnest by 1910 and contnued through the 1970s. whle the ntal mgraton from ths area has been attrbuted to ncreased farmng effcences and a general westward expanson of the populaton seekng new

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opportuntes, especally n Calforna, a combnaton of events followng the 1929 stock market crash caused another burst of mgraton to Calforna and elsewhere. As the Amercan economy langushed n depresson, farm prces plummeted. on top of that, ran vrtually ceased n the 1930s, gvng rse to the dust storms that gave the area of north Texas, the oklahoma panhandle, western Kansas, southeast Nebraska, southeastern Colorado, and extreme eastern New Mexco the appellaton the dust Bowl. some 300,000400,000 okes made ther way to Calforna n a seemngly endless caravan that was documented n lterature, flm, and photographs. Not all the mgrants were mpovershed and carryng all ther belongngs on a rckety old farm truck, but these were the pctures Amercans saw, pctures that volated ther belefs n an abundant land and the promse of prosperty.23
The Twentieth Century

At the dawn of the twenteth century, the Unted states was n full possesson of ts manland terrtory and the outlyng terrtores that would eventually add two new states, but the busness of Amercan democracy remaned qute unfnshed. In fact, t was just gettng started. The federal government had granted generous rght of ways and land to promote the buldng of ralroads that would unte east wth west. The frst lne was completed n 1869 when the rals of the Unon Pacfc comng from omaha, Nebraska, met the rals of the Central Pacfc comng from san Francsco n ogden, Utah. In 1883, the Northern Pacfc lne from duluth, Mnnesota, to seattle was completed. The southern Pacfc route from New orleans to Los Angeles was fnshed n 1884, and the Atchson, Topeka, and santa Fe lne from Atchson, Kansas, to Los Angeles and san Francsco was completed n the same year. wth these ralroads and others, Amercan manufacturers and ndustralsts had a truly natonal market. Vast fortunes were made n rals, ol, steel, bankng, and fnance. robber barons to some and phlanthropsts to others, these multmllonares made ther money n a lassez-fare, captalst economy wth few constrants. Government regulatons were few, there were no ncome taxes (an ncome tax was naugurated n 1861 by the Unon to help pay for the Cvl war, but t was abandoned n 1872), and there was not even a natonal bank to regulate money supply or modulate economc booms and busts. (Andrew Jackson, who consdered all banks to be evl, vetoed a bll to recharter the second Bank of the Unted states n 1832.) Income taxes were renstated n 1913, the same year the Federal reserve bankng system was created. wage earners, wth meager benefts, were expected to save ther money for the bad tmes. Unemployment nsurance and assured old age pensons became a realty only n 1935 wth the passage of the socal securty Act. After the falure of reconstructon, the Amercan lassez-fare system was not perceved to have

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responsblty for socal change or socal welfare. Frankln roosevelt and hs New deal would change all that n the depths of the depresson. The road to the Unted states becomng an ndustral powerhouse that could also feed the world was not a straght lne up the chart. To be sure, after the Cvl war and nto the twenteth century, the Unted states was growng n leaps and bounds n vrtually any magnable category, from terrtory and populaton through ndustral and agrcultural producton. However, the unregulated Amercan economy was gven to excessve speculaton and volent downturns. Called panics, these tryng economc downturns occurred n 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1884, 1893, and 1907. The Panc of 1819 was caused by easy credt for buyng and speculatng on land. when thngs got out of control, the Bank of the Unted states, whch had once helped to fund the speculaton wth easy money, began callng n some loans, and the bubble fnally burst, leavng the country n a depresson for about four years. when Presdent Jackson decded to end another burst of land speculaton n 1836 by requrng that federal lands had to be pad for n spece (con), rather than n worthless paper, he precptated the Panc of 1837 that lasted a good seven years and resulted n a dramatc deflaton of commodty prces and unemployment throughout Amercas ctes. The relatvely short Panc of 1857, whch was preceded by another speculatve boom n land and ralroad stocks, agan saw prces for stocks, bonds, and commodtes drop. The Panc of 1873, whch lasted untl 1879, was caused by banks makng extremely lberal loans to rapdly expandng Amercan busnesses, partcularly ralroads. Banks, many of whch lent ther reserves and even borrowed funds as well as ther assets, faled, and thousands of busnesses went bankrupt. The short Panc of 1884 was agan caused largely by poor bankng practces. The Panc of 1893 llustrated how tenuous the U.s. fnancal system really was. The stock market crashed early n the year, and foregners sold out ther postons, whch caused an ncreased demand for gold, on whch the U.s. currency was based de facto. (The gold standard became offcal n 1900.) As a result, the U.s. Treasury gold reserves were depleted to as lttle as $55,000,000. The proper reserve was understood to be $100,000,000. Fnancer, banker, and ndustralst J. P. Morgan rescued the U.s. Treasury by purchasng a prvately placed bond ssue, the proceeds from whch the Treasury would use to ncrease gold reserves to stablze the dollar. Morgan later made a tdy proft on the bonds when they were sold publcly. Ths severe panc lasted three years and ended the future of hundreds of banks and thousands of busnesses. The short Panc of 1907 was more of the same. It had become abundantly clear that the Amercan dream could sometmes be a nghtmare. entre fortunes could be wped out n an nstant. For those wthout fortunes, there was no protecton at all. workers turned to labor

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unons, whch began to be formed after the Cvl war, n the search for hgher wages, better benefts, and better workng condtons. Labor management owner relatons would be partcularly dffcult through the ndustralzaton of the country. The great ttans of Amercan ndustry, the fttest who had survved, dd not expect to have demands placed on them by underlngs. Amerca had long been content to exert ts hegemony only n North and south Amerca, callng up the tradton of the 1823 Monroe doctrne, whch was a warnng to european powers that the era of colonzaton and nterventon n the Amercas was over. Indeed, Amercans had enjoyed a long perod of solaton from the world. They were suspcous of old europe and ts endless wars. Amercans were lkewse suspcous of a large standng army and, n fact, dd not possess one. Amerca dd, however, have a navy. The spanshAmercan war showed t off to the world. suddenly, the Unted states found tself an mperal power, much to the dsappontment of the large antmperalst contngent at home. Cuba, Puerto rco, and eventually, the Phlppnes (for a $20,000,000 payment to span) came nto Amercan hands. Presdent McKnley supported the 1899 treaty that gave the Phlppnes to the Unted states n the belef that Amercans had a dvne oblgaton to cvlze and Chrstanze the Flpno people. when Teddy roosevelt, a former secretary of the navy, became presdent after McKnleys assassnaton, he lberally utlzed Amercas gunboats to enforce so-called democracy n the New world. world war I marked Amercas transformaton nto a recognzed world power. There can be no debate that sheer numbers of Amercan solders turned the tde for the Alled forces, whch, before the Amercans arrved, were hunkered down n vcous trench warfare along battle lnes that were not movng. Curously, however, n spte of Presdent woodrow wlsons Preparedness Campagn, the Unted states was qute unprepared to mount a major war effort. It was not untl May 1917 that the selectve servce Act authorzed a temporary ncrease n troops. More than 4,700,000 Amercans fnally served n the war. About 350,000 were Afrcan Amercans, who found themselves mostly dong menal tasks n the segregated mltary.24 The Amercan government tself, kept rather small durng the age of hands-off captalsm, was not capable of drectng the war effort alone. Mltary procurement practces were slow and even contradctory. wlson formed the war Industres Board, made up of volunteer busnessmen, labor leaders, and other notables, to manage the purchase, producton, and dstrbuton of materals for cvlans and the mltary. whle the mltary brdled at cvlan nvolvement n ts affars and ndustralsts both feared dong busness wth the government (they correctly beleved they would be stuck wth overcapacty when the war ended) and found government regulaton of ther busness to be socalstc, f not totally un-Amercan, Amercas frst attempt

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of government-ndustry cooperaton was a success. Ths lesson was put to good use durng world war II. The roarng Twentes were ushered n by what proved to be the frst of many so-called red scares n twenteth-century Amerca, when the government began roundng up anarchsts and communsts after the war. There was never any evdence of a Bolshevk plot aganst Amerca, but the godless Communsts would contnue to be a bugaboo that could be called out to scare the ctzens of an otherwse secure country. Ths scare came and went quckly as the economy expanded and Amerca set out on a new foot, but was very content to look nward. Ths new world power would not be part of the League of Natons. women now had the rght to vote. The work that womens rghts advocates susan B. Anthony and elzabeth Cady stanton had begun when they founded the Natonal woman suffrage Assocaton n 1869 pad off over the followng years n gettng women the vote n a number of states, but n 1920, ther dream of the 19th Amendment to the Consttuton fnally came true. As whte flapper grls and college kds n raccoon coats sought to redefne the new era on ther own terms, Harlem, New york, burst forth as the center of a new, urban Afrcan Amercan culture. The Harlem renassance featured Afrcan Amercan poetry, lterature, and an ntellectual lfe lke never before seen. The sounds of jazz and the blues even brought whtes to Harlem. Men n top hats and women n ermne and pearls would go to sng Mnne the Moocher wth Cab Calloway, who was dressed to the nnes. They went to hear eube Blakes musc and duke ellngtons elegant compostons. The Harlem renassance was an announcement that a new Afrcan Amercan culture had arrved that was very much Amercan. In fact, so Amercan was t that whte muscans and bandleaders lberally borrowed the Afrcan Amercan musc they heard to play for ther whte audences. The 1920s also marked the begnnng of one of Amercas most faled experments: Prohbton. In 1919, the 18th Amendment to the Consttuton had been adopted. Ths amendment prohbted the manufacture, sale, or transportaton of ntoxcatng lquors wthn, the mportaton thereof nto, or the exportaton of thereof from the Unted states and all terrtory subject to the jursdcton thereof, for beverage purposes. The womans Chrstan Temperance Unon (wCTU), founded n 1874, and the Ant-saloon League, founded n 1893, together were powerful forces n the movement to ban alcoholc beverages. The wCTU effectvely operated through churches, and ts members traversed the country askng chldren to take the pledge that they would never drnk alcohol. They were nfluental n gettng alcohol banned n some states and localtes. so effectve was the wCTU that the publc often conflated the wCTU wth the womens rghts movement. Ths confuson

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women carryng placards readng we want beer protest durng an ant-prohbton parade n New Jersey n the early 1930s. AP Photo.

may actually have delayed passage of the bll grantng women the rght to vote. womens votng rghts had, n the end, proved less controversal than prohbtng alcohol. The Ant-saloon League, founded by men, also worked through churches, but ts goal was always antalcohol legslaton. Untl Prohbton ended n 1933 wth the passage of the 21st Amendment, whch repealed the 18th Amendment, Amercans made home brew and bathtub gn and drank publcly at speakeases, where llegal alcohol was readly avalable. If nothng else, Prohbton left a colorful hstory of federal agents chasng Mafa bootleggers and gangsters n ther automobles wth machne guns blazng. If fact, all Amercans began chasng each other n ther automobles. A revoluton had taken place. In 1895, only four automobles were regstered n the entre country. By 1920, there were over 8,000,000.25 Henry Ford and hs Model-T were prmarly responsble for ths revoluton that would fundamentally change Amerca. Fords manufacturng technques, whch employed mass producton assembly lnes, actually brought the prces of automobles down. In 1920, a brand-new black Model-T cost about $450. Amercans took to them lke ducks to water, leavng Ford wth more than 40 percent of the automoble market and creatng the demand for new and better roads. By 1930, there were more than 26,500,000 cars regstered n the Unted states, but Amercas carefree rde through the 1920s came to a screechng

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halt on october 29, 1929. The stock market crash that day ended another speculatve bubble n overprced securtes, and the economy began a vcous downward spral. soon, thousands of banks and busnesses were under water. Unemployment, whch stood at 3.2 percent n 1929, was almost 25 percent by 1933. Those lucky enough to keep a job found ther wages decreased. Agrculture prces collapsed so severely that farmers began to revolt n frustraton. The vaunted Amercan consumer, whose ncome had steadly rsen through the 1920s, suddenly could no longer consume, whch further decreased demand and the need for producton. Borrowers could not repay banks. The Federal reserve could not handle a monetary crss of ths proporton. Chartable organzatons dd not have the resources to assst the new poor. Corporate profts dsspated. once proud workng Amercans found themselves n breadlnes. Frankln roosevelt was elected presdent n 1932. Hs can-do atttude and optmsm bolstered the hopes of Amercans for recovery, yet n 1940, the natons economy was scarcely better than t had been n 1929. Unemployment was stll over 14 percent. roosevelt nflated the currency by abandonng the gold standard and created government agencesdersvely called alphabet agenciesdesgned to put Amercans back to work. Between 1933 and 1935, the Federal emergency relef Admnstraton provded over $3,000,000,000 for relef funds and temporary jobs. True to the Amercan belef that work brngs rewards, very lttle money was spent on drect welfare expendtures, except to feed people. even n the depresson, gettng somethng for nothng was anathema to Amercansjobs were the answer, and roosevelt sad as much. In 1935, the works Progress Admnstraton (wPA) took over relef efforts. Lastng untl 1943, the wPA put people to work on publc mprovement, educatonal, and artstc projects. At one tme, more than 3,000,000 Amercans were workng for the wPA. The Cvlan Conservaton Corps and the Natonal youth Admnstraton were desgned to provde work for young people. Farmers got help wth commodty prces, and the rural electrfcaton Admnstraton brought electrcty to rural Amerca. The Tennessee Valley Authorty brought electrcty to downtrodden Appalacha. The securtes and exchange Commsson was to clarfy nvestment tradng regulatons and corporate fnances for nvestors. The Natonal Labor relatons Board, created by the 1935 Natonal Labor relatons Act, oversaw the acts provsons that allowed for unon organzaton and collectve barganng. In 1938, the Far Labor standards Act, for the frst tme n Amercan hstory, set a mnmum wage and progressve stages toward a 40-hour workweek. The surprse Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on december 7, 1941, brought Amerca fully nto world war II and out of the depresson. That Amercans ded n a sneak attack galvanzed the country behnd the war effort. Isolatonsts and ant-mperalsts threw n the towel. More than

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16,300,000 Amercans served n the mltary durng the war. over 400,000 Amercans ded, and another 670,000 were wounded.26 As war producton geared up on the home front, women lke never before entered the workforce, n part replacng men who were overseas. They were eptomzed n the famous rose the rveter poster. scentsts were organzed nto two major secret research projects to develop radar and the atomc bomb. The entre country was moblzed for the war effortno sacrfce was too small to support the boys at war or to mantan the natons securty. Posters on the fences of defense plants and mltary nstallatons remnded workers of ther responsblty: what you see, what you hear, when you leave, leave t here. some wartme paranoa about spes and the protecton of war secrets may be understandable, but army leutenant general John L. dewtt, Commandng General of the western defense Command and Fourth Army, mxed paranoa wth racal stereotypes and n so dong began one of the most egregous epsodes n Amercan hstory. He wanted Presdent roosevelt to desgnate mltary areas from whch Japanese alens, Japanese Amercan ctzens, alen enemes other than Japanese alens, and other suspcous persons would be excluded. Clamng that the Japanese race was an enemy race and that even

Many Japanese-Amercans were gathered and placed n nternment camps followng the attack on Pearl Harbor. Here, detanees are lned up outsde a cafetera. Natonal Archves and records Admnstraton.

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those who were supposedly Amercanzed n second and thrd generatons had undluted racal strans, the Japanese had to be kept from sabotagng nfrastructure and defense plants, causng damage n populous areas, and sgnalng from the coastlne. He counted 112,000 so-called potental enemes of Japanese extracton14,500 n washngton, 4,000 n oregon, and 93,500 n Calforna. In askng the secretary of war to mplement hs plan, dewtt noted menacngly the fact that at the tme of hs wrtng to the secretary on February 14, 1942, no Japanese plots havng been uncovered was proof that they were under way.27 only fve days later, roosevelt approved the mltary areas dewtt wanted. Then, on March 18, the presdent sgned executve order no. 9102, whch establshed the war relocaton Authorty (wrA) and placed t under the offce for emergency Management n the executve offce of the Presdent. The drector of the wrA was gven authorty to evacuate such persons as necessary, provde for the relocaton of such persons n approprate places, and provde for ther needs and supervse ther actvtes. Thus began the nternment of Japanese alens and ctzens n the western halves of washngton, oregon, and Calforna as well as the southern thrd of Arzona under the wrA. The wrA set up 10 relocaton centers and a refugee shelter n New york. over 110,000 Isse and Nse, who left some $200,000,000 n assets behnd, were moved through assembly centers nto relocaton centers durng world war II. The majorty were Amercan ctzens. some Japanese were permtted to lve outsde of the centers, but not n mltary areas, and resettled n the Mdwest. The wrA was dsbanded n 1946. In Amerca, racsm always trumped cvl rghts, as Amercas Afrcan Amercan and natve ctzens knew so well. The Amerca that emerged vctorously from world war II was a changed place. women had attaned a new status durng the war. Not only were they home front heroes n wartme producton, but they also had a new status n the mltary. Presdent roosevelt sgned the act formng the womens Auxlary Army Corps (wAAC) on May 15, 1942. As the name mpled, however, the wAAC was not an offcal part of the army; ts purpose was to tran women to do jobs that free men up to fght the war. By the end of the war, about 200,000 women had served n the corps n more than 150 noncombat postons. Unlke the regular segregated army, Afrcan Amercan women were fully ntegrated nto the wAAC and gven equal opportuntes. Forty of the frst 450 offcer canddates selected were Afrcan Amercan women. on July 1, 1943, roosevelt sgned an act establshng the womens Army Corps, grantng the former wAAC full mltary status. Afrcan Amercan men and women returned home as vctorous heroes of the war to de facto dscrmnaton n the North and de jure dscrmnaton n

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the south. Ths fact helped to fuel the movement for cvl rghts, but t would be the federal government that took the frst step. In July 1948, Presdent Harry Truman ssued two executve orders. executve order no. 9980 created the Far employment Board to oversee the end of racal dscrmnaton n federal employment. executve order no. 9981 created the Presdents Commttee on equalty of Treatment and opportunty n the Armed servces, whch was to desegregate the mltary. By october 1954, the last allAfrcan Amercan mltary unt had been dsbanded. Ths, of course, dd not necessarly mean that dscrmnaton had ended. even before Amerca entered the war, roosevelt had ssued executve order no. 8802 n June 1941 to avert a threatened protest march of 100,000 Afrcan Amercans on washngton, d.C. The order outlawed dscrmnaton n defense ndustres and government servce. wth europe completely decmated, the Unted states could not return to the comfortable solaton t once had. It had used the atomc bomb for the frst tme n Hroshma on August 6, 1945, and three days later on Nagasak, leavng tens of thousands of Japanese dead and wounded. The Japanese surrendered, and the Unted states was the worlds only nuclear power. Amerca found tself n an uneasy allance wth sovet russa, whch was unwllng to gve up most of the terrtory t had lberated from Germany. By 1949, russa had the bomb, too, and the Cold war was well under way. Thus the Unted states led the western effort to contan Communsm at any turn. To the dsmay of the old solatonst facton that had klled the Unted states entry nto the League of Natons, the Unted states joned the Unted Natons (UN), albet wth a permanent seat on the securty Councl that gave t veto power over any nternatonal actons of whch t dd not approve. The Cold war was more than a number of protracted mltary engagements fought by stand-ns for the Unted states and russa. The two superpowers set out on a course of deterrence based on mutually assured destructon; that s, f you use nuclear weapons frst, we wll bomb you nto oblvon. Massve nuclear arms buldups took place to the extent that any efforts at lmtng weapons by treaty took place n the language of reducng overkll capacty. Thus, even as the boom of the late 1940s and 1950s progressedaffordable, generc housng developments sprung up all over the naton, babes were beng born n unprecedented numbers, the economy was hummng, the GI Bll made college accessble to mllons of veteransthere was a pall over the naton. The threat of nuclear war was real. schoolchldren were regularly drlled for that eventualty. Teachers nstructed ther students that at the sound of a specal alarm, they were to mmedately and n total slence stand up from ther wooden desks, get down on all fours n a ball under ther desks, and cradle ther heads n ther

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arms untl further notce. The kds had another way of puttng t: get under your desk and kss your behnd good-bye. senator Joseph McCarthy, a republcan from wsconsn, fed on ths fear. In a 1950 speech, he clamed to have evdence that there were 205 known Communsts workng n the state department. Untl he was censured by the senate n december 1954, he runed scores of lves and careers n a wtch hunt for Communsts and Communst sympathzers n poltcs, government, the entertanment ndustry, and the mltary. He was so bold even to take on Presdent esenhower, the hero of world war II. Ths red scare, lke the scare of the 1920s, soon dsspated wth hs demse, but t demonstrated the power that the fear of alen, godless Communsm held n Amerca, a fear that permtted peoples rghts to be abandoned n the name of lberty. on the surface, though, Amerca looked lke a happy, nnocent place flled wth smlng whte teenagers n souped-up jalopes lned up at dners for burgers and fres. They were lstenng to rock n roll on ther car rados, the newest sensaton. elvs Presley was the symbol for ths enthusastc, wld musc. some clamed hs musc to be satanc, even though ts roots were n Afrcan Amercan gospel musc and blues. when ed sullvan, the host of the countrys then most popular varety show and a must for famly vewng on sunday nghts, had Presley on hs show, he assured Amercans that elvs was a good boy. rock n roll was here to stay, no matter what parents thought of t. Beneath the surface of the supposedly placd 1950s, the fght for Afrcan Amercan cvl rghts was ntensfyng. The Natonal Assocaton for the Advancement of Colored People, frst convened n 1909, decded to pursue legal avenues as well as socal acton to further the rghts movement. In 1940, the assocaton created ts Legal defense and educaton Fund, whch began to have successes n the courts. In 1946, whte electon prmares were declared unconsttutonal, and so was segregated nterstate bus travel. More favorable rulngs followed, and n 1954, the supreme Court decded n Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka that segregaton n publc schools was unconsttutonal. Presdent esenhower punctuated ths landmark rulng when he used federal troops to enforce ntegraton at Central Hgh school n Lttle rock, Arkansas, n 1957. In that year, dr. Martn Luther Kng Jr., whose father and namesake had been leadng cvl rghts protests snce the 1930s, began the southern Chrstan Leadershp Conference (sCLC) to coordnate nonvolent protests aganst dscrmnaton, usng Afrcan Amercan churches as bases of operaton. The sCLC and other cvl rghts organzatons kept the pressure up nto the 1960s wth st-ns at lunch counters, freedom rdes through the south,

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A group of people hold sgns and carry Amercan flags, protestng the admsson of nne Afrcan-Amercan students to Central Hgh school n Lttle rock, Arkansas, 1957. Courtesy of the Lbrary of Congress.

boycotts, marches, and demonstratons. even though Kng was adamant that nonvolence be the hallmark of the movement, cvl rghts workers and leaders were klled and wounded n ther pursut of freedom. Cvl rghts work was not for the tmd or fant of heart. The Kennedy admnstraton was sympathetc to the movement. Kennedy, lke esenhower, had to federalze state guard troops, ths tme at the Unversty of Alabama n June 1963, to enforce ntegraton. The drve for cvl rghts was movng nexorably forward, even through the drama of the Cuban mssle crss and the frst commtment of troops to Vetnam. The sovet menace was stll very much alve, and the Kennedys were good Cold warrors. In August 1963, the cvl rghts movement came together wth a march on washngton, d.C. some 250,000 people showed up n support of Afrcan Amercan cvl rghts and pendng legslaton to enforce them. Martn Luther Kng delvered hs famous I Have a dream speech n front of the Lncoln Memoral. scarcely three months later, John Kennedy would become the vctm of assassnaton n dallas, Texas. Hs successor, Lyndon Johnson, hmself a supporter of Afrcan Amercan cvl rghts, cajoled Congress, n whch he had long served and accumulated unprecedented power as a senator, to pass the 1964 Cvl rghts Act n honor of the dead presdent. Ths act pro-

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hbted dscrmnaton n publc establshments, ncludng schools, based on race, color, relgon, or natonal orgn. It went beyond Afrcan Amercan and whte to address human ssues. The subsequently passed Votng rghts Act of 1965 mostly renforced prevous legslaton, but t announced that the practces that had been used to prevent Afrcan Amercan from votng would no longer be tolerated. Backed by law, the cvl rghts struggle contnued. It became, thanks to Martn Luther Kng, nexorably unted wth the peace movement. Already n 1965, the students for a democratc socety had organzed an antwar protest n washngton, d.C., that drew up to 50,000 protesters. The Vetnam war escalated, and many Amercans could see no end to t. By 1968, more than 525,000 Amercan troops were fghtng there, and young men were beng drafted nto what looked lke a purposeless war. The old saw that Communsm had to be contaned even n southeast Asa no longer seemed relevant to Amercan nterests at home. Fataltes rose. The My La massacre on March 16, 1968, n whch Amercan troops klled 300 nnocent vllagers, was taken by protesters as proof of Amercan brutalty. Then, on Aprl 4, Martn Luther Kng Jr. was assassnated n Memphs, Tennessee. The rule of law that Amercans chershed seemed to have vanshed. Afrcan Amercans roted. College campuses broke out n protests. on June 5, robert Kennedy, who had tred to calm the naton after Kngs kllng, was hmself assassnated after wnnng the Calforna presdental prmary. Presdent Johnson, who by all rghts should have been heralded as a hero of the cvl rghts movement as well as the movement to get health care to the aged (Medcare) and better educaton to chldren, was thoroughly dscredted for hs handlng of the Vetnam war. even hs closest advsors abandoned hm, and he chose not to run for presdent n 1968. rchard Nxon, on the other hand, had been vce presdent for esenhowers two terms and clamed to have the expertse to be presdent and a plan to end the Vetnam war that he could not reveal. The 1968 democratc Conventon n Chcago, whch nomnated Johnsons vce presdent, Hubert H. Humphrey, known as the Happy warror, had the unhappy experence of beng panted wth Johnsons war legacy. The conventon turned nto a brawl on the streets between outof-control protestors and the polce. wth Nxons electon, the chaos became even worse. There was another peace protest n washngton, d.C., n November 1969 that brought 500,000 protestors nto the captal. on May 4, 1970, oho guardsmen pancked durng a war protest, klled four students, and wounded nne others. Campuses around the country went up n flames, reserved offcers Tranng Corps (roTC) campus offces beng a favorte target. Publcaton of The Pentagon Papers n 1971 revealed the les the mltary made to put a good face (from

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ther pont of vew) on the war. Nxon had grown used to seeng protestors outsde the whte House. In March 1973, he essentally declared vctory and pulled out the last of the Amercan troops from Vetnam. In 1975, the south Vetnamese surrendered to the Communst North Vetnamese. The last memory most Amercans have of the Vetnam war s pctures of helcopters leavng the grounds of the Amercan embassy n sagon wth marne embassy guards knockng Vetnamese alles off the runners of the helcopters as they tred to get out. Nevertheless, some 140,000 Vetnamese settled n the Unted states after the war. Nxon called ths peace wth honor. returnng veterans of the war were accorded no honor; they were just as lkely to meet wth derson from a dvded naton. Amercans had never lost a war. The country that had beat Japan once, Germany twce, and stopped the spread of Communsm n Korea was bested by a tny Asan country of determned guerlla fghters. The oPeC ol embargo n october 1973, whch left Amercans n gas lnes and n the dark, ntmated that Amercans were no longer n control of ther own destny. There seemed to be a crss n Amercas self-confdence. The resgnatons of Nxons corrupt vce presdent, spro T. Agnew, and then of Nxon hmself for mpeachable offenses added to ths crss. Presdent Jmmy Carter beat Gerald Ford, Nxons handpcked successor, n the 1976 electon as Amerca turned away from republcan problems and sought a new vtalty n the democrats. Carter, however, appeared only to wonder n amazement over what he called the malase that had spread over the country. Carter added to the natonal malase when he donned hs sweater, sat by a freplace, and told Amerca to conserve energy. Hs nablty frst to rescue and then to free hostages from the Amercan embassy n Iran, a payback from Iranan revolutonares for Amercas havng propped up the corrupt and repressve regme of shah reza Palahv for years, agan gave Amercans the feelng of powerlessness. The country was lookng for a leader who could restore Amercas confdence n tself. Throughout ths turmol, the womens rghts movement carred on. The 1963 equal Pay Act requred that employers could not use sex as the bass for dfferental wages. The Cvl rghts Act of 1964 had prohbted dscrmnaton based on race, color, relgon, or natonal orgn, but t dd not explctly prohbt dscrmnaton based on sex. In ths sense, the legslaton dealt a blow to the movement. However, womens advocates dd get somethng out of t. women suddenly appeared n Ttle VII, whch concerned employment practces agan. It became an unlawful employment practce to fal to hre, or to hre or fre anyone wth respect to compensaton, terms, condtons, or prvleges of employment, based on that persons race, color, relgon, sex, or natonal orgn. (The Cold war beng stll very much alve, t was stll

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expressly lawful to dscrmnate n employment aganst members of the Communst Party of the Unted states or members of any Communst organzaton requred to regster wth the government.) The 1964 act also establshed the equal employment opportunty Commsson to oversee the applcaton of the law. Ths was not enough. Femnsts and ther supporters wanted women to have the consttutonal protecton that was afforded to people of dverse races, colors, relgons, and natonal orgns. The Natonal organzaton for women (Now) was founded n 1966 to promote womens ssues and further the cause. Fnally, n 1972, the year n whch femnst Glora stenems Ms. magazne frst went on the newsstands, Congress passed what was to be the 27th Amendment to the Consttutonthe equal rghts Amendment. The wordng was qute smple: equalty of rghts under the law shall not be dened or abrdged by the Unted states or any state on account of sex.28 Thrty-eght states had to pass the amendment for t to become part of the U.s. Consttuton, and Congress had allowed seven years for that to happen. It appeared at frst that easy passage by the states lay ahead, but roadblocks soon developed. Many conservatve relgous groups consdered the erA an affront to motherhood that would take women from ther homes and chldren. some crtcs argued that equal rghts would mean unsex tolet facltes, or bathrooms, as they are called n Amerca. These and other specous arguments began to take hold as Amercas taste for reform soured, and many Amercans wanted to return to tradtonal Amercan values. The erA was n trouble. In July 1978, Now organzed a rally that brought 100,000 erA supporters to washngton, d.C., n support of extendng the 1979 deadlne for ratfcaton. Congress responded postvely, but on June 30, 1982, the erA ded. only 35 states had ratfed t, and the new presdent, ronald reagan, and hs party dd not support t. In spte of the contnung efforts to ntroduce new erA legslaton, Amercan women, unlke women n the european Unon and a number of countres, have no consttutonal guarantee of equal rghts. In January 1981, a new sherff came to town on a hgh notethe release of the hostages n Iran. The affable ronald reagan paraded nto washngton, d.C., behnd a Hollywood smle that hd hs determnaton to brng n the old and throw out the new. declarng that the federal government was the problem, not the soluton, he envsoned a new day n Amercaa strong Amerca wth a strong defense, less government regulaton that strangles busness and entrepreneurshp, less government spendng, and lower taxes. Ths was a return, n conservatve thnkng, to the prmordal Amerca that had been abandoned n the 1960s and 1970s. In 1982, he cast the Cold war n smple theologcal terms: the sovet Unon was the evl empre. Ths was a

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battle between good and evl, and Amerca would agan be strong and wn. Amercas enemes would be rendered harmless, and chldren could sleep well at nght wth Fortress Amerca protected by the strategc defense Intatve, the so-called star wars defense that would oblterate enemy weapons n space before they could reach the Unted states. Amercans remaned, however, vulnerable to terrorst attacks. More than 200 marnes were klled n ther barracks n Lebanon n 1983. Then, when Iranan terrorsts n Lebanon took seven Amercan hostages, reagan approved a plan to trade arms for the hostages, somehow convncng hmself that he was not negotatng wth terrorsts, whch he had publcly vowed never to do. It was then dscovered that some of the money the Iranans had pad for arms to fght Iraq had been secretly dverted to the Contras n Ncaragua, who were tryng to overthrow the Communst-supported sandnsta regme. Congress had passed legslaton twce restrctng any ad to the Contras. some lesser heads rolled when all ths came publc, and reagans popularty took a temporary nosedve. By ths tme, t was apparent, however, that the sovet Unon was mplodng. In 1985, sovet leader Mkhal Gorbachev opened the evl empre to democracy and, eventually, dssoluton. when the Berln wall came crashng down amd wld celebraton n 1989, reagan was haled as the hero who ended the Cold war. Now there was only one superpower. reagans poltcal legacy was kept alve by hs vce presdent, George Herbert walker Bush, who was elected presdent n 1988. The Unted states, wth a beefed up mltary, could freely polce the world. when Iraqs saddam Hussen nvaded ol-rch Kuwat and annexed t n August 1990, the Unted states, workng through the Unted Natons, set a deadlne for Iraq to ext Kuwat. Iraq gnored the deadlne, and mltary targets were unmercfully bombed the next day. wth Iraq stll ntransgent, the U.s.-led operaton desert storm decmated Iraq troops n the space of four days. More than half a mllon Amercan solders fought n that short war. Bush emerged a war hero all over agan. (He had fought and earned medals n world war II.) Amerca had won another war, and qute handly, too, but saddam Hussen remaned n power. It seemed at the tme that Bush would easly wn reelecton, but he made one crtcal error. He had pledged reaganesquely not to rase taxes: read my lps. No new taxes. Then he rased taxes. It was poltcal sucde. democrat wllam Jefferson Clnton took full advantage of Bushs msstep. dubbed the comeback kd durng the presdental campagn, Clnton deftly survved accusatons that he was a draft-dodgng, pot-smokng womanzer to wn the 1992 electon. He was qute a change from the stately reagan and the rather anodyne George Bush. Clnton brought a youthful vtalty to the offce, remnscent of the Kennedy years. He also brought a new agenda.

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In the frst days of hs admnstraton, he set out to tackle the ssues of gays n the mltary and natonal health care. Hs wfe, Hllary, by her own admsson not one to st at home and bake cookes, was put n charge of the Task Force on Natonal Health Care reform. extendng basc cvl rghts to gays n the mltary, or anywhere else, and so-called socalzed medcne were absolutely anathema to the poltcal rght. The battle lnes that would characterze Clntons presdency were drawn, and Clnton lost the frst two battles. Congress and the naton were clearly dvded. In 1994, the republcans took over the House of representatves, and ther leader, Newt Gngrch, pledged to stand by the tenets of hs Contract wth Amerca, whch was a reteraton of the conservatve mantra aganst bg government. In spte of squabbles over federal budgets, whch resulted n the unheard of closng of the government twce n 1995, Clnton and Congress managed to approve two defct reducton acts, the second of whch ncluded tax cuts. Clnton also acquesced n sgnng a welfare reform bll n 1966 that put a fve-year lmt on recevng ad. Annual defcts, whch had ballooned wth reagans defense expendtures, were turned to surpluses by 1998. A growng economy also contrbuted to the surpluses. Clnton easly won reelecton n 1996. Clntons gnomnous behavor wth a whte House ntern and hs lyng about t crcutously got hm mpeached. Investgatng the Clntons became a washngton pastme, and the seemngly endless nvestgaton nto an Arkansas land deal turned up nothng llegal, but the nvestgaton contnued. when the specal prosecutor, Kenneth starr, found out that Clnton had had oral sex wth ntern Monca Lewnsky, Clntons sexual behavor suddenly came under nvestgaton. Clnton dened under oath that he had sexual relatons wth Lewnsky. evdence sad otherwse. Conservatve republcans n the House, many taken there n the regan landsldes, sanctmonously went about drawng up mpeachment artcles. Four artcles were brought aganst Clnton, but the House passed only two, accusng Clnton of perjury and obstructon of justce. Clntons popularty was qute hgh when the U.s. senate convened as a court, wth the chef justce of the supreme Court presdng, on January 14, 1999, to consder the mpeachment artcles passed by the House. No Amercans alve then had ever wtnessed an mpeachment tral. Ths was the only such tral of the twenteth century and only the second n Amercan hstory. For hs part, Clnton beleved the entre mpeachment proceedng to be poltcally motvated. The senate tral ended on February 12, and Clnton was stll presdent. Clnton was sad to have an amazng ablty to separate hs personal problems from hs job. Through all the poltcal and personal allegatons and nves-

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tgatons and the senate tral, the busness of the naton had to go on. saddam Hussen, left n offce as presdent of Iraq after the Gulf war, remaned nettlesome. Clnton ordered mssle attacks on Iraq n 1993 for hatchng a plot to kll former presdent George Bush on a vctory lap through Kuwat; n 1996 for actons aganst the Kurds; and n 1998 for refusng to allow UN weapons nspectors nto the country. Clnton nvolved hmself n the masma of Mddle east peace talks. He sent Amercans nto somala wth UN troops n 1993 on a humantaran msson. He sent troops to Hat n 1994 to mantan democracy there. He ordered the bombng of serba n 1999 to prevent so-called ethnc cleansng. Clnton also had to deal wth terrorst attacks on Amercans abroad. osama bn Laden was beleved to be the power behnd the bombngs of U.s. embasses n Tanzana and Kenya n 1998. In 2000, terrorsts bombed the Uss Cole off the coast of yemen. Clnton generally followed a foregn polcy that was nclusve, placng value on actng n concert wth nternatonal organzatons and alles and that portrayed the use of Amercan power as betterng the condton of manknd. It was sad of Clnton that you ether loved hm or hated hm. on the whole, republcans hated hm. He had snookered them at every turn and survved as a popular fgure. He became the perfect fol for the poltcal rght to rase money and to energze ts consttuency, whch abhorred Clntons dallances and volently dsagreed wth hs pro-choce (proaborton), profemnst, progay, nternatonalst deas. The presdental electon of 2000 ptted George w. Bush, son of George H. w. Bush, whom Clnton had beat n 1992, aganst Clntons vce presdent, Al Gore. Gore tred to dstance hmself from Clnton the man but embraced hs polces and took some credt for hs successes. George Bush ran as a so-called compassonate conservatve and a born-agan Chrstan who thought Jesus Chrst was the greatest phlosopher. If there was any doubt that the dvded Congress, whose tradton of comty had been destroyed, was an ndcator of the cultural dvsons n the country at large, that doubt ended wth the electon. on November 7, 2000, Amercans went to the polls expectng to know the outcome of the electon later that evenng. It eventually became clear, however, that the entre electon would hnge on the vote n Florda. The votes of that state were mportant because Amercans do not elect ther presdents by popular vote. A vote for a presdental canddate s, n realty, a vote for an elector pledged to that canddate. That elector then goes to the electoral College to cast one vote for a canddate, presumably, but not necessarly, for the canddate to whch he or she s pledged. The number of electors s n proporton to each states populaton, as determned by the decennal census. The wnner needed 270 electoral votes for electon, and Florda had 25 votes. (some states dvde electors proportonally by the votes canddates receve.

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Florda was a wnner-take-all state, so whchever canddate won the popular vote would get all the states electoral votes.) A legal spectacle ensued when Bush seemed to have won Florda by just a few hundred votes. democrats wanted a recount n four south Florda countes. republcans, of course, dd not. Federal dstrct courts were pettoned, and the Florda supreme Court also got nto the act. Ths went on nto december. on december 13, the U.s. supreme Court, tself dvded 54, effectvely ended any more recountng of ballots, and Gore conceded defeat. Bush got Flordas 25 electoral votes, whch gave hm 271 to Gores 266. The offcal vote count n Florda was 2,912,790 for Bush and 2,912,253 for Gore, a dfference of only 537 votes. Gore, however, had won the popular vote wth 50,989,897 votes (48.38%) to Bushs 50,456,002 (47.87%) votes. Thus, wth 543,895 more popular votes than Bush, Gore was the loser.29 Bush told the naton he would work hard to earn ts trust. Trust was a key word because many Amercans thought he had stolen the electon. wth no clear mandate to govern, Bushs presdency got off to a slow start. The terrorst attack on september 11, 2001, however, provded Bush wth a voce and a theme: he would be a wartme presdent. At ths tme of stress and bewlderment, the naton ralled behnd ts leader, who declared war on terrorsm. The search for osama bn Ladenwanted dead or alvetook on the language and feel of an old west sherff and hs posse searchng the desert for a notorous stagecoach robber. The frst offensve n the war on terrorsm was aganst Afghanstan scarcely three weeks after the 9/11 attack. A coalton, mostly Amercan, bombed and nvaded that country, a known locaton of terrorst tranng camps, and by md-November, the rulng Talban forces, whch took over when the russan occupaton faled, had forsaken the captal cty of Kabul. By March, the war was over, and the coalton forces set about nstallng a new government, proppng t up wth on-the-ground mltary support. osama bn Laden was stll on the loose. on March 19, 2003, the Unted states, wth a few mnor coalton partners, nvaded Iraq. It was sad that saddam Hussen was hdng weapons of mass destructon, but none was found. The Bush admnstraton has snce tred to put the U.s. occupaton of Iraq n terms of the second offensve after Afghanstan of the war on Terror. some crtcs have charged that t was not faulty ntellgence or terrorsm (Islamc fundamentalsts dd not much lke saddam Hussen ether) that caused the Unted states to nvade Iraq, but rather Bushs smple desre to avenge Hussens plot to kll the elder Bush. other crtcs have clamed that the real ssue was ol. Presdent Bush declared the Iraq war over on May 1, 2003, yet Amercans contnued to de there. whle Bush handly won a second term n 2004 by

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emphaszng hs role as a war presdent (Amercans would not dump a war presdent n the mdst of a war), and as terror alerts seemed to be comng out of washngton wth ncreased rapdty as the electon approached, the naton was trng of a war that appeared to have no clear purpose or end. Iraq was lookng a lot lke Vetnam. when Hurrcane Katrna struck the Gulf Coast n August 2005, Bush seemed, at frst, aloof from the tragedy, and hs governments emergency management team was planly ncompetent. suddenly, Bush dd not look much lke a leader, as crtcsm came hs way from every drecton. Hs approval ratng began to plummet. In an apparent attempt to regan hs stature, Bush gave a speech on the war on Terror on october 6, 2005. Borrowng a term from ronald reagan, he equated radcal Islam wth evl. He went on to say that the struggle aganst ths evl was much lke the struggle aganst Communsm. The extremst, radcal Muslms wanted to buld an Islamc empre from span to Indonesa. As far as Iraq was concerned, there s no peace wthout vctory. we wll keep our nerve and wn that vctory.30 Harkenng back to reagans moralty play dd not garner Bush much support. when t came to lght that the government had been lstenng to ctzens telephone conversatons wthout court warrants n the name of the war on Terror, Bush supported ths abrogaton of personal rghts and thus appeared to have gone beyond the lne Amercans tradtonally had drawn between personal rghts and government power. By the mddle of 2006, the majorty of Amercans were not wth hm. The war on Terror, n whch the Bush admnstraton had tred to nclude the war n Iraq, became not only a mltary quagmre, but t also was bankruptng the country. enormous annual budget shortfalls were securng Amercas place as the worlds largest debtor naton, leavng the Unted states economcally dependent on foregn natons to fund ts debt. The once self-assured Amercan publc looked to the future wth uncertanty and trepdaton. The November 2006 mdterm electons were a clear repudaton of republcan support for the war n Iraq. Ths long war seemed to have no endgame. Furthermore, there were sgns that the republcan coalton was breakng apart. Fscal conservatves were upset wth the ggantc federal defcts pushed hgher by the Bush admnstraton. The socal and relgous conservatves that had become the republcan base were shaken by the revelaton that Jack Haggard, a mnster who was presdent of the 30,000,000-strong Natonal Assocaton of evangelcals and a partcpant n the weekly conference calls from the whte House to ts mportant consttuents, sought llegal drugs and had a relatonshp wth a male prosttute. republcan scandals abounded. war hero representatve randy duke Cunnngham of the 30th Congressonal dstrct of Calforna resgned n dsgrace for takng outrageous amounts of brbes from defense contractors. representatve Bob Ney of ohos 18th

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Congressonal dstrct also resgned n dsgrace, tanted by money he had taken n the notorous Jack Abramoff nfluence peddlng scheme. Abramoff was a lobbyst wth close tes to the Bush admnstraton. Voters had had enough of an unpopular war and rampant relgous and fnancal dshonesty. democrats were swept nto power n the U.s. House, senate, and many state houses. t he P resent The wealth and debt of the Unted states brng unmagnable numbers nto play. Its gross domestc product was $10,383,000,000,000 n 2002, exceedng all of europe together. Its stock market captalzaton exceeded $14,000,000,000,000; Japans was less than one-fourth of that. wealth begets power. The Unted states mltary budget was $399,100,000,000, eclpsng russas n second place at $65,000,000,000. However, the Unted states has been addng to ts natonal debt wth annual budget defcts of around $400,000,000,000. Payng nterest on the debt has become a major budget tem. on March 13, 2006, the U.s. publc debt stood at $8,270,385,415,129.52.31 To put all ths n a celestal perspectve, the maxmum mleage from the earth to the sun s only 94,500,000. The Unted states s the worlds leadng corn and wheat exporter. It produces about 25 percent of the worlds beef, veal, and poultry, and t leads the world n consumpton of those products. The Unted states s also among the worlds top three producers of coal, natural gas, petroleum, cement, sulfur, alumnum, gold, phosphate rock, lead, and copper. Ths knd of magnfcent abundance coupled wth hgh worker productvty created an Amercan belef n self-suffcency that manfested tself poltcally as a persstent streak of solatonsm, whch contnues even today n the mdst of the global economy and nternatonal msadventures. yet n ths world economy, the Unted states fnds tself a net mporter of goods as the wealthy (by world standards) Amercan consumer happly gets more bang for the buck by purchasng cheaper goods made abroad. Lets examne a snapshot of twenty-frst-century Amerca.32 The typcal Amercan enters the world a strappng 7.33 pounds. By adulthood, the typcal Amercan woman s 63.8 nches tall, weghs 163 pounds, and measures 36.5 nches at the wast. The typcal Amercan man s 69.3 nches tall, weghs 190 pounds, and measures 39 nches at the wast. Amercans are bg people. Unfortunately, however, Amercan prosperty has ts downsde. estmates are that 64 percent of adults are overweght, and 30 percent of those are obese. Ffteen percent of Amercas teenagers and chldren age 612 are also overweght. In spte of Amercans love affar wth sports, 59 percent of adults n

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the Unted states do not engage n vgorous lesure physcal actvty or exercse, and fully one-thrd of hgh school students fal to perform the physcal actvty recommended for ther age group. The medan age of all Amercans s 36.2 years. some 20,000,000 are under fve years old, but over 34,000,000 are 65 years old and above. There are already 1,600,000 senors lvng n the natons 18,000 nursng homes. As the postworld war II baby boomer generaton nears retrement age, tradtonally at 65 years of age, the number of senor ctzens wll rse dramatcally. Amercan women can expect to lve, on average, to 79.9; men, to 74.5. About 2,440,000 Amercans de each year. Heart dsease and cancer are the leadng causes of death, accountng for over half of all deaths. over 145,000,000 (about 66%) of Amercans 16 and over are n the labor force. Most women work. The female labor force partcpaton rate exceeds 70 percent. The full-tme workweek s usually 40 hours, eght hours Monday through Frday. surprsngly, even though the Unted states s a major world exporter of agrcultural products, less than 2 percent of the natons cvlan workforce s engaged n agrculture and forestry. employment n the manufacturng and ndustry sectors together s less than half the employment n the servce sector. It s sad that the majorty of Amercas teenagers have worked n the food servce sector, often settng out on a quest for personal ndependence n the form of a car. In 2001, Amercans traveled 1,938,000,000 passenger mles n ther 135,921,000 cars. They ved wth 761,000 buses and 92,939,000 trucks. They traveled over 3,982,000 mles of hghways, 902 mles of whch were n urban areas, and 592,246 brdges, 48,492 of whch were n Texas. Nearly 76 percent of Amercans drove to work alone and had, on average, a commute of 25.5 mnutes, or nearly an hour a day n the car. The typcal Amercan household made 2,171 annual vehcle trps: 479 to and from work; 458 shoppng; 537 other famly or personal busness; and 441 socal and recreatonal trps. sadly, there were also more than 18,000,000 motor vehcle accdents that resulted n 44,000 deaths. Twenty-two of every 100,000 lcensed drvers can expect to de n a traffc accdent. drvers n Montana have the greatest chance of dyng on the road, wth 2.6 deaths per 100,000,000 vehcle mles traveled.33 Most Amercans (67.1%) own ther own homes; the others rent. The average sze of famles s 3.18 persons, and ther medan ncome s $53,692. The average household sze s 2.60, wth a medan ncome of $44,692. The 73,754,171 owner-occuped homes n the Unted states have a medan value of $151,366. Homeowners wth mortgages can expect to have monthly costs of $1,212; those wthout mortgages can expect to have $345 n monthly expenses. Home to Amercans s as much a concept as t s a place. In the

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last fve years of the twenteth century alone, 112,852,000 Amercans (43%) moved to a dfferent home. More than 65,000,000 of them remaned n the same county and 25,000,000 n the same state, but more than 25,000,000 moved nto a dfferent state. Moblty s a key characterstc of Amercan culture that serves to break down regonal varaton.34 The Amercan economc system allows for and even encourages a wde gap between the rchest and the poorest. There s, therefore, class n Amerca, but t tends to be defned prmarly by wealth (and educaton). It s dffcult to defne the boundares between upper class and mddle class, and mddle class and lower class, and efforts to make such defntons mss the pont. The pont s that whatever class lnes may exst can be easly crossed. Ths s a basc tenet of Amercan belefs. Frst generaton n Amerca Jewsh comedans who had made t, for example, shared a shtck about how poor they were growng up: My famly was so poor that my brother and I had to share a par of shoes. we each had one! Pullng oneself up by ones own bootstraps brngs socal acceptablty, f not adulaton. In that sense, Amerca s classlessAmercans control ther own destny. some 9,500,000 Amercans are self-employed. Amercan socety holds hope, therefore, for the 37,000,000 Amercans who lve below the poverty level, 13,000,000 of them chldren, and the 40,600,000 Amercans who have no health nsurance.35 For all the hurry n Amercans lves, they are generally affable people who enjoy a good joke, even perhaps a rbald one, and value an actve socal lfe. Ther affablty and casual manner (H ya, pal, glad to meet ya!), however, may leave those from other cultures wth a certan empty feelng. Amercans are known the world over for ther ablty to engage n small talkthe weather, sports, televson shows, clotheson socal occasons. Poltcs and relgon are taboo subjects, except among very close frends and famly. Amercans carefully guard ther own prvate ndvdual belefs, and they do not expect to argue about them publcly. n otes
1. U.s. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2005, http:// www.census.gov. Unless otherwse noted, ths s the source of statstcal data throughout ths chapter. 2. A word about mles, and, for that matter, acres, s necessary here. The Unted states adopted ts measurement system from the Brtsh forefathers of the orgnal colones, and Amercans vew klometers, hectares, or any such metrc system nomenclature as foregn. Thus, as foregn terms, most Amercans do not know what a klometer or a hectare sthat a mle equals 1.609 klometers or that an acre equals 0.405 hectaresand certanly any dscusson of dstances and areas n those terms

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would yeld the nnocent, good-natured queston, youre not from around here, are ya? whch s not really a queston, but rather a concluson, and requres no response. 3. NyC Company Inc., NyC statstcs, http://www.nycvst.com. 4. The League of Amercan Theatres and Producers Inc., Broadway season statstcs at a Glance, http://www.LveBroadway.com. 5. Cty of Atlanta onlne, Hstory, http://www.atlantaga.gov. 6. Hartsfeld-Jackson Atlanta Internatonal Arport, operatng statstcs, http:// www.atlanta-arport.com. 7. Cty of Chcago, Chcago by the Numbers, http://egov.ctyofChcago.org. 8. stephen s. Brdsall and John Florn, An outlne of Amercan Geography; regonal Landscapes of the Unted states, n The Agricultural Core, http://usnfo. state.gov. 9. Montana Hstorcal socety, The economy, http://www.montanahstorcal socety.org. see also The settng. 10. Los Angeles department of water and Power, The story of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, http://wsoweb.ladwp.com. 11. It s estmated that Phoenx has snce surpassed Phladelpha n populaton. 12. U.s. Census Bureau, Fact sheet: Unted states, 2004 Amercan Communty survey, data Profle Hghlghts, http://factfnder.census.gov. 13. Pew research Center, Pew Global Atttudes Project, U.s. Image Up slghtly, but stll Negatve, press release, June 23, 2005, http://pewglobal.org. 14. see Columbia Guide to Standard American English (New york: Columba Unversty Press, 1993); and evoluton Publshng, Lngustc Geography of the Manland Unted states, http://www.evolpub.com. 15. U.s. department of state, Basc readngs n U.s. democracy, http://usnfo. state.gov. see also seneca Falls declaraton (1848). 16. U.s. Cvl war Center, U.s. department of defense records, statstcal summaryAmercas Major wars, http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/other/stats/war cost.htm. 17. The Avalon Project at yale Law school, second Inaugural Address of James Monroe, March 5, 1821, http://www.yale.edu. 18. U.s. senate, American State Papers, 18th Cong., 2d. sess., 1825, 543, http:// www.loc.gov. 19. These are self-reported data avalable n the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2005. 20. see U.s. Informaton Agency, one from Many, n Portrait of the USA, http://usnfo.state.gov. 21. U.s. Census Bureau, Table 4, n Technical Paper 29, March 9, 1999, http:// www.census.gov. 22. one from Many. 23. James N. Gregory, American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and the Okie Culture in California (New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1989), 611. 24. statstcal summary; Lbrary of Congress, world war I and Postwar socety, Part I, n African American Odyssey, http://www.loc.gov.

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25. U.s. Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1957 (washngton, dC: U.s. Government Prntng offce, 1960), 462. 26. statstcal summary. 27. see dllon s. Myer, Uprooted Americans: The Japanese Americans and the War Relocation Authority during World War II (Tucson: Unversty of Arzona Press, 1971). 28. Natonal organzaton for women, equal rghts Amendment, http://www. now.org. 29. Federal electon Commsson, 2000 offcal Presdental electon results, http://www.fec.gov. 30. The whte House, offce of the Press secretary, Fact sheet: Presdent Bush remarks on the war on Terror, october 6, 2005, http://www.whtehouse.gov. 31. Bureau of the Publc debt, The debt to the Penny, http://www.publcdebt. treas.gov. 32. U.s. Census Bureau 2004 Amercan Communty survey & Natonal Center for Health statstcs, Fast stats A to Z, http://www.cdc.gov. The followng data are taken from these sources. 33. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2005. 34. Fast stats A to Z. 35. U.s. Census Bureau, Poverty: 2004 Hghlghts, http://www.census.gov.

B iBliograPhy
Brdsdall, stephen s. Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada. 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John wley, 2005. Blum, John M., et al. The National Experience: A History of the United States. 8th ed. Fort worth, Tx: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovch, 1993. Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 19541963. New york: smon and schuster, 1988. Chafe, wllam Henry. The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II. 5th ed. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 2003. donald, davd Herbert, Jean H. Baker, and Mchael F. Holt. The Civil War and Reconstruction. New york: w. w. Norton, 2001. Fte, Glbert C., and Jm e. reese. An Economic History of the United States. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mffln, 1973. Flexner, eleanor. Century of Struggle: The Womens Rights Movement in the United States. rev. ed. Cambrdge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard Unversty Press, 1975. Jeydel, Alana s. Political Women: The Womens Movement, Political Institutions, the Battle for Womens Suffrage and the ERA. New york: routledge, 2004. Johansen, Bruce e. The Native Peoples of North America. 2 vols. westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. New york: HarperCollns, 1997.

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Jordan, wnthrop d. White over Black: American Attitudes toward the Negro, 1550 1812. New york: w. w. Norton, 1977. Lemann, Ncholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America. New york: Vntage Books, 1992. Morrson, samuel elot, Henry steele Commager, and wllam e. Leuchtenburg. The Growth of the American Republic. 7th ed. 2 vols. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1980. Patterson, James T. Americas Struggle against Poverty, 19001985. engl. ed. Cambrdge, MA: Harvard Unversty Press, 1986. Prtzker, Barry M. Native Americans: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Peoples. santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIo, 1998. ratner, sdney, James H. soltow, and rchard sylla. The Evolution of the American Economy: Growth Welfare and Decision Making. New york: Basc Books, 1979. remers, davd M. Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America. 2nd ed. New york: Columba Unversty Press, 1992. stkoff, Harvard. The Struggle for Black Equality, 19541980. New york: Hll and wang, 1981. sowell, Thomas. Ethnic America: A History. New york: Basc Books, 1981. tenBroek, Jacobus, edward N. Barnhart, and Floyd w. Matson. Prejudice, War, and the Constitution: Causes and Consequences of the Evacuation of the Japanese Americans in World War II. Japanese Amercan evacuaton and resettlement seres. Berkeley: Unversty of Calforna Press, 1954. vann woodward, C. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. 3rd rev. ed. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1974. wlson, Kenneth G. Columbia Guide to Standard American English. New york: Columba Unversty Press, 1993.

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2
relgon and Thought
Benjamin F. Shearer

In God we Trust. . . . and God bless Amerca.

The U.s. $1 bll Presdent George w. Bush

The opportunity for relgous freedom brought mmgrants to Amerca long before the Unted states became an ndependent naton. The early mmgrantsenglsh, German, dutch, Frenchbrought ther relgous convctons and ther churches wth them to Amerca, as have mllons of later mmgrants. Amerca proved the perfect place for relgous belefs to evolve and blossom n dstnctly Amercan ways. Freedom of relgon s a fundamental Amercan prncple, guaranteed n the Frst Amendment of the Consttuton, whch prohbts Congress from establshng a state relgon or prohbtng the free exercse of relgous belefs. In the course of tme, however, the noton of the separaton of church and state, even older n orgn than Thomas Jeffersons use of the term, became the Amendments legal foundaton, n no small part owng to natvst fears of roman Catholcsm. The separaton of church and state, frmly placed nto the legal lexcon by a 1947 supreme Court case, has proved, however, a stcky operatonal concept.1 In an overwhelmngly Chrstan naton, the courts presde over the constant tug and pull on the wall that s to separate relgon from government. Amercans frm convcton that relgon s a matter of personal belef that cannot be regulated n any way by any government gves relgon a unque
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place n Amercan culture. Churches enjoy tax-exempt status as chartable nsttutons. More mportant, however, relgous belefs also enjoy freedom from publc crtcsm. relgous belefs and deas are consdered sacrosanct they may be publcly expressed wthout consequence. It s a fact of Amercan socal lfe that relgon s a subject to be avoded. Amercans generally dslke engagng n nformal dscussons wth no hope of easy soluton or compromse. No matter ones personal vews, no Amercan would consder a publc denuncaton of anyone elses relgous belefs. Amercans are somehow able to embrace Chrstans, Jews, Muslmspeople of any belefn ther broad defnton of what t means to be Amercan, although non-Chrstans, often grossly msunderstood, have had a dffcult struggle for ncluson. when relgous belefs fnd poltcal postons, however, those poltcal postons are open to publc dscourse and debate. relgous belefs, though consdered a prvate matter, bleed nto the publc conscousness and culture of Amerca. There s no law that creates a wall of separaton between personal relgous thought and publc acton. Amercans by and large beleve that God s leadng the Unted states, mbung t wth democratc values and the wealth and beauty of ts natural envronment, and that Amerca has, therefore, the oblgaton to brng Gods democratc and

The back of an Amercan one-dollar bll, whch s just one of several places where one can fnd the words In God we Trust. Gramper | dreamstme.com.

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Chrstan values to the world. Indeed, the hallmark of the predomnant Protestantsm n Amerca s democratc church structures bult on the voluntary assocaton of ndvduals who, on ther own ntatve, have transformed themselves nto true belevers. God s n the daly commerce and dscourse of all Amercans. Abraham Lncoln frst put the motto In God we Trust on Amercan money durng the depths of the Cvl war. The Cold war put t there for goodAmerca was dong Gods work aganst godless Communsm. Presdents snce Calvn Cooldge have been lghtng the natonal Chrstmas tree, and no modern presdental speech could end wthout nvokng Gods blessng on the country. efforts to make the Chrstmas tree ceremones that take place n thousands of poltcal jursdctons each year more nclusve by referrng to a so-called holday tree are labeled pejoratvely as poltcal correctness and receve howls of protestaton from conservatve relgous leaders for takng the Chrstan, Jesus-centered character out of Chrstmas. Preachers permeate televson and rado arwaves. A sneeze n a crowded room draws a chorus of God bless you. o VerView
of

r eligion

in

a meriCa

Freedom of relgon n Amerca precludes askng anyone about personal relgous belefs, whether n job ntervews or even n the decennal federal census. The federal government has never collected data on relgous adherence. determnng numbers of members of denomnatons or churches s, therefore, dependent on surveys by varous organzatons or the denomnatons themselves. The fact that dfferent relgous groups count dfferent thngs (baptzed vs. actve members, for example) further confounds efforts to understand Amercan relgon through numbers. Nevertheless, a look at the bg pcture s nstructve. Most Amercans beleve n God; only around 2 or 3 percent of the populaton are agnostcs or athests. The Unted states s about 80 percent Chrstan; data from ndependent surveys vary from over 76 to 82 percent. Around 13 percent of Amercans are nonrelgous or secular, and about 2 percent are Jewsh. No other relgonsGreek orthodox, russan orthodox, Islam, Hndusm, Buddhsm, drudsm, skhsm, scentology, desm, Taost, New Age, or Natve Amercanare beleved to approach 1 percent of the populaton.2 The 10 largest relgous bodes n the Unted states are the roman Catholc Church wth 67.8 mllon; the southern Baptst Conventon, wth 16.2 mllon; the Unted Methodst Church, wth 8.2 mllon; the Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants, wth 6 mllon; the Church of God n Chrst (Black Pentecostal), wth 5.5 mllon; the Natonal Baptst Conventon, UsA,

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wth 5 mllon; the evangelcal Lutheran Church of Amerca, wth 4.9 mllon; the Natonal Baptst Conventon of Amerca, wth 3.5 mllon; the Presbyteran Church (UsA), wth 3.2 mllon; and the Assembles of God (UsA), wth 2.8 mllon. The largest 25 denomnatons n the Unted states account for over 148 mllon people.3 evangelcal Protestants (Baptsts, reformed and Confessonal churches, nondenomnatonal Chrstans, Pentecostals, Churches of Chrst, etc.) equal the roman Catholc populaton at about 25 percent. Manlne whte Protestant churches (Methodsts, Lutherans, Presbyterans, epscopalans, and Congregatonalsts) are about 22 percent of the populaton. Afrcan Amercan Protestants, n Afrcan Amercan churches that were created by Afrcan Amercans n the atmosphere of slavery and segregaton, make up about 8 percent of the populaton. It s a sad fact of Amercan lfe that whte and Afrcan Amercan people could not worshp together equally as Gods chldren. racsm permeated every nche of socety. on the other hand, owng to the enterprse of early Afrcan Amercan relgous leaders, Afrcan Amercan churches were founded that would become the bedrock relgous and socal foundaton of Afrcan Amercan socety. The Afrcan Amercan churches were legally untouchable and totally ndependent thanks to the Frst Amendment. They were also de facto the only Afrcan Amercan nsttutons n Amercaplaces where Afrcan Amercan culture could floursh, places where Afrcan Amercans could fnd prde and ndependence, places where Afrcan Amercans were n charge. The reverend Martn Luther Kng coordnated the cvl rghts movement through Afrcan Amercan churches. Today, Afrcan Amercan churches contnue ther proud tradtons and work for the economc empowerment of the Afrcan Amercan populaton. Amercan Protestant churches have been dvded by race as well as by bblcal nterpretaton. evangelcals, who beleve n a lteral, strct nterpretaton of the Bble but, unlke Fundamentalsts, allow for mracles beyond the Bble, have generally shunned socal acton n favor of personal salvaton. evangelcalsm has therefore been nherently ndvdualstc n seekng n ts adherents the personal transformaton that allows them to accept Jesus Chrst as ther Lord and personal savor. As a result, evangelcals generally remaned aloof from the socal and poltcal landscape of the country, untl ther poltcal power was unleashed by conservatve actvsts. The manlne Protestant churches are not as lkely to nsst on lteral bblcal nterpretaton and have emphaszed the mportance of socal acton as a means toward salvaton. It was these churches, therefore, especally begnnng n the early twenteth century, that actvely developed chartable enterprses to serve the poor and dsenfranchsed and became actve n poltcal and socal ssues and movements.

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Fundamentalsm, as much a creed as a state of mnd, has been a constant force aganst modernsm n Amercan lfe, even though t was thought many tmes to have vanshed. The name derves from the publcaton between 1910 and 1915 of The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth n 12 volumes. Fundamentalsts are evangelcals who beleve n the relgous, scentfc, and hstorcal truth of the Bble: Jesus Chrsts dvnty, vrgn brth, atonement for manknds sns by death on the cross, and resurrecton from the dead and the return of Jesus Chrst on Judgment day to judge the lvng and the dead ether for eternal blss or eternal damnaton.4 Fundamentalsts also beleve n Bble prophecy. Armed wth bblcal truth, fundamentalsts have been persstent, f not mltant, guerlla warrors n the fght to make ther vson of a Chrstan Amerca come true. Ths vson harkens back to an Amerca that exsted only deally, but before exegetes questoned the lteral meanng of the Bble, before women questoned ther tradtonal roles, before gay rghts was a topc of dscusson, before evoluton became an accepted theory, and before aborton was legalzed. Fundamentalsts beleve they are preservng tradtonal Amercan values that so-called lberal churches, lberal poltcans, and modern Amercan culture have helped to erode. They have enjoyed beng outsders who can pck and choose ther battles emboldened by ndependence and unencumbered by church bureaucraces. They have successfully employed prnt and broadcast meda to get ther message out and revvals to convert the nonbelevers. A smple, understandable Amerca prepared for Judgment day s especally appealng n tmes of socal change and uncertanty. waves of revvalsm swept the country durng the roarng Twentes, durng world war II, and n the Vetnam war era. The Amercan relgous landscape s changng rapdly at the turn of the twenty-frst century. The roman Catholc Church contnues to grow n absolute numbers wth the nflux of tradtonal Catholcs from Mexco, even as t closes churches n the nner ctes of the Northeast and Mdwest. The number of roman Catholcs would be growng even more, but evangelcal Protestantsm has made nroads nto that populaton. over 30 percent of Mexcans comng nto the Unted states are beleved to be evangelcals, even though they may mantan tradtonal roman Catholc practces and, ndeed, may return to Catholcsm. The membershp n manlne Protestant churches appears to be dwndlng n comparson to the burst n evangelcal numbers. Amercans also seem to be attracted to nondenomnatonal, Bblebased megachurches wth congregatons of more than 20,000. There can be no doubt that Amerca s n the mdst of another wave of relgous awakenng. It s evangelcal, f not sometmes Pentecostal. It s black and whte and multcolored. It s largely Protestant. Amercans want tradtonal

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Amercan values, not a tax codeszed volume of church canons. It s New Testament; t s smple; t s salvaton from uncertanty, socal dsconnecton, and the vagares of terrorsm. a meriCa s l argest r eligious d enominations
the roman Catholic Church

As the natons sngle largest denomnaton snce 1852, roman Catholcsm s a potent relgous, poltcal, and socal force. The Amercan Church s dvded nto 33 provnces, each wth an archbshop who may or not be a cardnal. There are 281 actve bshops n 195 Amercan doceses, as bshops ecclesastcal jursdctons are called. The Church counted 19,081 parshes, 44,487 prests (some 9,500 are retred), 5,568 brothers, 74,698 ssters, and almost 14,000 permanent deacons n 2003. Prests may be docesan (sometmes called parsh prests or secular prests) or members of relgous orders. There are 150 relgous orders n the Unted states, and 14,772 of the prests belong to relgous orders. only the deacons are permtted to marry, but, lke the presthood, only men may be admtted. In addton to varous chartable actvtes, the Church also has 585 Catholc hosptals, 7,142 elementary schools, 1,374 hgh schools, and 230 colleges and unverstes all over the country.5 Today, about 39 percent (25 mllon people) of the Catholc populaton s Hspanc, and by 2020, that percentage s expected to reach more than 50 percent. snce 1960, over 70 percent of the growth n the number of roman Catholcs s attrbutable to the natonal nflux of Hspancs n the populaton. There are approxmately 2.3 mllon Afrcan Amercan Catholcs, and about 25 percent (500,000) of the Natve Amercan populaton are baptzed roman Catholcs.6 Parshes were especally mportant to the mmgrant roman Catholc Church. Because parsh churches were neghborhood churches, and urban mmgrants segregated nto neghborhoods wth others of the same cultural backgrounds, parshes became the hub of socal and cultural as well as relgous actvtes. Frday nght fsh fres wth alcoholc beverages and gamblng were typcal socal actvtes. Bngo games became assocated wth the roman Catholc Church. The Catholc youth organzaton provded athletc competton. so strong was the cultural nfluence of the parshes n heavly roman Catholc northeastern ctes lke Phladelpha that when Phladelphans meet each other to ths day, no matter ther relgon, they dentfy themselves by the parsh n whch they grew up. roman Catholc parshes n 2000 averaged 3,254 members, or 1,269 households. The average nonroman Catholc congregaton averaged only

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303 members. roman Catholcs donated $5,864,000,000 to ther parshes n sunday collectons durng 2002, 90 percent of whch remaned n the parshes to be used for parsh undertakngs.7 even though about 68 percent of Amercan roman Catholcs are regstered n parshes, there s evdence that parsh lfe s no longer what t once was. Around 40 percent of Amercan roman Catholcs thnk the parshes are too large. whereas nearly 75 percent went to Mass weekly n the 1950s, that number has now shrunk to 34 percent. In spte of Church rules, three-fourths of roman Catholcs beleve one can be a good Catholc wthout gong to church every week.8 The Amercan Protestant democratc tradton has always stood n stark contrast to the roman Catholc Churchs nondemocratc tradton, a fact that helped to fuel natvsts fear of a papal takeover of the country as Catholcs from Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Germany poured nto the country. The roman Catholc herarchythe pope, cardnals, bshops, and prestshas not only guarded aganst the ntroducton of doctrnal heterodoxy but has also systematcally mantaned clercal supremacy n decson makng, even down to the appontment of prests to parshes. Amercan roman Catholcs, accustomed to votng for ther poltcal leaders, have had no vote on who ther parsh prest may be, no less on any matters of doctrne. seventy-two percent of roman Catholcs now want a say n selectng ther parsh prests.9 Amercan roman Catholcs are ncreasngly at odds wth the Churchs teachngs and practces. sxty-nne percent want to see the Church abandon ts prohbton of artfcal brth control; 65 percent want prests to be able to marry; and 60 percent want women to be permtted to become ordaned prests. even on the crtcal ssue of aborton, 33 percent of Catholcs beleve t should generally be avalable, and 44 percent beleve t should be avalable wth further restrctons. It s not surprsng, then, that 82 percent of Amercan roman Catholcs beleve they can dsagree wth the pope and stll be good Catholcs and that 72 percent beleve that ther conscences should supersede Church teachng.10 Amercan roman Catholcs seem to have adopted the Protestant majortys belef n the presthood of belevers, n whch ndvdual conscence s supreme. The pckng and choosng of whch roman Catholc teachngs to reject or accept has been called cafeteria Catholicism, and t has become so rampant that some Church leaders beleve a lne needs to be drawnether be a roman Catholc, or not. wth majortes of Amercan roman Catholcs belevng they could be good Catholcs wthout adherng to ther Churchs postons on aborton, marrage, dvorce, brth control, weekly Mass attendance, and 23 percent even thnkng that they could be good Catholcs wthout belevng that Jesus Chrst rose from the dead, the need for dedcated prests could not be greater.11 The roman Catholc presthood n Amerca, however, had been

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n a crss mode from several drectons and for a long tme. The average age of Amercan prests s 61. only 500 new prests were ordaned n 2003. As populaton n general has grown, and the roman Catholc populaton n partcular has ncreased, the number of prests has declned. The Church has tred to make up for ths declne by developng ts lay deaconate program and programs to tran lay catechetcal teachers, youth mnsters, and lay mnsters. A 2000 study of the problem found that 2,386 parshes shared a pastor and 2,334 had no resdent pastor. Four hundred thrty-seven parshes were recevng pastoral care from someone other than a prest. In the Unted states n the 1950s, there was one prest for every 650 people. By 1999, the rato had nflated to 1:1,200. In the west, where the Hspanc populaton was explodng, the rato was 1:1,752.12 If the shortage of vocatons to the presthood was a serous problem, the ncreasng and steady revelatons that prests had long been sexually abusng chldren was a crss of fath of much larger proporton. By 2002, the Amercan publc at large was outraged at the way the roman Catholc Church was handlng the scandals; 45 percent of all Amercans were dssatsfed, and 25 percent were angry. A week after Pope John Paul II met wth Amercan cardnals n rome n Aprl 2002 about the scandal, 58 percent of roman Catholcs beleved the pope had not done enough about t. sxty-two percent of roman Catholcs were not pleased wth the way the Amercan herarchy was dealng wth the crss. eghty-three percent of roman Catholcs wanted to see law enforcement called n when church leaders learned of alleged chld abuse by prests.13 In June 2002, Bshop wlton d. Gregory, presdent of the Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, addressed hs fellow bshops on the sexual abuse scandals. He called t a very grave crss, notng that the bshops, sngly and as a group, had worked on the sexual abuse ssue snce 1985, lstened to vctms and consultants, and fnally adopted prncples n 1992 to be followed when sexual abuse was alleged. Gregory acknowledged that the work the bshops had done was overshadowed by the mprudent decsons of a small number of Bshops durng the past 10 years. He confessed that t was the fault of the bshops that sexually abusve prests were allowed to reman n postons that allowed them to abuse agan; that law enforcement was not called n; that fear of scandal permtted abuse to contnue; and that vctms were sometmes treated as adversares. He apologzed for all the bshops and resolved to change the way thngs would be done n the future.14 The Conference of Bshops created the Natonal revew Board for the Protecton of Chldren and young People to study the problem. In February 2004, the board reported ts fndngs: 4,392 prests (4%) had been

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accused of molestng mnors between 1950 and 2002, and the Church had spent over $500,000,000 n dealng wth the reported 10,667 accusatons. eghty-one percent of the vctms were male; 2,000 chldren under 11 years old had been abused by pedophle prests; 78 percent of the allegatons nvolved chldren 1117 years old. Allegatons of abuse of mnors rose n the 1960s, peaked n the 1970s, and occurred all over the country.15 wth release of the report, Bshop Gregory assured that the bshops had put a system n place to respond at once to abuse allegaton, assst vctms, and take offenders out of the mnstry.16 The anger of most roman Catholcs was drected at the bshops, rather than at the clergy n ther parshes, where prests contnued to earn hgh marks throughout the unfoldng of the scandal. In fact, between 2001 and 2002, sunday gvng n the parshes rose 4.8 percent. In 2002, Amercas 15.9 mllon regstered, actve roman Catholc households gave the Church, on average, $455. Parshes are heavly dependent on sunday collectons for ther revenues. Typcally, parshes spend 42 percent of ther revenues on salares and the remanng 58 percent on plant and program expenses. The Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, through whch the bshops exercse ther pastorate for the naton, also asks roman Catholcs to support other actvtes through specal annual collectons. Money s collected to ad the roman Catholc Church n central and eastern europe, to fund Catholc relef servces and mgraton and refugee servces. The Catholc Campagn for Human development uses donatons to fght the root causes of poverty n Amerca. There s a collecton for roman Catholc home mssons, black and Indan mssons, and the Church n Latn Amerca. Peters Pence s a collecton to enable the pope to respond to ad requests by those who have been vctms of war, oppresson, and natural dsasters. other collectons support world evangelzaton, thrd world food projects, nsttutons n the Holy Land, and Catholc Unversty of Amerca, whch was founded by the Amercan bshops. Unlke other denomnatons, the roman Catholc Church natonally does not gve drect fnancal support to roman Catholc colleges and unverstes other than Catholc Unversty.17 The work of the roman Catholc Church n Amerca s furthered by some 135 natonal organzatons and hundreds of local lay groups. The Knghts of Columbus s the largest such group, wth 1.6 mllon members. The members of ths fraternal socety donated $128.5 mllon to chartes n 2002 and performed 60.8 mllon hours of volunteer servce. The Knghts of Peter Claver and Lades Auxlary, wth 45,000 members, serve the specfc needs of Afrcan Amercan Catholcs and annually donate hundreds of thousands of dollars and hours of servce. The socety of st. Vncent de Pauls 102,000 members vst homes, hosptals, day care facltes for the aged, and prsons.

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Ther donatons and servces were valued at $335 mllon n 2002. These and many other organzatons lke the Jesut Volunteer Corps vtally nvolve the laty n fulfllng the Churchs mssons to serve others.18 The roman Catholc Church n Amerca, through the teachngs and pronouncements of the Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, has taken the poston that the separaton of church and state does not requre dvson between belef and publc acton, between moral prncples and poltcal choces, but protects the rght of belevers and relgous groups to practce ther fath and act on ther values n publc lfe. Fathful ctzens who brng ther moral convctons nto publc lfe, therefore, do not threaten democracy or pluralsm but enrch them and the naton. In regard to aborton always ntrnscally evlthe bshops counseled roman Catholcs n publc postons that actng consstently to support aborton on demand rsks makng them cooperators n evl n a publc manner.19 In concert, of course, wth the Vatcan, the Amercan bshops have been a steady voce n speakng for the sanctty of all lfe, not just the unborn. Thus they have remnded the fathful that human clonng, euthanasa, asssted sucde, the death penalty for captal crmes, and targetng cvlans n war all volate that fundamental prncple. Furthermore, Catholcs have the oblgaton to protect famly lfe, pursue socal and economc justce, serve the poor and the helpless, care for the envronment, and work to elmnate poverty all over the world.20 The bshops have also supported an amendment to the Consttuton that would defne marrage as a unon between a man and a woman, argung that whle they decred the unjust dscrmnaton, harassment or abuse aganst homosexuals, homosexual unons are nherently non-procreatve and therefore cannot have the status of marrage.21
baptists The Southern Baptist Convention

The frst Baptst church n Amerca was founded n 1638 n what would become rhode Island. An offshoot of englsh Purtansm, Baptsts shunned any state-sponsored relgon and beleved that baptsm should be performed only on those who had proved ther fath. In 1707, the Phladelpha Baptst Assocaton was formed, whch ncluded churches n Pennsylvana, delaware, and rhode Island, and also ncluded churches n Connectcut, Maryland, Vrgna, and New york. At the tme of the Amercan revoluton, there were about equal numbers of Anglcans and Baptsts n the colones, but ther numbers were smaller than those of Congregatonalsts and Presbyterans. By 1800, however, Baptsts were the largest denomnaton n the Unted states, ts numbers havng swelled wth new black and whte

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members after the Great Awakenng, whch spread converson through the country from the 1730s nto the 1770s. In 1814, Baptsts formed the General Mssonary Conventon, but t was dvded between North and south over the slavery ssue n 1845. Thus was born the southern Baptst Conventon, today the largest of Amercas Baptst groups, the sngle largest Protestant and evangelcal group, and the largest relgous body n the country after the roman Catholc Church. Contrary to what ts name mples, the southern Baptst Conventon s much more than a regonal church. Although the heavest concentratons of southern Baptsts reman n the old south, churches have been establshed throughout the country, ncludng n the Northeast, Mdwest, mountan states, and southern Calforna. Between 1952 and 1990 alone, over 8,500 new churches were establshed n the Unted states.22 The southern Baptst Conventon s not just an Amercan church. southern Baptsts take the call to evangelze the world very serously. snce 1846, ts Internatonal Msson Board has sent over 15,000 mssonares all over the world.23 At the close of 2005, the board had 5,036 feld personnel under appontment and 6,797 student volunteers workng abroad. In 2005 alone, overseas baptsms totaled 459,725. Membershp came to 7.3 mllon n 108,713 overseas churches. In 2005, southern Baptsts contrbuted $133.9 mllon n support of the annual Internatonal Msson study and Lotte Moon Chrstmas offerng, n addton to $22.9 mllon for world hunger and dsaster relef.24 southern Baptsts hold the Bble to be dvnely nspred by a trune God and wthout error. The Bble always trumps any statement of belef. Jesus Chrst s God the son ncarnated n a vrgn brth, who ded on the cross to redeem manknd from sn and wll return n glory to judge the world. salvaton s possble only for those who accept Jesus Chrst as Lord and savour. Because each person s accountable to Godcalled soul competencythere s no salvaton outsde of a persons relatonshp wth God. Good works or church attendance wll not brng salvaton. Personal fath n Chrst as Lord s a requrement of salvaton, whch nvolves regeneraton, justfcaton, sanctfcaton, and glorfcaton. regeneraton s a work of Gods grace that, wth repentance, changes the heart and results n a new brth as the snner turns to God and commts to Jesus Chrst. Justfcaton s Gods gracous and full acquttal . . . of all snners who repent and beleve n Chrst. sanctfcaton sets the belever apart to Gods purposes and enables progress toward moral and sprtual maturty. Glorfcaton s the fnal blessed and abdng state of the redeemed. once accepted by God, true belevers flled wth Gods grace never fall away from the state of grace, even though they may occasonally go astray.25

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southern Baptsts accept the presthood of all belevers, whch means true belevers have the same rghts as ordaned mnsters to nterpret scrpture and talk wth God. only men, however, are permtted to be pastors. each local congregaton s autonomous of the state and general conventons and operated through democratc processes. southern Baptst congregatons observe sundays as days of publc and prvate worshp and devoton and Christs two ordinances (called sacraments by some denomnatons): baptsm by mmerson n water and the Lords supper. The members of the congregatons are expected to support evangelsm and msson actvty and an adequate system of Chrstan educaton, n whch teachers freedom s lmted by the preemnence of Jesus Chrst and by the authortatve nature of the scrptures. Ffty-two colleges and unverstes, two Bble schools, and one academy are members of the Assocaton of southern Baptsts Colleges and schools. Congregaton members are also to exercse good stewardshp by contrbutng cheerfully, regularly, systematcally, proportonately, and lberally for the advancement of the redeemers cause on earth.26 The southern Baptst fath has retaned the long Baptst support for the prncple of the absolute separaton of church and state. It also supports cooperaton among New Testament churches for justfed ends. The Conventons teachngs on socal ssues are rooted n the regeneraton of the ndvdual by the savng grace of God n Jesus Chrst. Good Chrstans have the duty to seek peace and pray for the regn of the Prnce of Peace, to speak on behalf of the unborn and to provde for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sck. They should also oppose racsm, every form of greed, selfshness, and vce, and all forms of sexual mmoralty, ncludng adultery, homosexualty, and pornography. In regard to famly matters, the southern Baptst Conventon holds that God has ordaned the famly as the foundatonal nsttuton of human socety. Because both husband and wfe are created n Gods mage, both are of equal worth n the eyes of God. The husband, however, has the God-gven responsblty to provde for, to protect, and to lead hs famly. The wfe s to submt herself to the servant leadershp of her husband and she has the God-gven responsblty to respect her husband and serve as hs helper n managng the household and nurturng the next generaton.27
National Baptist Convention, USA Inc.

The Natonal Baptst Conventon, UsA, s a hstorcally Afrcan Amercan church wth reported membershp of 5 mllon adherents and 33,000 churches, makng t Amercas sxth largest relgous body and the largest of the Afrcan Amercan Baptst churches.28 Ths conventon traces ts orgn to

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1886 n the movement ongong snce the 1830s of Afrcan Amercan Baptsts to separate from whte conventons and form ther own cooperatve organzatons. The movement was replete wth regonal conventons, consoldatons, and schsms. By 1916, the Natonal Baptst Conventon, UsA, emerged. An mportant concept to the Conventon s the Baptst tradton and deal of voluntary membershp; that s, the Conventon exerts no control, theologcal or otherwse, over ts members. These are matters for local churches. The Conventons task s help the membershp effectvely realze goals on whch they all agree. A board of drectors governs the natonal conventon. every ffth year, a presdent s elected by member churches at Annual sesson. The presdent and varous offcers are members of the board of drectors as well as the presdents of the 62 consttuent state conventons, representatves of the conventons boards and auxlares, and 29 members at large. The conventons 10 boards and auxlares deal wth such matters as Chrstan educaton, evangelsm, mssons, and musc. There s also a womans Auxlary. The Natonal Baptst Conventon, UsA, s not theologcally nnovatve; that s, t adheres to tradtonal Baptst belefs n grace as a gft from God avalable to all who wll beleve, repentance and justfcaton, regeneraton (beng born agan), and sanctfcaton. It holds the Bble to be the dvnely nspred truth wthout error and to hold Gods plan for salvaton and the standards for human conduct. Two sacraments are recognzed: baptsm by mmerson and the Lords supper. Manknd dvdes nto the rghteous and the wcked n death and thereafter, awatng the end of the world, when both the lvng and the dead wll be judged to heaven or hell.29
The National Baptist Convention of America Inc.

The Natonal Baptst Conventon of Amerca came from the same roots as the Natonal Baptst Conventon, UsA. In 1895, three Afrcan Amercan Baptst conventons merged nto a sngle entty to unfy domestc and nternatonal goals, takng the name the Natonal Baptst Conventon of the Unted states of Amerca. Ths made t the largest Afrcan Amercan church n Amerca. In 1915, however, the unty of the group was destroyed over a debate about ownershp of ts Publshng Board. Thus two separate groups emerged. efforts to come back together, notably durng Annual sesson n 1988 to protest aparthed, faled. The Natonal Baptst Conventon of Amerca, whch had remaned unncorporated snce the 1915 splt, fnally was ncorporated n 1987 wth headquarters n shreveport, Lousana. doctrnally, the two churches have no dfferences. The Natonal Baptst Conventon of Amerca has about 3.5 mllon members and more than 8,000 churches n the Unted states. The Unted states

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eghth largest church, t s actve n relgous publshng and educaton and s commtted to evangelsm at home and abroad. Mssons are supported n the Carbbean, Panama, and Ghana. The Conventon s also commtted to freedom of relgon, cvl lberty, socal justce, and equalty.30
Other Baptist Churches

The voluntary nature of Baptst conventons and assocatons, leavng local churches autonomous, s a democratc tradton that has made Baptsts susceptble to dvsons and regroupngs. In 1988, the Natonal Mssonary Baptst Conventon of Amerca splt from the Natonal Baptst Conventon of Amerca Inc., not because of doctrne, but because of ts publshng board and other earthly matters. Ths hstorcally Afrcan Amercan conventon ranks as the 12th largest relgous body n Amerca, wth 2.5 mllon members.31 The Progressve Natonal Baptst Conventon Inc., also wth about 2.5 mllon members, was formed late n 1961 out of the Natonal Baptst Conventon Inc. ostensbly fghtng over the tenure of conventon leaders, whose nearly lfetme electons to offce kept the conventon on a tradtonal foundaton, the real ssue was cvl rghts. The progressves wanted ther conventon to be fully nvolved n the movement for human and cvl rghts and exhbt the fullness of Baptst and Amercan democracy n the electon of ts leadershp. They were happy to gve dr. Martn Luther Kng Jr. a home n an Afrcan Amercan Baptst denomnaton. To ths day, the Progressve Natonal Baptst Conventon actvely supports and advocates for complete human lberaton through voter regstraton drves, affrmatve acton, and Afrcan Amercan economc empowerment. All church leadershp postons are open to men and women. The conventon squarely stands for fellowshp, progress, and peace.32 Amercan Baptst Churches UsA clams to be the most racally nclusve body wthn Protestantsm and wll soon have no racal or ethnc majortes. The Unted states 20th largest denomnaton, wth 1.43 mllon members and about 5,800 congregatons, the Amercan Baptsts are the northern remnant of the 1845 splt over slavery that created the southern Baptst Conventon. It was ncorporated n 1907 as the Northern Baptst Conventon, renamed the Amercan Baptst Conventon n 1950, and took ts current name n 1972. Amercan Baptsts, who favor ecumencal tes, have always been actvely nvolved n drect socal outreach, ncludng the cvl rghts movement, the empowerment of women, and a number of ecologcal and socal justce ssues.33 The Baptst Bble Fellowshp Internatonal (BBFI) s ranked 22nd of Amercas largest denomnatons, wth 1.2 mllon members. Located n sprngfeld, Mssour, wth ts flagshp Baptst Bble College, BBFI was

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offcally organzed n 1950, but ts roots le n the 1920s. A group of Baptst preachers were alarmed that modernsm was creepng nto the Baptst Church, and they wanted to return to the fundamentals. Ths ndependent, fundamentalst Baptst group clams more than 4,000 churches across the country that support ther mssonary work.34
methodists The United Methodist Church

The Unted Methodst Church s the thrd largest relgous body n the Unted states and the largest of the manlne Protestant and Methodst denomnatons, yet t has less than half the members of the Unted states largest evangelcal denomnaton, the southern Baptst Conventon. Curously, as the Church has lost membershp n the Unted states, declnng now to 8.2 mllon from 10.7 mllon n 1970, t has more than trpled ts nternatonal membershp to 1.5 mllon n the same perod. In the Unted states, there are almost 45,000 clergy members and over 35,000 local churches; 1,050 people are nvolved n the Churchs global mnstres, wth 120,000 volunteers workng n 100 countres. The U.s. church s organzed nto fve jursdctons, n whch there are 50 epscopal areas, 63 annual conferences, and 520 dstrcts. Bshops are elected by the conferences from among conference elders (ordaned mnsters). The frst woman bshop was elected n 1980, and there are currently 15 actve women bshops. women clergy have been ordaned snce 1956, and they now number over 12,000. A General Conference s convened every four years, ts members elected by the annual conferences n equal numbers of lay and clergy delegates. Ths body makes offcal church pronouncements and updates The Book of Discipline, whch contans all the Churchs theologcal and other postons. The Unted Methodsts have bult an extensve educatonal system that ncludes 10 unverstes, 82 four-year colleges, and 8 twoyear colleges, along wth 13 theologcal schools and 10 precollegate schools. In fulfllment of ther belef n dong good works for socety, the Methodsts also have 120 communty servce mnstres; 83 hosptals and health care systems; 78 chldren, youth, and famly servces; and 297 mnstres for the aged. In 2001, local churches gave over $5 bllon for all the Churchs programs.35 Methodsm, as a movement nsde of the Church of england based on the teachngs of John and Charles wesley, dd not organze separately untl George washngton was presdent. There were few Methodsts n the Amercan colonesfewer than 7,000 n 1776. By 1850, however, there were over 1.6 mllon Methodsts, and by 1890, over 6.2 mllon.36 The growth of Methodsm n Amerca was nothng short of phenomenal, even after black

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congregatons separated from the man church n 1816 and 1821 and proslavery southern Methodsts broke away to form ther own church n 1845. The northern and southern branches were not reunted untl 1939, but the black congregatons reman separate. The Unted Methodst Church of today was formed n 1968 when the Methodsts unted wth the evangelcal Unted Brethren Church. The Unted Methodst Church affrms basc Chrstan belefs n a trune God; the fall of manknd; and salvaton through Jesus Chrst, who ded and rose from the dead to atone for sn and who wll come to judge the lvng and the dead. It accepts the authorty of the Bble on matters of fath and recognzes the sacraments of baptsm and the Lords supper. The Holy sprt brngs redemptve love, and fath n Jesus Chrst brngs forgveness, reconclaton wth God, and transformaton. The Unted Methodst Church s overtly ecumencal, belevng n the essental oneness of the church n Chrst Jesus. The Methodsts are not so much concerned wth doctrne other than t affects dscpleshp, as wth mplementng genune Chrstanty n the lves of belevers. wesleyan teachng lends the gentle message to Methodsm that God created a good world wth the ntenton that manknd be holy and happy. Gods prevenent grace prompts us to please God and seek repentance and fath. wth repentance comes justfyng grace, forgveness, and a true change of heart. Ths new brth brngs sanctfyng grace, whch leads to Chrstan perfecton, a state n whch love of God and others flls the heart. In Methodst theology, fath and pety are not enough. They must be accompaned by the performance of good works and dscplne. Thus salvaton always nvolves Chrstan msson and servce to the world, and love of God s always lnked wth love of neghbor, a passon for justce and renewal of the lfe of the world.37 The socal Creed adopted by the Unted Methodst Church and contaned n The Book of Discipline acknowledges the blessngs of communty, sexualty, marrage and the famly and affrms the duty to preserve and enhance the natural world. Furthermore, t affrms human and property rghts for all people, ncludng mnortes of all knds, and world peace, and expresses belef n collectve barganng, responsble consumpton, and the elmnaton of economc and socal dstress.38 The Unted Methodsts charsm s to be nvolved n socal acton, rather than lvng separately from the world. Thus the Church has taken a number of postons on socal ssues. The Church has, for example, opposed captal punshment and recognzed the rght to cvl dsobedence on the demands of conscence. It has opposed human clonng but approved human gene therapes that cannot be passed on to others when used to allevate sufferng. It has opposed mltary servce and supported mnstry to conscentous objectors.

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It has supported equal rghts for homosexuals, although self-proclamed actve homosexuals cannot become ordaned mnsters or be apponted to Church postons because homosexualty volates Chrstan teachngs. It has rejected dfferng socal norms for men and women and has supported a law to defne marrage as the unon of a man to a woman. The Church has opposed late-term aborton, and whle not approvng aborton of any knd, t has supported legal aborton n conflctng crcumstances when t may be justfed.39
The African American Methodist Churches

racsm, not theologcal dfference, caused Afrcan Amercan Methodsts to form ther own congregatons under ther own ntatve. The Afrcan Methodst epscopal Church (AMeC) traces ts begnnngs to a black mutual ad socety that was founded n 1787 n Phladelpha by former slave rchard Allen. He became pastor of Bethel AMeC n 1794 and succeeded later n establshng the AMeC as an ndependent organzaton. Today, AMeC has 2.5 mllon followers n the Unted states, and ts successful mssonary actvtes have helped t to establsh congregatons n 30 countres.40 The Afrcan Methodst epscopal Zon Church (AMeZ), now wth 1.43 mllon members, was frst organzed n New york Cty n 1796. Its frst church, Zon, was opened n 1800 whle stll part of the whte Methodst establshment. By 1821, however, AMeZ became ndependent, and James Varck was ordaned ts frst black bshop n 1822.41
the Church of jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The fourth largest church n Amerca, wth nearly 6 mllon members n the Unted states and a worldwde membershp exceedng 12 mllon n 26,670 congregatons and wth over 330 world mssons, the Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants (Lds) s one of the worlds fastest growng relgons, yet t s also perhaps the most msunderstood. Many Amercans thnk the Lds s not even a Chrstan church, a confuson generated n part by the Lds clam that t s not a Protestant church and by the publc habt of referrng to Latter-day sants (ther preferred ttle) as Mormons. In fact, however, the Lds beleves tself to be the restored church of Jesus Chrst, whch had been rent asunder frst by the roman Catholc Church and then by varous Protestant movements. The early Chrstans were the frst sants, and owng to Gods revelatons to the prophet Joseph smth that he would restore Gods church on earth, the new church would be composed of latter-day sants. smth s sad to have had revelatons drectly from God, father and son, begnnng n 1820, when he was only 14 years old. In 1823, a resurrected prophet who lved n Amerca around 420 c.e. frst

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The nsde of the Mormon Tabernacle n salt Lake Cty, Utah. Karmala | dreamstme.com.

appeared to smth. In 1827, ths prophet, Moron, led smth to a hllsde outsde Palmyra, New york, where he had bured the gold plates on whch the prophet Mormon had condensed the ancent hstory and relgous belefs of the western Hemsphere. By 1830, smth had translated and publshed The Book of Mormon and establshed the Church of Chrst n Fayette, New york. In 1838, the church took ts current name, based on new revelaton. As Gods chosen, smth and hs church set out on a msson to buld the perfect socety, Zon, away from the snful world. They went to oho, Illnos, and Mssour, fndng themselves outcasts yet stll ganng converts wherever they went. smth was klled n 1844 by a local mob n Carthage, Illnos, outsde the Lds settlement n Nauvoo. Brgham young led most of the Latter-day sants from Mssour to Utah n 1847, where they began a successful colonzaton effort. (some Latter-day sants remaned behnd n Independence, Mssour, and formed the reorganzed Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants, now called the Communty of Chrst, wth about 250,000 members.) The Lds wanted to create a theocracy, wth church leaders n charge of all actvtes. Ths was to be a socety bult on cooperaton, rather than competton; group actvty, rather than ndvdual prowess; and the stewardshp

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of resources for the common good of all. In 1848, the Lds created the provsonal state of deseret, wth church leaders n cvl postons, and unsuccessfully sought statehood. Utah would not become a state untl 1896, and suspcon of Lds belefs and practces was the reason. Most suspcous was the early Mormon acceptance and encouragement of polygamy, whch seemed to volate basc Chrstan doctrne concernng marrage and the famly and certanly volated basc Amercan values as understood by the poltcans who would legslate on Utah statehood. Lds belefs held the Church outsde the manstream of Catholc or manlne and evangelcal Protestant thnkng. In Lds parlance, all non-Lds belevers are gentles, ncludng Jews. The God of the Lds s three persons wth a sngle purpose, but separate bengs. The Lds presdent s consdered a prophet, who speaks drectly wth God, but all sants are also enttled to revelaton. The Lds accepts the Bble and The Book of Mormon as dvnely nspred scrpture as well as Doctrine and Covenants (revelatons snce the foundng of the Church) and a selecton of Joseph smths wrtngs, the Pearl of Great Price. Lfe s consdered a testhuman bengs had once lved n the sprt world wth God, but, wth no memory of that sprt exstence, were gven physcal bodes to prove themselves worthy to return to God. Lds doctrne holds further that marrages and famly relatonshp, when sealed n the temple, last throughout eternty. Furthermore, because physcal death does not mean automatc judgment to heaven or hell, relatves may have famly members baptzed or ther marrages sealed n the temple to ensure ther eternal blss. Thus genealogy s mportant to the Lds. Beng a Latter-day sant s not just adherng to doctrne, but t s also a lfestyle. Latter-day sants are expected to lve by the hghest standards of honesty and ntegrty (that s why bllonare Howard Hughes wanted Latterday sants as hs accountants), obey the law, and avod premartal sex and extramartal affars. The Church opposes all knds of mmoral behavors, ncludng gamblng, pornography, and aborton (wth certan exceptons). Latter-day sants are also expected to tthe to the church 10 percent of ther ncome, fast for two meals one day a month, and use that money to help the poor, do mssonary work, and serve the church, all the tme followng Joseph smths 1833 health code. Ths code, the world of wsdom, forbds the use of alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee and the msuse of drugs. The structure of the church and ts support organzatons make for a tghtly knt communty of belevers. The Lds s notably nonclercal. Local congregatons, called wards, are presded over by unpad bshops wth fxed terms. Stakes are groups of wards. Males begn the three orders of presthood at age 12. By 18, they may be affrmed the hghest order, Melchzedek presthood, whch has n ascendng order the offces of elder, hgh prest,

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patrarch, seventy, and apostle. The church s governed by the Frst Presdency (the presdent and two counselors) and the 12 Apostles. on a presdents death, the man who has been an Apostle the longest ascends to the presdency. The seventesthere are now fve groups of themmplement the polces of the Frst Presdency and the Apostles. sants have the rght to vote to uphold offcers and admnstratve proposals. Latter-day sants meet n meetnghouses or chapels ordnarly to worshp. Temples, of whch there are over 700 worldwde, are used for the admnstraton of ordnances. The Lds operates an educatonal system wth semnares, nsttutes of relgon, and the three campuses of Brgham young Unversty. It has an extensve sunday school program for members 12 and older. Its young Men and young women organzatons for ages 1217 provde socal, cultural, and relgous programs. The Prmary operates nurseres on sundays and asssts parents n teachng the Gospel to chldren age 311. Furthermore, Lds famles have a par of presthood holders vst them once a month for home teachng. whle more than half of the populaton of Utah remans Latter-day sants today, the Lds was forced to abandon ts communtaran deals outsde the confnes of the Church, n whch they stll survve. The prce of statehood was the acknowledgment of compettve captalsm, the sellng of Church-owned busnesses, and the decouplng of the church from the state. The Manfesto of 1890, the Churchs pronouncement that t would no longer tolerate polygamy, was the begnnng of that process. Acceptance of polygamy by the Lds had been a major stumblng block to statehood. It would not be untl 1978, however, that Afrcan Amercan men would be accepted nto the presthood. women are stll excluded from the presthood.42
the Church of God in Christ inc.

The ffth largest church n the Unted states s the hstorcally Afrcan Amercan Pentecostal Church of God n Chrst, wth about 5.5 mllon members and 15,300 local churches. It was founded and organzed by elder Charles Harrson Mason, who was born n 1866 near Memphs, Tennessee, to a Mssonary Baptst famly. He and a small band of fellow elders were swept up by the revvalsm sweepng the country and especally by the threeyear revval takng place n Los Angeles. By 1897, the name of the Church was chosen. By 1907, t was organzed by Mason, the Chef Apostle, and a tabernacle was bult n Memphs n 1925. Today, the Church s governed through the Chef Apostle, the General Board, and the state jursdctonal bshops, who are elected by the General Assembly from the ordaned elders.43 The members of ths church beleve n a trune God; that Chrst, born to a vrgn, ded to atone for human sn; and that the Holy Ghost (Holy sprt)

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brngs the plan of salvaton to earth, empowerng belevers to serve the world. The Bble s the only authorty on all matters. Human nature s snful and depraved because Adam ate the forbdden frut and condemned hs progeny to an unholy state. The Holy Ghost redeems human bengs through repentance, fath, justfcaton, regeneraton, sanctfcaton, and baptsm. Baptsm n the Holy Ghost follows rebrth (the personal act of repentance s salvaton) and s accompaned by speakng n tongues. The Church beleves n three ordnances (sacraments): baptsm (by mmerson), the Lords supper, and feet washng. devls or demons and evl sprts of the sprtual world can be emboded n humans and cast out n the name of Jesus by belevers. dvne healng s also practced by the Church, and mracles can and do occur stll, as belevers wat for Chrsts second Comng.44
Presbyterian Church (USa)

The Presbyteran Church (UsA) s the largest of the Presbyteran churches n the Unted states, clamng 2,363,136 members n 2004 n 11,019 congregatons throughout the naton. It s headquartered n Lousvlle, Kentucky. Although the frst Amercan presbytery dates back to Phladelpha n 1706, the Amercan Presbyteran Church experenced a tremendous number of schsms and mergers through the centures, ncludng a dvson n 1861 between North and south as the Cvl war commenced, whch was healed only n 1983 wth the reunfcaton of northern and southern branches n the creaton of the Presbyteran Church (UsA). The Presbyteran Church bases ts belefs on the reformed theology of John Calvn as taken to scotland by John Knox. Prmary among these belefs are the soveregnty of God, predestnaton (God elects people for servce and salvaton), fathful stewardshp of creaton, the two sacraments of baptsm (nfant baptsm recommended, mmerson not requred) and the Lords supper, and seekng socal justce whle lvng n accord wth Gods message. Predestnaton s perhaps the most controversal Presbyteran belef, for t means that God chooses certan people for salvaton, and there s no way to know who, other than oneself, has been elected for salvaton. If God has not selected you, you are powerless to do anythng about t. Calvns orgnal doctrne has later been tempered wth the understandng that belef n Jesus Chrst sgnfes electon by God, and Chrst has provded salvaton enough for everyone. Calvn ntroduced democracy nto church governance n drect contradstncton to roman Catholc clercalsm. Presbyterans elect lay people, who are ordaned as elders to work wth mnsters to govern a local church. The group of governng elders and mnsters s called a session. Presbyteres are groups of churches; synods are groups of presbyteres; and the General

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Assembly oversees the entre church. The frst Amercan General Assembly was held n 1789. Today, there are 21,194 ordaned mnsters and 101,324 elders n 16 regonal synods and 173 presbyteres. As early as 1930, women were ordaned as elders n one of the churches, whch eventually unted wth the present-day Church. By 1956, women were ordaned as mnsters. when the factons fnally unted, women had long been accepted nto the mnstry. Today, 29 percent of actve Presbyteran mnsters are women. The Presbyteran Church (UsA) s actve n worldwde evangelzaton and spent $125 mllon on natonal and nternatonal msson work. In the Unted states, there are 11 Presbyteran Church semnares, 7 secondary schools, and more than 65 colleges and unverstes related to the Church. yet even as the work of the Church progresses, ts membershp fell 12.5 percent between 1994 and 2004. The average sze of a Presbyteran congregaton s 214 members; the medan sze s 109. Attendance at worshp servces averages 52 percent. Church membershp s 92 percent whte. Annual ndvdual contrbutons to the Church averaged $936 n 2004. The Presbyteran Church (UsA) has taken stands on a number of mportant socal ssues. In regard to aborton, the Church has called for an atmosphere of open debate and mutual respect for a varety of opnons. There was a consensus, however, that aborton should not be used merely as a brth control or gender selecton opton; that the health of the mother should be a mtgatng crcumstance at all tmes; that no law should lmt access to aborton; and that no law should completely ban aborton. The Presbyteran Church (UsA) has welcomed homosexuals nto ts communty and decred any knd of dscrmnaton aganst them but condemned homosexualty as a sn. Admtted, openly homosexual persons may not be ordaned as elders, deacons, or mnsters. The Church opposes captal punshment and statesanctoned gamblng, favors gun control, and s true to conflctng belefs of ts past consttuent groups, supports personal decsons not to drnk alcoholc beverages, but supports responsble drnkng for those who do choose to drnk alcohol.45
Lutherans The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The evangelcal Lutheran Church n Amerca (eLCA) s the seventh largest church n the Unted states and the largest of 21 Lutheran bodes n the country, wth over 4.9 mllon baptzed members. There are 10,585 congregatons n 65 synods, whch are grouped nto nne regons and who are served by 17,694 clergy (3,140 of the clergy are women). synod assembles elect bshops. The Church membershp s overwhelmngly whte, ts largest

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group of people of color beng a bt over 54,000 Afrcan Amercans. The eLCA has 8 semnares, 28 colleges and unverstes (4 each n Mnnesota and Iowa), 16 hgh schools, and 210 elementary schools. Its socal mnstres serve 3,000 communtes. Annual gvng per conformed member averages about $550. The eLCA offcally began on the frst day of January 1988 wth the merger of the Amercan Lutheran Church, the Assocaton of evangelcal Lutheran Churches, and the Lutheran Church n Amerca. German, dutch, and scandnavan mmgrants to Amerca brought Lutheransm to Amerca as early as the 1620s. Mergers or unons of Lutheran synods became the norm as orgnally mmgrant churches gradually abandoned use of ther mother tongues for englsh. The Amercan Lutheran Church had been created n 1960 out of the merger of German, dansh, and Norwegan groups. The Lutheran Church n Amerca had been formed by the merger of German, slovak, Icelandc, swedsh, Fnnsh, and dansh synods n 1962. The eLCA takes a wde vew of what church means: t s the fellowshp of all those who have returned to God through Jesus Chrst, no matter the denomnaton. The Church has retaned the use of the Apostles Creed, the Ncene Creed, and the Athanasan (Trntaran) Creed. The eLCA recognzes baptsm n other Chrstan churches. Those who are already baptzed may jon the Church merely by gong to a membershp meetng at a local church. As ts hstory of unons ntmates, the eLCA s open to and actve n ecumencal dscussons, but t retans ts Lutheran hertage. The Church beleves n Martn Luthers three solas: salvaton by the grace of God alone, salvaton through fath alone, and the Bble as the sole norm of doctrne and lvng. However, the eLCA recognzes dfferng bblcal nterpretaton. Thus, whle the Bble s the authorty n fath and practce, t s not necessarly accurate n hstorcal or scentfc matters. The eLCA s actve n socal advocacy and encourages ts members to be engaged n these ssues. The Church has spoken out, among other thngs, for peace, arms control, human rghts, corporate responsblty, proper care of creaton, access to health care and decent and affordable housng, and the bannng of assault weapons. It has opposed captal punshment, repeal of the federal tax on estates (the so-called death tax), and expressed the need to address hunger, poverty, racsm, and mmgraton ssues humanely. The eLCA has also recognzed that government has a legtmate role n regulatng aborton, but t has opposed laws that would deny access to safe and affordable justfed abortons. whle contracepton s the best way to prevent unwanted pregnances, the Church has taken the poston that aborton can be justfed and morally responsble f the mothers lfe s n danger, n cases of rape or ncest, f concepton takes place n dehumanzng crcumstances,

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or f there s a fetal abnormalty. Aborton can never be justfed, however, f the fetus can survve separated from the mother.46
The Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod

The Mssour synod orgnated wth German Lutherans who mmgrated to Mssour n 1839 and formed a synod that frst met n 1847. It s the second largest Lutheran body n the Unted states, wth over 2.5 mllon members, but ts numbers have been n declne for 30 years. In 2003, the synod counted 6,160 congregatons wth 5,281 pastors among them. Congregaton members gave $1.25 bllon to ther congregatons.47 of the congregatons, 2,526 operate schools or early chldhood centers, and assocatons of congregatons operate another 183. For the 20042005 year, 143,322 chldren were enrolled n 1,028 elementary schools and 19,638 n 101 hgh schools.48 The synod, dvded nto 35 dstrcts and some 600 crcuts, also has 10 colleges and 2 semnares. synodal Conventons, the synods hghest governng body, are held every three years. Conventon members, one lay person and one pastor, are elected from all the electoral crcuts to vote on proposals before the body. The Mssour synod sets tself apart from the eLCA n a number of respects, although both retan basc Lutheran theology and the fath of the three creeds. Perhaps most sgnfcantly, the Mssour synod has not been transformed by large mergers. In fact, the synod has taken the poston that ecumencal or merger dscussons are wthout value and even contrary to Gods wll, unless all partes share the same nterpretaton of the Bble. (In 1932, the synod found that the Pope was the fulfllment of the Antchrst of bblcal prophesy.)49 The Mssour synod holds that the Bble s nerrant n all cases, ncludng scence and hstory, unlke the eLCA. Nether does the Mssour synod ordan women to the clergy for scrptural reasons.50 The Mssour synod has found no bblcal prohbton of captal punshment, contracepton, or alcohol, but t has condemned aborton as a sn, except n rare crcumstances that the mothers lfe s n danger, and euthanasa. Lkewse, the synod has opposed human clonng that may destroy embryos. It has also declared racsm snful and homosexualty as ntrnscally snful, but the synod has reached out to mnster to lesbans and gays.51
assemblies of God

The Assembles of God (UsA), wth headquarters n sprngfeld, Mssour, s the 10th largest denomnaton n the Unted states, wth over 12,200 churches and around 2.7 mllon consttuents. of the churches, 8,640 are characterzed as whte; 2,092 as Hspanc; 471 as Asan/Pacfc Islander; and 269 as Afrcan Amercan. Both men and women may be ordaned nto the

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mnstry, but males outnumber females almost fve to one.52 The Assembles of God s the largest group to beleve n speakng n tongues, a phenomenon that occurs, ts adherents clam, when people are baptzed n the Holy sprt. Ths Pentecostal church traces ts orgn to the revvalsm that swept the Unted states at the end of the nneteenth and begnnng of the twenteth centures, and more specfcally to a prayer meetng n Topeka, Kansas, on January 1, 1901. The Pentecostal movement spread to Calforna from Kansas, Mssour, and Texas. At the Azusa street Msson n Los Angeles, a three-year revval meetng helped to put Pentecostalsm on the map, and n 1914, a group of preachers and lay people met n Arkansas to dscuss formng a fellowshp of sprt-baptzed belevers. enthusastc relgon characterzed by speakng n tongues was anathema to manlne Protestant churches as well as Fundamentalsts and most evangelcal churches. The General Councl of the Assembles of God was formed to unte the ndvdual churches, whch would reman self-governng, and further ther belefs. In 1916, the councl approved a statement of Fundamental Truths. recognzng the Trnty and the scrptures as dvnely nspred, the Fundamental Truths declare belef n the humanty and dvnty of Jesus Chrst and manknds wllng sn, whch ushered n evl and physcal and sprtual death. There are four cardnal doctrnes: that salvaton wll restore fellowshp wth God to all who accept Chrsts offer for forgveness; that baptsm, whch follows salvaton, empowers people for wtnessng and servce; that dvne healng of the sck s a prvlege made avalable to Chrstans by Chrsts death; and that Jesus Chrst wll rapture hs church before he comes agan to rule the earth for 1,000 years. The unrepentant wll spend eternty n a lake of fre. In addton, the members of the Assembles of God, who, lke the members of many other Protestant denomnatons, recognze the ordnances of water baptsm and Holy Communon, beleve that speakng n tongues s the ntal physcal evdence of baptsm n the Holy sprt and that ther salvaton requres them to evangelze the world. Today, the Assembles of God church operates 19 Bble and lberal arts colleges and a semnary n the Unted states. The Assembles emphass on world evangelzaton, however, has created a denomnaton, orgnally Amercan, that has more adherents outsde the Unted states than nsde t. The church counts 236,022 churches n 191 countres, wth 1,891 nternatonal Bble schools and 48 mllon overseas members. The Assembles of God has taken postons on a number of ssues. True belevers cannot be possessed by demons because the devl s to them an external force that must be fought. Aborton and euthanasa volate the sanctty of human lfe. Alcohol, even n moderaton, s provdng satan an openng. Because the Bble dentfes God as the creator, evoluton s not possble.53

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the Episcopal Church

what was orgnally the Church of england, the epscopal Church came to Amerca wth englsh colonsts and became establshed as the church of hgh socety. wth the end of the Amercan revoluton, t adopted the name Protestant epscopal Church n 1783 and, n 1967, the epscopal Church. durng the last half of the nneteenth century, the Church expanded beyond ts colonal roots on the Atlantc coast and spread through the country. snce the 1950s, however, membershp has dwndled to 2.46 mllon.54 The epscopal Church, a member of the Anglcan Unon, has 7,200 parshes and mssons and 17,209 clergy. There are nne epscopalan colleges n the Unted states.55 A presdng bshop s elected every nne years and presdes over the House of Bshops. A General Conventon s held every three years, n whch deputatons from doceses and the House of Bshops make polcy and worshp decsons.56 some 72 mllon Anglcans around the world are unted n the use of the Book of Common Prayer, whch blends the twn tradtons of Anglcansm n the reformaton and roman Catholcsm. styles of worshp may dffer sgnfcantly from one church to another, but lturges through the Book of Common Prayer share a common feel. Baptsm and the Holy eucharst are recognzed as sacraments. The other sacraments recognzed by roman Catholcsconfrmaton, ordnaton, matrmony, reconclaton, and unctonare consdered means of grace, but not necessary. epscopalans have nssted that worshp be held n natve languages, and they beleve that the Bble should be nterpreted n lght of tradton and reason. In order words, hstorcal crtcsm of the Bble may lead to new understandngs; the Bble s not nerrant n all respects. The epscopal Church has long been actve n promotng socal justce and peace through drect acton and advocacy. Through ts mnstres, the Church has worked aganst racsm, for the protecton of the envronment, for peace n the Mddle east, and for crmnal justce. It has reached out to vctms of AIds. The epscopal Church has passed offcal resolutons opposng the preemptve use of nuclear weapons, the nfrngement of the rghts of mnortes and mmgrants, and the unlateral nvason of Iraq. It has supported nuclear dsarmament, nternatonal debt relef, poverty programs, respect for relgous dversty, and the mllennum development goals of the Unted Natons.57 The openness of the epscopal Church to ecumensmany baptzed person may receve communon (the eucharst) n an epscopal Churchand to new bblcal nterpretatons can lead the Church n new drectons. In 1976, the Churchs General Conventon approved the ordnaton of women nto

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the presthood, whch meant that women could become bshops. By 2005, there were 2,033 actve and employed ordaned women prests and 1,329 deacons. snce 1989, 12 women have been ordaned as bshops. ordanng women was one thng, but the ordnaton of homosexuals would prove another. In 1979, the General Conventon dsapproved of ordanng homosexuals, yet a bshop went on and dd so n 1989 wth no fnal consequence. In 2003, an overtly practcng gay man was ordaned bshop of the docese of New Hampshre and affrmed by the General Conventon. Ths would have consequences that are stll to be played out n full. even before the ordnaton of the gay bshop, schsm was fomentng. In 1996, dssdents formed the Amercan Anglcan Councl wth the goal of proclamng the Bblcal and orthodox fath by advocatng for and provdng assstance to those who want to reman Anglcans but dsagree wth the progressve relgon that, they aver, s beng preached by the epscopal Church. The councl clams that the real ssue s not homosexualty, blessng homosexual unons, or even the ordanng of homosexuals, although ts lterature repeatedly returns to those subjects, but rather an understandng of Jesus Chrst and revsonst nterpretatons of the Bble. The acceptance of pluralsm by these revsonsts has made every relgon the same, thereby denyng bblcal truth and gvng brth to an anythng s oK theology and lfestyle. Ths has all led, of course, to a dssolute epscopalan youth. The councl ponts to a study that found that only 70 percent of young epscopalans beleve n God; 40 percent fnd fath mportant n ther daly lves; 60 percent thnk moralty s relatve; and 45 percent thnk adults are hypocrtes. early n 2004, a movement called the Anglcan Communon Network was created. Its plan s to become the new bblcally based Amercan Anglcan church recognzed by the Anglcan Unon, thus leavng the epscopal Church n schsm. In fact, 22 of the 38 provnces n the Anglcan Unon have declared the epscopal Church n broken unon.58 Local epscopal churches around the country have been dvded. some have left the epscopal Church and, callng themselves Anglcans, rather than epscopalans, alled themselves wth conservatve Afrcan bshops who welcome ther orthodoxy and ther ntenton to reman n the Anglcan Unon.
Churches of Christ

The Churches of Chrst, wth 1.5 mllon members n the Unted states, emerged out of Amercas second Great Awakenng, whch commenced at the begnnng of the nneteenth century, and the so-called restoraton movement that resulted. whle ts greatest numbers of Amercan members are n the south, partcularly n Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas, there are

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Churches of Chrst n all 50 states and n 109 other natons. worldwde, the Churches of Chrst clams 2.53 mllon adherents n 20,000 congregatons. The message of the restoraton movement was that Chrsts true church needed to be restored to ts orgnal foundaton: a church based not on denomnatonal doctrne, but on smple Chrstanty; a church based squarely on the Bble and only the Bble; a church that promoted the practces of smple New Testament Chrstanty. Thus the Churches of Chrst s not a denomnaton, but a group of ndependent, self-governng churches that may coordnate some socal works but has no trappngs of denomnaton such as governng boards, annual conventons, or publcatons. The congregatons of the Churches of Chrst beleve ther church s Chrsts church. Becomng a Chrstan through hearng the Gospel, repentng, acceptng Chrst, and baptsm by mmerson makes a person a member of the church. The Churches of Chrst beleve that fath can come to anyone through lstenng to the word of the Lord; there s no such thng as Gods havng predestned people to heaven or hell. The task of the church s to teach the New Testament wthout modfcaton to lead people to Chrst. The creed of the Churches of Chrst s the New Testament. The ndvdual churches elect elders from ther male membershp to govern themselves. They also select deacons. worshp s centered on the practces of the frst-century church: sngng, prayng, preachng, gvng, and eatng the Lords supper. some congregatons, the so-called nonnstrumental churches, employ no muscal nstruments n the sngng because the New Testament makes no menton of nstruments n lturgcal worshp. The Lords supper s observed each sunday.59
jehovahs Witnesses

Jehovahs wtnesses grew out of a Bble study group n Allegheny, Pennsylvana, led by Charles Taze russell. In 1879, the frst ssue of Zions Watch Tower and Herald of Christs Presence was publshed, and two years later, the Zons watch Tower Tract socety was formed, whch later took ts current name, the watch Tower Bble and Tract socety. The members of the socety adopted the name Jehovahs wtnesses n 1931. Most Amercan households have been vsted at least once by the wtnesses home mssonares, dressed n plan black pants and whte shrts. They go door to door through neghborhoods to dstrbute the socetys tracts and publcatons wth the hope of nterestng people n Bble study wth them. Ths partcular technque brought the wtnesses to the U.s. supreme Court, whch ruled n ther favor. The wtnesses have no clergy class or specal ttles. Ther magaznes The Watch Tower and Awake! contnue to be prmary communcaton tools, but the wtnesses have also made extensve use of newspaper,

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rado, and televson to evangelze. whle they now clam some 90,000 congregatons worldwde, t s estmated there are about 1.8 mllon Jehovahs wtnesses n the Unted states. Jehovah, the wtnesses name for God, had a purpose n all created thngs. Gods creaton reflects Gods glory, and God created the earth so t could be nhabted, the sn of Adam and eve notwthstandng. The act of creaton precludes any belef n human evoluton. wtnesses beleve that souls de wth physcal death, but through the sacrfce of Jesus Chrst, they wll be resurrected. (Contrary to popular thnkng, Jehovahs wtnesses are Chrstans, who beleve Chrst s the son of God, but nferor to hm.) wtnesses beleve further that the end of the world as we know t s near, and Chrst, who rose from the dead as an mmortal sprt person, wll rule the earth n an deal, peaceful, and rghteous kngdom. Because God created the earth wth a purpose, the earth wll not be destroyed or depopulated, but the wcked wll be eternally destroyed, and those who God approves wll lve forever. death, the punshment for orgnal sn, wll be no longer. However, only 144,000, a number bblcally wrought, who are born agan wll go to heaven and rule wth Chrst. Clearly wtnesses beleve that the Bble s Gods word and s truth. Good wtnesses are expected to pray only to Jehovah through Chrst, use no mages n worshp, keep separate from the world and avod ecumencal movements, and obey laws that do not conflct wth Gods laws. They are also expected to act n a bblcally moral way, serve God through the example set by Chrst, and publcly testfy to bblcal truth. Baptsm by complete mmerson s consdered a symbol of dedcaton. Perhaps the wtnesses most controversal belef, rendered from scrpture, s that takng blood nto body through mouth or vens volates Gods laws. A good Jehovahs wtness would not receve a transfuson of another persons blood.60
judaism

eghty-fve percent of the 5.2 mllon Jews n the U.s. populaton were born n the Unted states. of those born outsde the Unted states, 44 percent mgrated from the former sovet Unon. The Jewsh populaton s not unformly located around the country. some 43 percent lve n the Northeast, 22 percent n the south, 22 percent n the west, and only 13 percent n the Mdwest. Jewsh adults are generally better educated (55% have at least bachelors degrees vs. 28% n the total populaton) and have a hgher medan annual household ncome ($50,000 vs. $42,000 n the total populaton) than the general populaton. stll, 19 percent of Jewsh households classfy as low ncome ($25,000 a year or less). Thrty-fve percent of Amercan Jews dentfy themselves as reform; 26 percent as Conservatve; 20 percent secular

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(not attendng temple or synagogue); 10% orthodox (contanng many sects); and 9 percent all other.61 As non-Chrstans n a Chrstan country, Jews n the Unted states have been subjected to dscrmnaton and prejudce. Ant-semtsm has long been a feature of rght-wng Amercan natvsm and has reared ts head n the whte House (Presdent rchard Nxon and evangelst Blly Graham on tape n 1972 agreeng that Jews have a stranglehold on meda), among busness leaders (Henry Ford was openly ant-semtc), n the meda (Father Charles Coughln, Catholc prest and rado personalty of the 1930s and 1940s, was fnally suppressed for hs rabd ant-Jewsh vews), and n presdental and state electons (davd duke, former Grand wzard of the Ku Klux Klan, ran for varous offces). The truth s that these cultural representatves gave voce to a common and persstent Amercan prejudce aganst Jews based on the old shylock stereotype. Just as relgous freedom n Amerca opened Chrstanty, partcularly Protestantsm, to a tremendous dversty of theologcal and relgous belefs and practces, Judasm, too, was transformed by the Amercan experence. In 1885, a group of rabbs meetng n Pttsburgh, Pennsylvana, declared the prncples that would govern reform Judasm, the movement they were undertakng. recognzng the so-called God-dea as a central truth, the Bble as the most potent nstrument of relgous and moral nstructon, the rabbs went on to dscard Mosac Law other than moral law because t dd not speak to modern tmes. Lkewse, they dscarded orthodox detary laws, prestly purty, and tradtonal dress. reform Judasm would be no longer a naton, but a relgous communty. They wanted Judasm to be a progressve relgon that made every attempt to be n accord wth reason as t strove for truth, justce, and peace. reform Jews would be duty bound to nvolvement n socal ssues and reach out beyond Judasm to welcome converts.62 reform Judasm, whch affrmed ts commtment to the equalty of men and women by ordanng women as rabbs and nvestng women cantors and welcomng gays and homosexuals nto Jewsh lfe, s now the largest Jewsh movement n the Unted states, wth 1.5 mllon members and over 900 congregatons. The Central Conference of Amercan rabbs has been actve snce ts ncepton n 1889 n adoptng hundreds of resolutons on socal ssues, ncludng cvl and mnorty rghts, dscrmnaton, and world peace. The Conference stands for a womans rght to choose aborton but s aganst aborton on demand as well as any legal restrctons on aborton. It has supported gay and lesban cvl marrage and the rghts of homosexual rabbs to fulfll ther vocatons. In reacton to the modernzng tendences of reform Judasm, the Unted synagogue of Conservatve Judasm was founded n 1913. Now wth 760 afflated synagogues n North Amerca, the Conservatve movement has tred

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A boy readng the Torah durng hs bar mtzvah. Corbs.

to steer a mdway between reform and orthodoxy by mantanng hstorcal contnuty wth Jewsh tradton. Ths ncludes, among other thngs, observng bblcal detary restrctons, loyalty to the Torah, and usng Hebrew as the language of worshp.63
islam

The number of Muslms n the Unted states s the subject of some debate. estmates vary from around 1 mllon to 6.5 mllon. The best guess s that there are a bt fewer than 2 mllon, more than half of whom were born n the Unted states to mmgrant famles, some as long as three generatons ago.64 Turmol at home brought Muslm mmgrants to Amerca: the breakup of the ottoman empre, the aftermath of world wars I and II, cvl war n Lebanon, and revoluton n Iran. Changes n U.s. mmgraton polcy brought new waves of Muslms to Amerca from Afrca and Asa. what s known s that there are 1,209 mosques n the Unted states, and 62 percent of them were founded after 1980. Calforna has 227 mosques, New york has 140, and New Jersey has 86, but there are mosques spread across the country. Amercas oldest mosque s located n Cedar rapds, Iowa. whle only 7 percent of mosques are attended by a sngle ethnc group, many began as ethnc

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places of worshp. A thrd of them were south Asan n orgn; 30 percent, Afrcan Amercan; and 25 percent, Arab. only 1.6 percent were whte Amercan. over 20 percent of the mosques operate full-tme schools. some 71 percent of Amercan Muslms beleve that the Koran should be nterpreted n lght of modern experence, and 70 percent beleve strongly that they should be nvolved partcpants n Amercan nsttutons and democracy.65 Muslms, lke Jews, have been msunderstood and ostraczed as nonChrstans n the Unted states. There s a strange confuson n Amercan culture that all Muslms, save for ndgenous Afrcan Amercan Muslms, are Arabs, whch, of course, s not true. In part because of a lack of knowledge about Islam, Amercans tend to make Muslms vctms of stereotypng, and some conflate the radcal Islam of terrorsts wth manlne Islam. The stereotype s an Arab Muslm, dersvely referred to as a rag head. Ths stereotype melds the sunns, shtes, and all other varetes and natonaltes of Muslms n Amerca nto the mstaken sngle category of Arabs. Hate crmes aganst Arabs, whether Muslms or not, rose after the september 11, 2001, terrorst attacks on New york and washngton, d.C. yet Amercan Muslms, lke Amercan Jews, have assmlated well nto Amercan lfe and adopted Amercan lfestyles. The have found that Islam s n no way at odds wth Amercan culture and democracy.
The Nation of Islam

The Naton of Islam (NoI), sometmes referred to as the black Muslms, publshes no membershp numbers, but s beleved to have between 50,000 and 100,000 members. whle ts numbers may be small, ts nfluence s not. Mnster Lous Farrakhan, leader of the NoI, has qute remarkably been the force behnd the Mllon Man March on washngton, d.C., n 1995 and the Mllon Famly March n 2000, also n washngton. wth these marches, Farrakhan wanted to establsh postve publc mages of Afrcan Amercans and demonstrate the prncples of atonement, reconclaton, and responsblty n the search for black empowerment and famly stablty. Farrakhan, a fery speaker gven to controversy, resurrected the teachngs of wallace d. Fard (wallace Fard Muhammad). Fard dsdaned whte mens relgonChrstantystarted a mosque n 1930 n detrot, Mchgan; and clamed hs msson n lfe was to lead the orgnal members of the trbe of shabazz from the lost naton of Asa, who had been captured and placed nto slavery n Amerca, down the road of ndependence nto a hgher cvlzaton. eljah Muhammad, to whom Fard revealed hmself as the Mahd, or messah of Islam, ruled the NoI from 1935 untl hs death n 1975. durng hs rule, cvl rghts fgure Malcolm x joned the NoI but left to form hs own group. eljah Muhammads son took over NoI leadershp n 1975, abandoned the

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Mnster Lous Farrakhan of the Naton of Islam relgon s known for hs charsma and passonate speeches. AP Photo/Carlos osoro.

doctrne that Fard was the long-expected Mahd, and eventually took hs movement back nto tradtonal Islam. In 1978, Farrakhan reestablshed the NoI and the tradtons of Fard and eljah Muhammad. The NoI clams to have mosques and study groups n 120 ctes n the Unted states, europe, and the Carbbean. It also has mssons n south Afrca and Ghana. The members of NoI beleve n one God, Allah; n the Koran; n the wrtngs of all Gods prophets; and n the truth of the Bble. The Bble, however, has been tampered wth and flled wth untruths. It s thus n need of new nterpretaton. They beleve that judgment wll come, but not n the resurrecton of the dead; rather, t wll come n mental resurrecton, and Allahs chosen people wll be resurrected frst. NoI members beleve n justce for all and n equalty, but equalty s not possble between slave masters and freed slaves. Integraton s a decepton. Thus Afrcan Amercans and whtes need to be separated, and Afrcan Amercans need to dentfy themselves wth names that do not recall ther former masters names. The NoI stands frmly aganst ts members partcpaton n war as good Muslms, notng that Muslms should not be forced to fght n Amercas wars because they have nothng for whch to fght. The NoI has a concerted socal program based on ts relgous belefs. The Muslm Program calls for freedom, equal justce, and equalty of opportunty.

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descendants of former slaves should be allowed to establsh ther own separate state or terrtory n North Amerca or elsewhere, and the former masters should underwrte that state or terrtory for up to 25 years or untl self-suffcency can be establshed. Afrcan Amercans should be able to vote on whether they want to go to the separated state or reman where they are. Muslms n federal prsons and Afrcan Amercan men and women sentenced to death should be freed from prson. Polce brutalty and mob attacks aganst Afrcan Amercans must end, and Afrcan Amercans need the protecton of courts. Afrcan Amercans should not have to lve n poor housng condtons or be dependent on charty. Afrcan Amercans should be exempt from all taxaton. Muslms want an educatonal system that s equal, wth boys and grls separated, and Afrcan Amercan pupls should have Afrcan Amercan teachers. Fnally, the NoI calls for the prohbton of race mxng through ntermarrage. The Naton of Islam also calls tself the Naton of Peace and the fulfllment of the old Testament promse to free the enslaved. NoI members do not carry frearms; the Brotherhood of Islam precludes aggresson. Black Muslms acknowledge ther respect for the laws of the Unted states. They beleve n respect for others, good manners, and clean lvng. They forsake alcohol, smokng, or the abuse of any substance that would prohbt a healthy lfestyle. They dress modestly. Farrakhans ncendary rhetorc, replete wth the bombastc delvery of occasonally outrageous opnon, however, does not lend the NoI the mage of peacefulness. Indeed, ts message of hope for the descendants of black slavesa separate state made up exclusvely of blacksruns aganst the prevalng Amercan efforts toward total ntegraton of all peoples nto the fabrc of Amercan socety. Progressve Amercans want to be color-blnd, and the laws passed durng and after the cvl rghts movement of the 1960s guarantee, as much as laws can, that at least before the law, race may never be the bass of any knd of dscrmnaton.66
itinerant Preachers, televangelists, and nondenominational Churches

There s no accurate count of how many local churches or houses of worshp there are n the Unted states. Anyone can start a church anywhere, and there s no need for t to be alled wth a relgous denomnaton. Freedom of relgon and free speech provde a superor foundaton for a varety of relgous expresson. Itnerant preachers have been mportant players n Amercan hstory and culture. They are responsble for the waves of evangelcal awakenngs that have perodcally rpped through Amerca snce the 1730s and contnue untl today. They are the ones who once ptched ther revval tents and preached

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the Bble to all who would lsten. They converted slaves to Chrstanty n the south and spread an enthusastc relgon of the heart throughout the land. some were charlatans who found personal uses for the collecton offerngs. Most were God-fearng men on a msson. revvals reman part of Amercan lfe, but they now are more lkely to take place n sports stadums than n tents. The reverend Blly Graham has been Amercas most admred tnerant preacher snce he emerged out of the youth for Chrst movement n the 1940s. He set up the Blly Graham evangelstc Assocaton to keep hm free of any hnt of fnancal scandal. He used meda effectvely, frst through a weekly rado show, The Hour of decson, whch was also televsed n the early 1950s, and then through tapes, magaznes, books, and flms. Most Amercans know hm, however, as the preacher who set up so-called crusades n ctes all over the world, many of whch were televsed, to evangelze the globe wth the smple bblcal message that repentance and acceptance of Chrst nto your heart wll brng eternal salvaton. Graham ngratated hmself wth U.s. presdents after hs frst attempt wth Harry Truman faled. whenever a presdent after Truman was n some knd of crss, Graham seemed to be nvted to the whte House. Presdents knew that n the publc mnd, assocaton wth Graham gave a knd of blessng and assurance that everythng was rght wth God. Although Graham was very much a feature of the Cold war, as he patrotcally stood up for Amercan, Chrstan values aganst the godlessness of Communsm, he favored reconclaton, rather than confrontaton. He rejected the agenda of the relgous rght for actve poltcal nvolvement, but Graham remans a recognzed leader of evangelcal Protestant Chrstanty.67 Itnerant preachers do not have to ptch tents to preach anymore; they can buy a televson staton. That s what Pat robertson dd n 1960 when he purchased a lttle staton n Vrgna and called hs operaton the Chrstan Broadcastng Network (CBN). Ths was the brth of Chrstan televson broadcastng n the Unted states. In 1977, robertson founded CBN Unversty, now called regents Unversty. CBN now clams to provde Chrstan programmng by cable and satellte to around 200 countres. A prayer lne s open all day and nght. The 700 Club, a show featurng robertsons Chrstan commentary on news ssues, has been on the ar snce 1966.68 Never far from controversy, n 2002, he called Islam an unpeaceful relgon bent on domnaton and destructon. In 2003, he suggested that a nuclear devce should be used to oblterate the U.s. department of state. He made apologes n 2005 for sayng that Hugo Chavez, the presdent of Venezuela, should be assassnated and for hs prophecy of death and destructon for the town of dover, Pennsylvana, where creatonst members of a school board were thrown out and replaced wth proevoluton advocates. In 2006, robertson

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agan made an apology, ths tme to Arel sharons son, for sayng that the former Israel premers cerebral hemorrhage was Gods retrbuton for hs dvson of Israel. evangelsts Paul and Jan Crouch founded the Trnty Broadcastng Network (TBN) n 1973. TBN advertses tself as the worlds largest Chrstan televson network, reachng every major contnent through 47 satelltes and 12,460 televson and cable afflates. In the Unted states, TBN s also the largest relgous network, wth 6,459 cable afflates, 67.7 mllon cable and satellte subscrbers, and 420 afflated broadcast statons. TBN reaches over 92 mllon Amercan households. Accordng to TBN, ts vewers tune n because they possess the core values of fath n God, love of famly, and patrotc prde. These are the values that have been attacked and rdculed by our pop culture and news and entertanment meda. TBN produces orgnal Chrstan programmng and even lve coverage of Chrstan events. There are channels for chldren (completely free of the volence and crude humor found elsewhere and contanng the best moral and Bblcal teachngs), youths, and TBN enlace UsA for the Hspanc communty. The Crouches have a Chrstan chat show, Praise the Lord, on whch guests share ther fath.69 TBN vewers can also watch church servces on the Church Channel and experence Gods healng powers on the Healng Channel. some evangelsts appear regularly on ther own shows. dr. Jack Van Impe, convnced by Bble prophecy that the second Comng of Chrst s mmanent, has charted out the future n a prophecy chart and even produced a Mddle east nvason map so belevers can follow what the Bble says wll happen soon. Charsmatcs Kenneth and Glora Copeland offer Bble-based fnancal advce. even better, evangelsts Marlyn Hckey and her daughter sarah Bowlng have a Mracle Provson afghan wth all the varous names of God, whch, for an offerng of $149 or more, they have anonted so that t wll brng the recpent a mraculous cure of fnancal problems. Benny Hnn heals the sck by hs anontngs and may speak n tongues. dr. Kreflo A. dollar preaches and lves the gospel of prosperty. Charsmatc author and televangelst Joyce Meyer wants to pray and take acton aganst all the ungodlness that has crept nto Amercan lfe.70 Televangelsm helps keeps relgon n the publc doman at all tmes. Channel surfers cannot clck ther remote controls fast enough to mss a relgon program wth an evangelcal message. relgous televson programmng s part of most cable and satellte packages. Most tnerant preachers are not concerned wth relgous denomnaton; they are concerned wth personal salvaton. No nondenomnatonal church could be more emblematc of the growth of all-Amercan evangelcal Protestantsm than the saddleback Church n Lake Forest, Calforna, whch s

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located n suburban, republcan south orange County. Pastor rck warren and hs wfe arrved there n 1979 knowng no one and determned to start a church. From humble begnnngs, saddleback s now a megachurch wth more than 20,000 members. warren clams that 80,000 names are on the rolls. warren s a pastoral Horato Alger, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps story. Hs 1995 book The Purpose Driven Church focused on fve bblcal purposes that led to hs churchs success: worshp, fellowshp, dscpleshp, mnstry, and evangelsm. Hs later best-sellng book The PurposeDriven Life took ths message to a personal level and s used as a devotonal, self-mprovement text for the small worshp and study groups that propel the churchs msson forward. Perhaps warrens greatest nsght nto Amercan evangelcalsm s that converson must reman an ntensely personal phenomenon. Gong to church on the weekend s not conversonworshp and fellowshp follow converson.71 The belefs espoused at the nondenomnatonal saddleback Church are straghtforward. There s one trune God. sn s an atttude that separates God from manknd. Heaven and hell are eternally real. Jesus Chrst suffered and ded for the sns of manknd and arose from the dead. No amount of selfmprovement or good works can save a person because salvaton s a gft from

Pastor rck warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, sts n hs mega-church n saddleback, Calforna. AP Photo/Chrs Carlson.

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God that comes wth fath n Jesus Chrst, and salvaton s mantaned by grace, not by any specal human effort. The Holy sprt gudes good Chrstans through lfe, just as the Holy sprt nspred the Bble, the supreme source of unerrng truth.72 Ths knd of unvarnshed theologyGod, sn, personal salvaton, heaven appeals to many Amercans sense of ndvdual power and supremacy, whether before the law, before God, or wthn socety. It s n stark contrast to relgons lke roman Catholcsm, Judasm, and Islam, whch emphasze the good of the fath communty over any one ndvdual and have layers of complcated theologcal tradtons. yet the mddle-of-the-road evangelcalsm of the saddleback Church s not smply that old-tme relgon. Contrary to evangelcal tradton, the members of saddleback gve generously to and become nvolved n socal causes, from AIds to assstance for tsunam vctms. The church has some 200 mnstres. The old stereotype of an evangelcal worshp servce as dull Bble-thumpng fre and brmstone sermonzng, as depcted n Hollywood flms, does not exst at the saddleback megachurch. In fact, the church has developed venues for varous tastes n worshp. The man servce has a full band. The Prase venue features a gospel chor. The overdrve venue has rock n roll. el encuentro features musc n spansh. The Tradtons venue has favorte old songs and hymns, along wth a vdeocast on a large screen. The ohana venue presents sland musc wth hosptalty and hugs, and members can learn worshp through sgnng or hula. The elevaton venue s for sngles and has lve musc. The Country venue s country musc, boots, and buckles wth a messagelne dancng follows the servce.73 o ther r eligious t hought
in

a meriCa

Two relgous groups not natve to Amerca have mantaned a strong and constant voce for peace. Mennontes, who came out of the Anabaptst tradton n europe and were persecuted there for ther belefs, found a safe home n Amerca n the late seventeenth century. Although Mennonte groups, whose core populaton remans n Pennsylvana and spread westward to Mssour, dffer on varous doctrnal ssues, they strve to be Chrst-centered n every aspect of ther lves, accept the Bble as nspred by God, and baptze only adults who have declared ther fath n Jesus Chrst. Most sgnfcantly from a cultural vewpont, many of the 320,000 Mennontes n Amerca have been actve n protestng mltary objectves, objectng to defense budgets, and supportng conscentous objectors to mltary servce.74 The relgous socety of Frends (Quakers), who number only about 93,000 n the Unted states, has lkewse been nfluental n protestng war and furtherng peace movements.

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An Amsh farmer workng on hs farm wth hs horse-drawn plow. Corbs.

The Amsh, who number around 128,000, share the Anabaptst tradtons and belefs n baptsm and peace. Amsh do not serve n the mltary. The Amsh, however, choose to have no voce n natonal affars, preferrng to separate themselves from the modern world. The Amsh have spread out from Pennsylvana to oho, to Indana, and to some small degree westward from there. The old order Amsh contnue to speak a dalect of swss-ntonated German found nowhere else because ther language has developed n a closed communty. Agraran communtes, the Amsh elect ther own relgous leaders. They have no churches; they meet n homes. Local congregatons make determnatons on how they wll relate to the modern world. some congregatons, for example, may permt an outer layer of rubber on a buggy wheel; others may not. The strctest of them dress planly, use no electrcty, do not own automobles, and forego the frlls of curtans on wndows of ther homes. It s a strange rony that toursts beg Amsh for photographs of them standng next to ther horses and bugges, not understandng that the Amsh consder photographs graven mages. old tradtons of Chrstanty could be protected n Amerca, but Amercan creatvty could also take Chrstanty nto new terrtory. In the frst part of the twenteth century, snake handlng began showng up n Appalacha at the Church of God wth sgns Followng. There are at most about 2,000

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members of ths Pentecostal, lterally nterpreted Bble-based church, who beleve that once flled wth the Holy sprt after repentance, salvaton, and leadng a Chrstan lfe, they can follow the sgns. The sgns may nclude serpent handlng as well as drnkng poson and castng out demons.75 The Untaran Unversalst Assocaton, whch clams about 158,000 members, has taken a dfferent tack. Formed n 1961, Untarans and Unversalsts beleve that a modern understandng of human nature and Jesus Chrst combned wth the knowledge that a good God wants salvaton for everyone means that anyone, belevers of any fath and athests alke, should be welcomed nto the church. Untaran unversalsm s fundamentally based on humansm. Proud of ts hstorcally lberal vews, the assocaton has worked to operatonalze the femnst agenda n the church; stood for rghts for gays, lesbans, and bsexuals; and ordaned gay and lesban clergy.76 The Church of Chrst, scentst, was the creaton of Mary Baker eddy n 1879. In her 1875 book Science and Health with Key to the Scripture, she clamed to have dscovered the predctable and reproducble scence of Jesus Chrsts healng power. The Bble and eddys book are the twn foundatons of the Churchs belefs. Chrstan scence readng rooms dot the country and the world, where people can go to understand ths scence of relgon. wth no ordaned clergy, Baker hoped to restore the prmtve Chrstan church and a better world based on a fuller understandng of God.77 r eligion
and

P olitiCs

whle t may have been true at one tme that relgous belefs could be equated wth certan poltcal belefs, ths certanly s no longer the case. A broad spectrum of socopoltcal and moral opnon has developed even wthn ndvdual denomnatons. on the hot-button ssues of aborton and gay rghts, for example, there s clear dvson. where there s some coalton of values, however, s across denomnatonal lnes. Those who consder themselves relgous conservatves no matter the denomnaton mght agree that aborton should be outlawed and gay rghts should not be recognzed, whereas those who consder themselves moderates or lberals may not.78 Ffty-one percent of Amercans beleve that churches should speak out on socal and poltcal ssues aganst 44 percent who thnk they should not. Among whte evangelcals and Afrcan Amercan Protestants, however, 67 percent favor churches takng such postons. Forty-fve percent of the populaton fnds that conservatve Chrstans have exceeded an acceptable boundary n attemptng to mpose ther belefs on the country, but an equal percentage say they have not. Thrty-nne percent of Amercans thnk poltcal leaders do not speak enough about ther relgous convctons, but 26 percent thnk they

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express them too much. A sold 66 percent of all Amercans support government fundng to churches for socal servces. only 33 percent oppose t.79 Clearly Amercans are dvded on the role of relgon n publc socety and poltcs, even though they apprecate the good works performed by churches through ther chartable actvtes. Indeed, many Amercans hold ther personal relgous vews closely and would not consder mposng ther belefs on anyone else. To some Amercans, however, the kngdom of God s at hand, and Amerca s not prepared. The so-called new relgous rght s a multdenomnatonal (and nondenomnatonal) group of lke-mnded tradtonalsts. They have banded together to push a poltcal agenda of so-called old-fashoned Amercan values and overturn what they see as a secular, Godless socal movement that s runng Amercan culture. The relgous rght s overtly poltcal, alled wth and energzed by the republcan Party, and has sought to nterpret Amercan hstory as well as foresee Amercas future n terms of bblcal prophecy. Patrotsm (called nationalism when appled to other natons) must, therefore, be part and parcel of the belevers arsenal. These tradtonalsts have, then, both the patrotc and the moral duty to act aganst perceved transgressons aganst tradtonal Amercan values and belefs. These efforts take many turns. when a large corporaton was found to have advertsed ts products n a gay magazne, an nstant boycott of all the corporatons products was announced. The corporatons frst reacton was to pull the ads, but t fnally went ahead wth them. when Presdent George w. Bushs Chrstmas card favored the nclusve phrase Happy Holidays, rather than Merry Christmas, he was accused of takng God out of Chrstmas. Through the efforts of the relgous rght, Amerca s the only western naton where the teachng of evoluton s contested. rght-wng relgous groups have, n some cases, taken over publc school boards to press for the concomtant teachng of the theory of ntellgent desgn. scentsts contend that ths s no theory at all, for t has no scentfc bass; rather, t s another way for conservatve relgous people to teach the bblcal creaton story n publc schools. The frustraton of the relgous rght s understandable. seres of lawsuts have taken God out of the schools n the effort to mantan relgous freedom defned as church-state separaton. relgon may not be taught n the schools, and even the daly rectaton of the Pledge of Allegance to the flag, whch declares one naton, under God, s consdered a volaton of the separaton prncple. To the relgous rght, whose unverse of truth s the Bble, relgon and publc lfe cannot be separated. How can they be asked to volate ther belefs by sendng ther chldren to a Godless publc school? The more mportant queston, however, s how a pluralstc Amercan socety wll deal wth a crusadng relgous movement wth a poltcal agenda.

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There may be a clue n the debate over evoluton. seventy-eght percent of Amercans beleve lfe on earth to be Gods creaton. Forty-eght percent beleve lfe has evolved, but 42 percent thnk God created t as now found from the begnnng of tme. Curously, however, 64 percent of Amercans beleve ntellgent desgn (creatonsm) should be taught alongsde wth evoluton. even 32 percent of creatonsts agreed.80 Ths would seem to ndcate the desre of a majorty of Amercans to avod conflct and end the debate wth a good busness-type negotaton that s nclusve, rather than dvsve. Ths s the pragmatc way Amercans solve problems. Fundamentalsts are frequently portrayed as hotheaded lunatcs spurtng out Bble verses whle bangng on the Good Book. In real everyday lfe, ths s not so. There s a certan nnocence and honesty to all of ths. when a good Chrstan teacher at a small publc school n a tny Tennessee mountan town asked a Jewsh woman f her daughter could play Mary n the Chrstmas pageant snce Mary was Jewsh, too, she clearly betrayed a complete lack of understandng of the pluralstc socety Amerca has become. she dd not and could not understand what t meant to be Jewsh or why t mght be dffcult for a lttle Jewsh grl to go to temple as the mother of Jesus Chrst. Amercans lke ths well-ntended teacher are not unusual n ths predomnantly Chrstan naton. t he s oCial r ole
of

C hurChes

Churches play a vtal role n Amercan socety. They are woven nto the fabrc of servce organzatons that tend to specal socal needs. Frequently referred to as fath-based communtes, perhaps n an attempt to dscharge the use of more obvous relgous language that would openly test the churchstate relatonshp, churches are very much nvolved n medcal care through hosptals, educaton from the youngest age through graduate school, and the promoton of socal justce through chartable actvtes. Catholc Chartes, for example, traces ts begnnngs to New orleans n 1727, when an order of nuns opened an orphanage. Today, t serves over 7 mllon people wth annual resources of nearly $3 bllon, 60 percent of whch s derved from government. Catholc Chartes employs around 50,000 staff members and coordnates the work of nearly 200,000 volunteers through 137 agences and ther 1,341 branches and afflates. More than 4.5 mllon people beneft from ts food servce operatons, whch nclude food banks, soup ktchens, and home-delvered meals. More than 3 mllon people, ncludng many at-rsk persons, receve socal support and neghborhood servces as well as health-related and educatonal enrchment servces. Thousands more receve servces desgned to strengthen famles, ncludng

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counselng, mental health, addcton, refugee, pregnancy, and adopton servces. Catholc Chartes also provdes housng servces, from temporary shelters and supervsed lvng to permanent housng, and basc needs servces to the poorest of the poor such as assstance wth clothng, utlty blls, fnances, and medcaton.81 one of Presdent George w. Bushs frst acts as presdent was to sgn executve order no. 13199, whch establshed the whte House offce of Fath-based and Communty Intatves. The offce was created to dentfy and elmnate any barrers that mght mpede fath-based and communty organzatons (FBCos) from partcpatng n federal grants and to pursue legslaton to prevent dscrmnaton aganst FBCos by extendng chartable choce provsons, to protect the relgous freedom of the FBCos, and to mantan the relgous hrng rghts of the FBCos.82 Presdent Bush was named Amercas most nfluental Chrstan n a lst of 50 owng n great part to settng up ths offce n 2001.83 There are now Centers for Fath-based and Communty Intatves n 11 federal agences, ncludng Homeland securty. The whte House has clamed success n ths venture by reportng that n the federal governments 2005 fscal year, fath-based organzatons (FBos) receved more than $2.1 bllon n grants from seven government agences and that FBos are successfully wnnng more grant money n the competton for fundng. From the admnstratons pont of vew, ths ntatve has expanded the choces of people n need. There were also legslatve and judcal trumphs for the program. The defct reducton Act of 2005 extended the chartable choce provson (FBos provdng socal servces do not have to change ther relgous denttes or hrng polces) another fve years and added to new grant programs to be covered under the provson: a healthy marrages program and a responsble fatherhood program. durng 2005, federal courts held that Amercorps (a federally sponsored youth volunteer program) grant wnners could teach relgous as well as secular subjects n relgously afflated schools and that fundng for socal servces does not make an FBo a quasgovernmental organzaton, thus leavng them completely autonomous n ther hrng decsons.84 It appears that as Amerca experences ths new awakenng of evangelcal fervor, the defnton of the separaton of church and state s beng revsed. Nether the churches, whch fnd ther socal works as well as some of ther belefs furthered by government fundng (FBos have receved federal funds to fght HIV/AIds through abstnence programs), nor the Amercan people as a whole want to return to the noton of a strct separaton. Amercans agree that relgous organzatons make socety a better place by adng the less fortunate. The relgous rght had long argued that separaton dd not have

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to make the state godlessthe protector of secularsm. Thus the state can advocate for puttng God (churches) back nto Amercan lfe. what the state smply may not do, however, s regulate what anyone beleves. n otes
1. Phlp Hamburger, Separation of Church and State (Cambrdge, MA: Harvard Unversty Press, 2002), 3, 49192. 2. Largest relgous Groups n the Unted states of Amerca, http://www. adherents.com. 3. Natonal Councl of Churches, 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches (Nashvlle: Abngdon Press, 2007). 4. wllam Martn, With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America (New york: Broadway Books, 1996), 1011. 5. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, offce of Meda relatons, Catholc Informaton Project: The Catholc Church n AmercaMeetng real Needs n your Neghborhood, http://www.usccb.org. 6. Ibd. 7. Ibd. 8. Mary L. Gauter, Lay Catholcs Frmly Commtted to Parsh Lfe, National Catholic Reporter, september 30, 2005. 9. Ibd. 10. CBs News Polls, U.s. Catholcs want Change, CBs News, specal report, http://www.cbsnews.com. 11. Gauter, Lay Catholcs. 12. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, Prestly Lfe and Mnstry, The study of the Impact of Fewer Prests on the Pastoral Mnstry, executve summary, June 2000, http://www.usccb.org. 13. CBs News, Poll: U.s. Catholcs Angry at Church, May 2, 2002, http:// www.cbsnews.com. 14. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, A Catholc response to sexual Abuse: Confesson, Contrton, resolve, Presdental Address, Bshop wlton d. Gregory, dallas, Texas, June 13, 2002, http://www.usccb.org. 15. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, Natonal revew Board for the Protecton of Chldren and young People, A report on the Crss n the Catholc Church n the Unted states, February 27, 2004, http://www.usccb.org. 16. PBs onlne NewsHour, Church studes show More Than 10,000 reported Abuse Cases, February 27, 2004, http://www.pbs.org. 17. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, Catholc Informaton Project, http://www.usccb.org. 18. Ibd. 19. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, Catholcs n Poltcal Lfe, http://www.usccb.org.

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20. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, Fathful Ctzenshp: A Catholc Call to Poltcal responsblty, 2003, http://www.usccb.org. 21. Unted states Conference of Catholc Bshops, offce of Meda relatons, Bshops Admnstratve Commttee reaffrms support for Federal Marrage Amendment, March 15, 2006, http://www.usccb.org. 22. wllam M. Newman and Peter L. Halvorson, Atlas of American Religion: The Denominational Era, 17761990 (New york: Altamra Press of rowman and Lttlefeld, 2000), 75. 23. Internatonal Msson Board, About Us: Hstorcal reflecton: God at work from 18452005, http://www.mb.org. 24. Internatonal Msson Board, About Us: Fast Facts, http://www.mb.org. 25. southern Baptst Conventon, The Baptst Fath and Message, http://www. sbc.net. 26. Ibd. 27. Ibd. 28. The Natonal Councl of Churches 2006 Yearbook reports membershp of 5 mllon, but the Conventons web ste clams 7.5 mllon members. see Natonal Baptst Conventon, UsA Inc., overvew, http://www.natonalbaptst.com. 29. The Natonal Baptst Conventon, UsA Inc., Hstory of the Natonal Conventon, UsA, Inc., http://www.natonalbaptst.com; see also Artcles of Fath, http://natonalbaptst.com. 30. Natonal Baptst Conventon of Amerca Inc., who we Are; see also Mnstry objectves, and Hstory, http://www.nbcamerca.net. 31. Natonal Councl of Churches, 2006 Yearbook. 32. Progressve Natonal Baptst Conventon Inc., Hstory, http://www.pnbc. org; see also Cvl rghts, http://www.pnbc.org; Progressve Concept, http://www. pnbc.org 33. Amercan Baptst Churches UsA, Amercan Baptsts: A Bref Hstory, http:// www.abc-usa.org. 34. randall, Mke, A Bref Hstory of the BBFI, Baptst Bble Fellowshp Internatonal, http://www.bbf.org. 35. Unted Methodst Church, Archves, statstcs, http://archves.umc.org. 36. Newman and Halvorson, Atlas, 7677. 37. Unted Methodst Church, dstnctve wesleyan emphass, http://archves. umc.org. 38. Unted Methodst Church, our socal Creed, http://archves.umc.org. 39. Ibd. 40. Afrcan Methodst epscopal Church, About Usour Hstory, http:// www.ame-church.com. 41. Afrcan Methodst epscopal Zon Church, Bureau of evangelsm, About evangelsm: our denomnaton, http://beamezon.org. 42. see the Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants offcal web ste at http:// www.lds.org. 43. Church of God n Chrst Inc., The story of our Church, http://www.cogc.org.

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44. Church of God n Chrst Inc., The doctrne of the Church of God n Chrst, http://www.cogc.org. 45. Presbyteran Church (UsA), Presbyteran 101, http://www.pcusa.org; Presbyteran Church (UsA), research servces, FAQ/Interestng Facts, http://www. pcusa.org. 46. evangelcal Lutheran Church n Amerca, eLCA Quck Facts, http://www. elca.org; see also roots of the evangelcal Lutheran Church n Amerca, http://elca. org; essental QuestonsChrstanty and Lutheransm, http://elca.org; socal Advocacy, http://www.elca.org. 47. The Lutheran ChurchMssour synod, LCMs Congregatons report Membershp of 2,488,936, http://www.lcms.org. 48. The Lutheran ChurchMssour synod, Cochran: LCMs school effectve n outreach, http://www.lcms.org. 49. The Lutheran ChurchMssour synod, of the Antchrst, http://www. lcms.org. 50. samuel Nafger, An Introducton to the Lutheran ChurchMssour synod, http://old.lcms.org. 51. The Lutheran ChurchMssour synod, FAQs: Moral and ethcal Issues, http://www.lcms.org. 52. General Councl of the Assembles of God (UsA), statstcs of the Assembles of God (UsA), http://ag.org. 53. General Councl of the Assembles of God (UsA), Hstory of the Assembles of God, http://ag.org; 16 Fundamental Truths of the Assembles of God, http:// ag.org; Msson and Vson, http://ag.org. 54. Natonal Councl of Churches, 2006 Yearbook. 55. The epscopal Church, summary of statstcs, http://www.ecusa.anglcan. org. 56. The epscopal Church, Governance of the epscopal Church, http://www. ecusa.anglcan.org. 57. The epscopal Church, Church Polces related to Peace and Justce, http:// www.ecuse.anglcan.org. 58. Amercan Anglcan Councl, Equipping the Saints: A Crisis Resource for Anglican Laity (n.p., n.d.). 59. Churches of Chrst onlne, The Churches of Chrst . . . who Are These People?, http://cconlne.fathste.com. 60. see Jehovahs wtnesses offcal web ste at http://www.watchtower.org. 61. Jewsh Vrtual Lbrary, Natonal Jewsh Populaton survey, 200001, http:// www.jewshvrtuallbrary.org. 62. Central Conference of Amercan rabbs, declaraton of Prncples: 1885 Pttsburgh Conference, http://ccarnet.org. 63. The Unted synagogue of Conservatve Judasm, About the Unted synagogue of Conservatve Judasm: Frequently Asked Questons (FAQ), http://www.uscj.org. 64. see Largest relgous Groups n the Unted states of Amerca, http://www. adherents.com.

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65. Hartford Insttute for relgous research, Mosque n Amerca: A Natonal Portrat, Aprl 2001, n Muslim Life in America: Demographic Facts (washngton, dC: U.s. department of state, offce of Internatonal Informaton Programs). 66. Naton of Islam, Hstory, http://no.org; Muslm Program, http://www. no.org. 67. see wheaton College, Blly Graham Center Archves, Blly Graham and the Blly Graham evangelstc AssocatonHstorcal Background, http://www. wheaton.edu/bgc/archves/bo.html; see also The Tme 100: Heroes and Icons, http://www.tme.com. 68. CBN, About CBN: Msson and Hstory of CBN, http://www.cbn.com. 69. TBN Networks, TBN overvew, http://www.tbn.org. 70. TBN Networks, watch Us, http://www.tbn.org. 71. The Purpose drven Lfe, The Book, http://www.purposedrvenlfe.com. 72. saddleback Church, what we Beleve, http://www.saddleback.com. 73. saddleback Church, The Venues, http://www.saddleback.com. 74. Mennonte Church UsA, who Are the Mennontes, http://www.menno ntesusa.org. 75. relgous Movements, serpent Handlers, http://relgousmovements.lblvr gna.edu. 76. Untaran Unversalst Assocaton, Untaran Unversalst Assocaton statstcal summary, http://uua.org; Untaran Unversalst orgns: our Hstorc Fath, http://www.uua.org. 77. The Church of Chrst, scentst, About the Church of Chrst, scentst, http://www.tfccs.com. 78. The Pew Forum on relgon and Publc Lfe, The American Religious Landscape and Politics, 2004, http://pewforum.org. 79. The Pew Forum on relgon and Publc Lfe, Publc dvded on orgns of Lfe, August 30, 2005, http://pewforum.org. 80. Ibd. 81. Catholc Chartes, News & Facts: The Catholc Chartes Network at a Glance, http://www.catholcchartesnfo.org. 82. whte House offce of Fath-based and Communty Intatves, whte House Fath-based & Communty Intatve, http://www.whtehouse.gov. 83. The Ffty Most Influental Chrstans n Amerca, The Church Report, January 2005, http://www.thechurchreport.com. 84. The whte House, Fact sheet: Compasson n Acton: Producng real results for Amercans Most n Need, http://www.whtehouse.gov.

B iBliograPhy
Capps, walter H. The New Religious Right: Piety, Patriotism, and Politics. Columba: Unversty of south Carolna Press, 1990. Carpenter, Joel A. Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1997.

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Corrgan, John, and wnthorp s. Hudson. Religion in America. 7th ed. Upper saddle rver, NJ: Pearson educaton, 2004. durham, Martn. The Christian Right, the Far Right and the Boundaries of American Conservatism. New york: Unversty of Manchester Press, 2000. Martn, wllam. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America. New york: Broadway Books, 1998. wlson, John F. Public Religion in American Culture. Phladelpha: Temple Unversty Press, 1979.

3
Gender, Marrage, Famly, and educaton
Ellen Baier

Femnsm s the radcal noton that women are human bengs.

Chers Kramerae

[Femnsm] encourages women to leave ther husbands, kll ther chldren, practce wtchcraft, destroy captalsm and become lesbans. rev. Pat robertson

what could be more llustratve of Amercan culture than how Amercans lve n prvate, love and marry, and rase ther chldren? Amercan lfe s an odd meldng of lberal freedoms and socal conservatsm, and dfferent regons hold entrely dfferent vewponts on the role of the famly, of marrage, and of schools. These dfferences mght be based on relgous vews, poltcal deologes, or personal opnons, but one thng s constant: Amercans prde themselves on ther ndependence. Anyone tryng to tell an Amercan how to lve hs or her lfe, or what to do n hs or her prvate lfe, s n for qute a struggle. Indeed, struggle s an apt word for the hstory of the Unted states, whether n publc lfe or prvate, between races and genders and classes. snce the Unted states won ts ndependence, and before, there were dfferng deas about the best ways to pursue work, dvde housework between spouses, and rase and educate chldren. Though there are a number of other relgous tradtons throughout Amerca, the Unted states hstory s full of Chrstan deology, whch nforms one major sde of the struggle, though not a monolthc, all-encompassng force by any means. The other sde s multfaceted, full of secular humansts, lberals, femnsts, and actvsts of all shades, occasonally
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wth nternal dvsons and opposng goals. recently, Amercans have been preoccuped wth famly values, whch s a concept that s dffcult to argue wthwho s gong to oppose famles, after all? But defnng the famly, and the values, s key n understandng any Amercans poston n the struggle for meanng wthn well-establshed economc and socal systems that he or she may agree wth to a greater or lesser extent. g ender In pre-revolutonary Amerca, the roles of men and women were clearly defned. Men were leaders, poltcally and personally, and women had a sngle career paththat of wfe and mother. However, as the men marched away to war aganst the Brtsh, women were left at home to run stores and mantan busnesses. Though they stll lacked many legal rghts, ths was a taste of freedom, and they enjoyed t. Men returned from war and reganed control over ther households, but many women kept an eye turned outward, awatng ther chance. Pror to the Cvl war, the abolton movement for the rghts of slaves ralled women nto the publc sphere, from where they began to organze for ther own rghts. At a well-known conventon n seneca Falls, New york, n 1848, the frst womens rghts conventon n the Unted states, elzabeth Cady stanton, susan B. Anthony, and many other promnent femnsts of the tme created the declaraton of sentments, a shockng document that denounced mens tyranny and demanded equal rghts, ncludng the rght to vote. Ths frst wave of femnsm sparked protests and demonstratons, often heated, untl women n Amerca earned the rght to vote n 1920 through the ratfcaton of the 19th Amendment. As the Great depresson racked the country, most women were too preoccuped wth workng alongsde ther husbands to keep ther famles from the brnk of dsaster, but t was a tme that saw many legal changes that would turn out to have great effect on gender equtythe New deal, the socal securty Act, mnmum wage laws, and many others. world war II saw the frst great entrance of women nto the pad workforce. Just as ther great grandmothers before them n the Amercan revoluton had held down the home front as men went away to war, women n the 1940s took overthough ths tme, more than 350,000 women went to war as well, n auxlary and nursng unts. However, n the postIndustral revoluton era, that looked much dfferent than n the revolutonary perod. women took jobs n factores, creatng muntons, tanks, and planes. rose the rveter, a famlar and popular symbol of womens strength and determnaton, fueled ambtous fres, and though at the end of the war, many women were fred to allow men to return to ther old jobs, women had ganed a foothold n the workng world.

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The postwar boom n populaton and economc growth kept women at home for a tme, but n the 1960s, the second wave of femnsm began to peak, along wth other cvl rghts battles that were beng fought. The frst ntroducton of the brth control pll n 1960, and the mprovement of the IUd soon after, granted women control over ther reproductve rghts. Ths control, n combnaton wth the fnancal ndependence that many women had as a result of ther greater partcpaton n the workforce, led to a perod of greater sexual expresson than ever before. Men and women began to dscuss sexualty openlylaws governng censorshp of pornography were overturned, and studes of sexual behavors and frank educatonal manuals were publshed. Aborton was legalzed n 1973 wth the supreme Court decson of Roe v. Wade, though many states have restrctons on t n practce, and t s stll hotly contested. Ths ncrease n control by women over ther own bodes led to campagns aganst martal rape and domestc batterng, and laws aganst them ganed n strength as women began to feel more confdent n ther rght to speak out about abuse. Gay and lesban actvsts also began protestng durng ths tme, a perod of openness and revoluton aganst the status quo. Actvsts of colorAfrcan Amercans, Latnos, Asan Amercans, Natve Amercans who are enjoned n these struggles also fght a racal bas n the femnst movement, argung that many of the dsadvantages suffered by women are exacerbated by questons of racsm. Thus the protests that took place n the 1960s and later were merely the begnnng of a struggle for cvl rghts for all that s currently ongong. It s nterestng, though perhaps dsheartenng, to note the fact that, geography asde, the Unted states would not be welcome to jon the european Unon because the Unted states lacks an equal rghts amendment for women (or for gays and lesbans). In 1923, an equal rghts Amendment (erA) was proposed that would grant women equalty of rghts under the law. It was not passed by Congress untl 1972, and states were gven 10 years to ratfy or repudate t, though ths deadlne was later extended. There was a strong push to get the erA ratfed, but t fell 3 votes short of the requred 38, and though t s rentroduced frequently, t has not yet succeeded. There s also debate on the ratfcaton process, some feelng that the process must begn anew snce the tme perod has expred, and some feelng that as long as t s passed n a suffcently contemporaneous tme framewhch, for the 27th Amendment, was 200 years between ntroducton and ratfcatonthe earler votes should stll be current. A new verson of the amendment, known as the womens equalty Amendment, was proposed n March 2007 and does not contan any tme lmt. opponents of the erA have a number of poltcally and emotonally persuasve arguments aganst the measure. They argue that t could be used to

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force women to partcpate n the draft process and fght n combat, n the event of war, or to undermne laws n place to protect women. states wth ther own equal rghts provsons have had challenges to restrctve aborton laws on the bass of the polcy of sex dscrmnaton, and though those challenges had mxed results, t has become a rallyng pont for pro-lfe actvsts. same-sex marrages, too, have been the subject of lawsuts to a few state courts, argung n part that the states polcy of nondscrmnaton requred restrctons on marrage to be dropped. Both aborton and gay marrage, anathema to socal conservatves and the relgous rght, would be enough to provde fervent opposton. sexual rghts and freedoms are a recurrng target of socal conservatve groups, and the debates receve qute a bt of attenton n the meda and press. The most charged arguments stem from ssues of reproductve rghts and famly plannng. The moralty of legal abortons s a frequent subject of poltcal wranglng, and many states, partcularly where there are large numbers of conservatve, evangelcal Chrstans, have passed laws restrctng aborton and access to brth control. The rght of the woman to prevent or termnate her pregnancy s n opposton to the doctrne of many churches that an unborn fetus has an equal rght to protecton. Though there are those who support the womans uncondtonal rght to choose, there are also those who would uphold the fetuss rghts as paramount. In south dakota, the state legslature passed a ban n early 2006 on all abortons, except those that were necessary to save the lfe of the woman, but voters overturned the ban by referendum n the mdterm electons later that year. There are laws n place that allow health care provders to declne to provde certan medcnes or procedures wthout fear of reprsal. There are nearly 20 states that have these laws, known as refusal clauses, and some corporatons allow ther employees ths rght of refusal natonwde. These laws are most commonly called on when the medcal servce relates, even tangentally, to aborton or contracepton. Ths means that women n more conservatve areas have reduced access to prescrbed brth control, emergency contracepton, and legal abortons. when reproductve rghts are abrdged due to lack of access, access to treatment for sexually transmtted nfectons may also be restrcted, puttng both women and men at rsk. Typcally, womens rate of nfecton for many sexually transmtted nfectons (sTIs) s somewhat hgher than mens, but ths s not the case for the major ncurable sTI n the Unted states: AIds. HIV and AIds exsted as small, solated cases n the Unted states pror to 1981, but the Centers for dsease Control classfed the spread of AIds as an epdemc n md-1981, prmarly among gay men, but also among ntravenous drug users and prosttutes, among many others. About 1 mllon people

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n the Unted states are lvng wth HIV rght now, wth nearly 40,000 new cases reported each year, mostly n the east and south, plus Calforna. A dsproportonate number of Afrcan Amercan men are nfected, related to that groups dsproportonate ncarceraton rate and the hgh levels of rsky behavor, such as unprotected anal sex, that occur n prsons. Afrcan Amercan women who partner these men after ther release from prson are also at ncreased rsk. Unfortunately, the hgh cost of the drug cocktal that treats the dsease places t largely out of the reach of the at-rsk populaton. young men and women, partcularly younger gay men, who grew up never not knowng about AIds, are also at a hgher rsk, a few studes suggest, because they do not take the dsease as serously as t deserves and may be less lkely to take precautons. young people under 25 account for nearly 50 percent of new cases each year.1 on the other hand, other sTIs, lke herpes and syphls, are becomng more and more treatable wth advances n medcal scence. An example of ths advance n medcal treatments s the treatment of human papllomavrus (HPV), a common sTI that s lnked to certan reproductve cancers. Merck receved approval from the Food and drug Admnstraton for dstrbuton of ther HPV vaccne, Gardasl, n June 2006. The vaccne, whch s gven only to young women aged 923, protects women from four of the most common strans of the vrus, whch may lower ther rsk of cervcal cancer. In Texas, Governor rck Perry ssued an executve order that grls must receve the vaccne by sxth grade to attend publc school, as of the 20082009 school year. Two other governors, n New Mexco and Vrgna, have ndcated an ntenton of followng sut. However, the Texas state House and senate overturned the order overwhelmngly. The vaccne s consdered controversal because HPV s a sTI, and the vaccne can be gven to grls as young as nne. Its opponents argue that the vaccnaton wll encourage grls to engage n more rsky behavor, consderng themselves unversally protected. oddly, these same opponents who fear for the gnorance of teenagers and young adults are frequently the same folks who support teachng abstnenceonly currcula n the place of full sex educaton and delayng any dscusson untl hgh school, when the programs may be too late to reach all students approprately. The abstnence-only programs, based n conservatve relgous belefs, smply tell students of the mportance of remanng chaste untl marrage, wthholdng nformaton on sTIs or brth control and, on occason, provdng false nformaton about the falure rates of brth control n an attempt to scare teens nto chastty. They also gnore the students who are currently unable to marry ther partners, even f they would lke to gay and lesban students. Proponents of comprehensve sex educaton, on the other hand, favor armng students wth knowledge about the actual rsks of

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premartal sexual behavor and allowng them to come to ther own moral conclusons. There s some evdence that n schools wth abstnence-only educaton, levels of teen pregnancy are hgher than n schools wth comprehensve sex educaton. whle t s true that when teenagers undergo abstnence-only educaton, they engage n sexual behavors at a later age, they also tend to do so n less safe ways than ther more educated peersand teen pregnancy s not the only danger of unprotected sex.2 Though they mght be at rsk, for varous reasons, of gettng n metaphorcal trouble, grls n general seem to get n less trouble than boys. In school, grls are less lkely to repeat grades or be dagnosed wth a learnng dsablty or attenton-defct (hyperactvty) dsorder and are punshed less severely for msbehavor. despte ths attentveness on the part of grls, boys tend to receve more attenton n class than grls, both postve and negatve. There are dfferentals n test scores, but not always to the beneft of boys. Grls tend to do better than boys n readng and wrtng, but less well n scence and math. In hgh school, grls are equally lkely to be enrolled n upper-level math and scence classes, but they report feelng as though they are bad at, or that they dslke, math and scence. A socal stgma stll exsts for young women who excel n these areas, and though many grls falsely proclam ther mathematcal ncompetence, t seems that ths becomes a self-fulfllng prophecy n ther later test scores. Ths pattern perssts throughout both secondary and hgher educaton. Grls are more lkely to get advanced credt n humantes classes, whle boys are more lkely to get credts n math and scence classes. women, especally younger women, are slghtly more lkely to have a bachelors degree than are men, but ther majors are more lkely to be n health, educaton, or psychology. Mens majors, on the other hand, are more lkely to be n computer scence or engneerng, and the same pattern holds true for advanced degrees. overall, fewer women are n the pad workforce than men, but as ther level of educatonal attanment goes up, proportonately hgher numbers of women work. However, just as ther patterns of degree choce are skewed toward less techncal felds, so are women more strongly represented n teachng and carng professons, and less represented n busness, computer, and techncal occupatons. even when they are n these felds, though, women tend to earn much less than ther male peers. In 1970, workngwomen earned an average of 57 cents to every mans dollar. Accordng to recent census fgures, n 2005, the medan annual salary for a woman, workng at least 35 hours per week, year-round, was $32,168, whle the medan salary for a man was $41,965, makng the pay gap 76.7 cents pad to woman to every mans dollar. For a woman workng n the relatvely well-payng felds of fnance or law, however, the gap snks to 55 percent or less, whle socal servce occupatons are the

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only feld where women earn even 90 percent of ther male peersthough salares for ether gender are below the natonal medan ncome. The pay gap also vares by age: t s 88 percent for women aged 2534 but between 74 and 76 percent for women workers older than 35.3 There are many possble reasons for ths pay gap, both hstorcally and ongong. women are more lkely than men to take several monthsor years off for bearng and rearng chldren, just when ther male peers are workng toward promotons and ganng experence for takng a step upward on ther career ladder. even f a woman has no ntenton of becomng a mother, employers may be hestant to hre young women at the same rates as young men, for fear that they wll shortly be forced to hre a replacement. Though t s llegal to decde explctly not to hre a woman for ths reason, t s dffcult to prove outrght dscrmnaton. women may be barred from hgher-level postons n ths subtle way, or they may choose less demandng, more flexble careers, n whch they can take tme wthout losng as much ground because there s less ground to fght over n the frst place. There s also a percepton that women are not as assertve as men n requestng rases and benefts n hrng negotatons and throughout ther careers, leadng to a hgher pay gap. Because of these perceptons, women face challenges n enterng hgher levels of busness, a hghly lucratve and powerfuland male-domnatedfeld. women are much less lkely to be promoted nto upper management, stll confrontng a glass celng, though the term has fallen out of popularty. Conversely, n tradtonally female-domnated felds, such as nursng or elementary teachng, men are subject to much swfter promoton than ther female peersthey are placed on a glass escalator, to use a comparable term. Another form of dscrmnaton that women, and some men, face on the job, whch negatvely affects ther job performance, s sexual harassment. Though llegal under Ttle VII of the Cvl rghts Act of 1964, sexual harassment was not systematcally confronted untl the early 1990s. More women started reportng sexual harassment after the Clarence Thomas supreme Court confrmaton hearngs, n whch a subordnate, Anta Hll, testfed that he had harassed her, creatng a hostle work envronment. Though her clam was not corroborated, t shed lght on a major problem n Amercan workplaces. each year, nearly 15,000 clams are fled wth the U.s. equal employment opportunty Commsson, ncludng about 15 percent of men wth a clam. students of both genders also report beng sexually harassed at school, grls more so than boys. Ths harassment commonly comes from peers but may be drected at students from teachers, though harassment n the workplace may come from a coworker but s more lkely to come from a supervsor or manager. retalaton s common when the vctm complans, and male vctms are lkely to be rdculed. The mpact on the worker, and the

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workplace, can be dsastrous, and employers are becomng more and more motvated to mnmze the rsk of ncurrng clams of harassment. The care that s beng taken wll help to create more equtable workng envronments. At another level, a farly good ndcator of gender equalty s the electon of women to the hghest levels of government. As of 2007, one of the nne justces servng on the supreme Court was a woman. sandra day oConnor, who had been on the Court snce 1981, retred n 2006, leavng only ruth Bader Gnsburg, who had joned her n 1993. Another woman, Harret Mers, was proposed by Presdent George w. Bush as a replacement for oConnor, but she declned the nomnaton amd protests that her qualfcatons were napproprate for the poston. The poston was flled by samuel Alto nstead, leavng only one woman on the bench. Untl 1994, there were at most two women n the senate at any tme, and no more than 20 n the House. Those numbers have rsen, and currently, there are 16 female senators and 67 female representatvesa bare 15 percent of Congress. despte ths, the most powerful poston n the House of representatves, speaker of the House, was held by a woman, rep. Nancy Pelos, as of January 2007. Addtonally, a front-runnng canddate n the 2008 democratc presdental campagn was a woman, Hllary rodham Clnton, and more than 78 percent of voters have ndcated that they would be wllng to vote for a woman for presdent.4 The struggle for equalty between the sexes seesaws back and forth. Currently, the term feminist s out of vogue; young women enjoy ther rghts and try to fght back when they see gender dscrmnaton, but to be a femnst s somehow supposed to represent a mltant atttude or a hatred of men. The conservatve mens rghts movement exaggerates ths antfemnst percepton, whle more lberal, antsexsm actvsts try to avod alenatng potental alles. Male prvlege n Amerca has been pervasve, partcularly n the economc and publc sphere, yet gender-based nequaltes are not lmted to women. For nstance, women n the Unted states have a lfe expectancy nearly sx years longer than that of men. Both sucde and homcde rates are hgher for men than for women, and the most dangerous jobs, wth the hghest levels of workplace deaths, are held prmarly by men. In many physcal careers, such as the mltary or law enforcement, the entrance requrements are gender-normed, meanng that men must pass more strngent requrements than women, and mens rghts advocates argue that ths dfferental leaves men wth a heaver burden than ther female peers. Addtonally, only men must regster wth the selectve servce system so that they may be drafted nto mltary servce, and only men may serve n nfantry combat roles, on submarnes, or n specal programs such as the Navy seALs. Furthermore, there s a dfferental treatment of statutory rapsts by gender. women who have sex wth young men aged 1316, f they are prosecuted

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at all, are lkely to receve probaton, communty servce, or a token prson sentence, whle men who have sex wth young women of the same age are lkely to receve sentences of 20 years n prson and are forced to regster on sex-offender lsts, wth nary a smle to be found. The sexualty of young men s treated wth ndulgence, whle the sexualty of young women s protected, despte the fact that both boys and grls can be harmed by these relatonshps, partcularly wth teachers and others n a poston of authorty above them. Men are cast as sexual aggressors n both cases, and women as vctms or, at best, coconsprators, and ths percepton does no one justce. The vew of men as aggressors s pervasve and, n cases where men are vctmzed, harmful. Though the vast majorty of reported ntmate partner volence cases are nstances of men abusng ther female partners, t s unclear how many men are slent vctms of volence from partners of ether gender. The stgma that attaches to domestc volence makes t dffcult to gauge levels of abuse that occur behnd closed doors. Most of the support systems for ntmate partner volence, such as shelters, are n place for women who have been abused by ther male partners and gnore the needs of women fleeng abusve female partners or men fleeng ther ntmate partners. shelters for battered men exst, but at a much smaller proporton to shelters for battered women. Not all gender dentfcaton s based n ths sort of male-female dualty. There are a number of people, though t s dffcult to know how many, who do not feel as though they ft nto tradtonal male-female categores. some were born wth ambguous sexual characterstcs, and some come to feel that ther physcal and socal gender categores are n opposton. Many cultures have a category for male-dentfed people who were born as women, or female-dentfed people who were born as men, as well as those who were born n ambguty, and Amerca s no dfferent, although ths gender fludty s stll techncally defned n the fourth edton of the Amercan Psychatrc Assocatons Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as gender identity disorder, a mental llness. Nonetheless, many people n the Unted states lve contrary to ther orgnal gender assgnment, whether or not they choose to take hormones or undergo surgery to complete the change. There are also those who prefer androgyny, but ths s even more dffcult than changng ones gendern the Unted states, gender s mportant, however t s decded on. m arriage The nsttuton of marrage n the Unted states s constantly beng redefned. when Brtsh settlers frst began to arrve n the seventeenth century,

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a wfes status and legal poston was closer to property than partnershp. dvorce was nearly mpossble. However, as the Amercan revoluton began to brng more republcan values, even marrage was changed. The concepton of marrage began to shft toward deals of love and partnershp. Those deals were not translated nto legal equalty untl qute recently, but modern conceptons of marrage nclude relatve egaltaransm, n legal, f not always practcal, terms. what exactly s marrage? There are four components, some or all of whch may be present: a cvl bond, a personal bond, communty recognton, and relgous recognton.5 The cvl bond represents recognton by the state, such as n the ssuance of a marrage lcense, that the couple ntends to wed, and the relgous recognton of the bond s the affrmaton of that bond wthn the couples house of worshp. The personal bond s the prvate agreement between two people to share ther lves, and the communty recognton s the publc declaraton of that agreement. Couples who elope are no less marred than couples who wed n front of 200 of ther frends and famly members; couples who are legally prohbted from obtanng a cvl marrage can commt to each other prvately and feel just as marred. For nstance, before the Cvl war, slaves were prohbted from marryng. They nonetheless developed ceremones of ther own wthn ther communty that celebrated the personal commtments of devoted couples. To be consdered wed, the couple merely needed to jump over a broomstck n the presence of wtnesses, a practce adapted from a west Afrcan marrage tradton. some Afrcan Amercans ncorporate t nto modern ceremones as a remnder of ther ethnc hertage. In addton, after the Cvl war, many states had antmscegenaton laws, whch prohbted Afrcan Amercans and whtes from marryng. The supreme Court decson n Loving v. Virginia overturned those laws n 1976, despte wdespread popular dsapproval for nterracal marrage. Today, few would bat an eye at an nterracal relatonshp. The patterns for Amercan marrages have been changng. More and more, young people of both genders are leavng ther parents houses after fnshng school (ether hgh school or college) and establshng sngle homes on ther own before decdng to wed. Ths can be shown by rsng age at frst marrage. In 1980, the average ages at frst marrage were just over 23 years for men and just under 21 years for women; n 2005, that had become 27 and nearly 26 years, respectvely. Most Amercans do marry eventually, though. By the age of 35, 72 percent of Amercans have been marred, and by the age of 65, that number rses to 96 percent, except for Afrcan Amercan men and women, only 90 percent of whom have ever been marred by age 65, and for Asan Amercan women, 99 percent of whom have been marred at least once by age 65.6

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Couples do not necessarly stay marred, however. In recent years, there have been approxmately 7.58 new marrages for every 1,000 Amercans, and 3.7 dvorces per 1,000 each year.7 At frst glance, that seems to pont to a 50 percent dvorce rate snce the legalzaton of no-fault dvorces around 1960. Ths conventonal wsdom that half of all marrages end n dvorce, whch s a statstc frequently cted by socal conservatves fearng for the dsappearance of the so-called tradtonal famly arrangement, s often sezed on to monger fear. However, ths number s a bt msleadng, as any statstcan could explan. Very few of those 3.7 dvorces are from the marrages formed that year; couples dvorce anywhere from 60 days nto a marrage to 60 years nto t. However, many faled marrages tend to end wthn the frst decade, and most (80%) marrages that fal do so wthn 20 years.8 Addtonally, ths number of 3.7 dvorces per 1,000 people n 2004 shows a declne n gross numbers of dvorces per year over the last 25 years: n 1980, there were approxmately 5.3 dvorces per 1,000 people. The actual longtudnal dvorce rate s that approxmately 3135 percent of all marrages wll end n dvorce, down from the 41 percent of 25 years ago.9 That statstc shows a growng splt by educatonal attanment as well: college graduates are about half as lkely to end up dvorced than noncollege grads.10 Perhaps t s the later age at frst marrage that contrbutes to the growng stablty of the relatonshps. Perhaps the greater economc stablty of college graduates contrbutes to stablty at home as well. whatever the reason, Amercan marrages are becomng more stable, not less. despte the fact that most people marry at some pont n ther lves, there are other types of relatonshps and lvng arrangements, n addton to legal marrages. In actualty, marred couples are n the mnorty these days. Accordng to 2005 census data, out of 111.1 mllon households, only 49.7 percent of them were composed of marred coupleswth or wthout chldren. There are a number of factors that contrbute to ths declne. Because of the rsng age at frst marrage, many young men and women lve alone, or wth roommates, after fnshng ther educaton but before they get marred, accountng for over one-fourth of the remanng households. Addtonally, couples ncreasngly feel free to cohabt wthout stgma, and that number s rsng. These unmarred couples made up 5 percent of the households. There are also households headed only by women or by men as a result of dvorce. A fourth factor, the gap n lfe expectancy between men and women, means that women may lve for several years as wdows.11 There are other unmarred couples, who, unlke the above famles, mght prefer to get marred. But just as Afrcan slaves could not wed before the Cvl war, or Afrcan Amercan and whte couples for a century after t, they are legally barred from obtanng a cvl marrage. Currently, the rghts and

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prvleges of marrage are restrcted only to heterosexual couples. Indeed, t has only been n the last few decades that other types of couples have been recognzed as exstng at all. Untl as recently as 2003, homosexualty has actually been aganst the law. Many states had laws n place that prohbted certan sexual acts that could be used to prosecute the behavor of consentng adults wthn the prvacy of ther own homes. Though heterosexual prvacy had been protected snce 1972, t was not untl June 2003 that the supreme Court struck down the sodomy laws of Texas, and all others lke t, as unconsttutonal n Lawrence v. Texas. Amercan gays and lesbans had fought for cvl rghts for many years, wth ncreasng success, as socal norms expanded to accept a wder range of sexual expresson. Though there were some moderate and tentatve attempts at socal actvsm pror to 1969, the stonewall rots are generally credted wth begnnng the modern fght for cvl rghts. For a week n late June 1969, a group of gay and transgender club-goers n Greenwch Vllage roted aganst the polce rads and persecuton that they could no longer tolerate. soon after, the Gay Lberaton Front was founded, as well as a number of other actvst groups, and many legal and socal battles were launched. For the next several decades, gay rghts groups fought for antdscrmnaton laws n employment, housng, parentng and adopton, medcal treatment, and other cvl rghts. relgous and conservatve groups opposed these laws, and only 17 states (and the dstrct of Columba) prohbt dscrmnaton on the bass of sexual orentaton. Addtonally, gays may not serve openly n the U.s. mltary, though they may do so f they are celbate and slent about ther orentatona law passed by Presdent Bll Clnton n 1992 and better known as dont ask, dont tell. There s another cvl rght for whch gay and lesban groups are currently fghtng. In 1996, Presdent Clnton sgned nto law another pece of legslaton, the defense of Marrage Act, whch defned marrage as a legal unon of one man and one woman as husband and wfe and spouse as refer[ng] only to a person of the opposte sex who s a husband or a wfe for the purposes of federal law. It also allowed states to decde ndvdually whether or not to allow for same-sex marrage, but t provded that no state s forced to recognze the marrages that may be legal n another.12 There are over 1,000 federal laws that apply only to marred couples, relatng to taxaton, property rghts, mmgraton, nhertance, and benefts. For example, heterosexual marred couples can fle taxes jontly, nhert property wth no estate tax, receve survvorshp benefts, and obtan vsas for non-Amercan partners. Gay couples are thus at a sgnfcant economc dsadvantage compared to ther straght neghbors. some states and regons are takng steps to mnmze that dsadvantage, even though the federal government does not recognze ther decsons.

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Lmted rghts, n the form of a recprocal benefcary regstraton, have been avalable n Hawa snce 1997. In 2000, Vermont governor Howard dean sgned nto law a provson for cvl unons for gay and lesban couples that would guarantee ther rghts n the eyes of the law, ntroducng the dea of a parallel cvl nsttuton nto the common debate. New Jersey and Connectcut followed sut. A few other statesCalforna, Mane, and the dstrct of Columbahave passed protectons for domestc partnershps for couples regardless of gender, and a number of large ctes have done so as well. For a bref perod of tme n February 2004, marrage lcenses were ssued to over 4,000 same-sex couples n san Francsco, before the mayor was forced by the state government to cease, and these marrages were voded by the state supreme court a few months later. del Martn and Phylls Lyon, who had been a couple for 51 years, became the frst gay couple to marry n the Unted states. In May 2004, Massachusetts legalzed marrage for gay and lesban couples, and there are seven other states, mostly those wth cvl unons, that are consderng that legslatve step. There are a number of

Phylls Lyon, left, 79, and del Martn, rght, 82, both of san Francsco and a couple for 51 years, hold up ther marrage certfcate outsde cty hall after they were marred n a cvl ceremony n san Francsco. AP Photo/erc rsberg.

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companes that are frendly to ther gay employees as well and offer partner benefts, though those benefts are classfed as taxable compensaton, where comparable benefts to straght partners are not. despte these benefts, the defense of Marrage Act prohbts the federal government from recognzng any of these types of unons as legal. The dea of gay marrage was a hot-button ssue for every electon snce 1996, and n 2004 and 2006, many states passed amendments to ther state consttutons rulng that marrage must reman an exclusvely heterosexual rght. Paradoxcally, some states that have protectons for gay couples also have laws or consttutonal amendments defnng marrage as a strctly heterosexual rght. opponents of gay marrage protest that allowng marrage between two men or two women s one step closer to condonng polygamy, ncestuous marrages, or human-anmal marrage. They argue that the sanctty of marrage must be preserved, and f even a porton of the defnton of marrage s relaxed, the nsttuton would be meanngless. Ths emotonal argument appealed to voters, and most amendments passed wth hgh percentages of the vote n states where they were proposed. At an extreme level, Presdent George w. Bush put forward a Federal Marrage Amendment durng hs 2004 campagn, whch would modfy the Consttuton to defne marrage as belongng only between a man and a woman and would elmnate the already establshed benefts n any cty or state that has prevously allowed them. some states are battlegrounds over gay marrage and cvl unons. In May 2006, the Nebraska ban on gay marrage, cvl unons, domestc partnershps, and all other forms of gay partnershps was struck down by a dstrct court on the grounds that t volated the rghts of gay couples to assemble for advocacy, protected both by the 1st Amendment and the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. only a month later, a smlar ban, on both gay marrages and cvl unons, was struck down n Georga, based on a rulng that the ban volated the states rule that all amendments be lmted to a sngle subject. However, the ban was almost mmedately renstated by a superor court. The struggle over the real defnton of marrage s ongong. f amily Just as marrage changed n revolutonary Amerca, the deals of motherhood and famly changed as well. out of the ashes of the revoluton was born the cult of true womanhood, a set of deals that mrrored the Vctoran dealzatoneven fetshzatonof the mother as a vrtuous, perfect, almost goddess-lke ruler of the domestc sphere. As the Industral revoluton and the changng economc patterns drew famles from farms nto ctes, and

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workers nto factores, men became the drvng force for economc support, and women were establshed as the backbone of the home. Though some socal conservatves have enjoyed nvokng ths nostalgc pcture, wth everyone n an apponted role and content to stay there, the tradtonal pcture of a famlymother, father, and 2.5 chldrenhas been steadly changng over the last half decade n the Unted states. Not only do mothers work outsde the home at ncreasng rates, but famles themselves are structurally changng, and the numbers of heterosexual nuclear famles have been shrnkng. In 2005, just over 67 percent of chldren lved wth two parents, down from the nearly 90 percent who dd so n 1960. The majorty of the remanng thrd of chldren lved wth just ther mother, though 5 percent lved wth just ther father and 7 percent dd not lve wth ether parent, lvng ether wth a grandparent or n foster care. The average famly sze has also been shrnkng over the years, from an average of 2.3 chldren per famly n 1960 to 1.18 n 2005.13 Because of these changes n famly structure, many n the Unted states who feel an emotonal or relgous connecton to the nuclear famly are eager to hear poltcans speak of famly values. over the past 15 years, famly values have been coded by conservatve groups to refer to an overtly Chrstan vewpont that opposes aborton, homosexualty, pornography, sex educaton n schools, and other such morally questonable actvtes. They rhetorcally look back on an easer, more morally sound tme n hstory. However, lberals have begun to co-opt the term, pontng out that supportng unversal health nsurance, equalty n educaton, regular rases n the mnmum wage, and workers rghts may contrbute more concretely to the well-beng of famles, speakng to an economc sensblty, rather than a moral one. As women began to enter the workplace n large numbers, the goddess of the household deal held, at the same tme that her economc mpact on the famly was greatly ncreased. Mothers were effectvely turned nto superwomen, capable of havng a rewardng career and lovely famly at the same tme, wth seemng effortlessness. Ths effortlessness was only n evdence n magazne artcles and advertsements, however. women were able to permeate the workng world wth much more ease than they were able to share responsbltes for the work that stll needed dong at home, a second shft of labor that they were expected to perform when they got home from work. The womens lberaton movement that ganed force n the 1980s emphaszed a change n womens roles, wthout a correspondng emphass on change n mens roles, wth the result that housework became an odd sort of mnefeld. A promnent socologst n Calforna, Arle Hochschld, performed a study n the late 1980s on gender equalty n housework. she found that n her sampled study of heterosexual, dual-ncome, mddle- and workng-class famles

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wth young chldren, women performed the vast majorty of the housework (chld care, cookng, cleanng), despte ther own expectaton of an equal partnershp n ther famly lfe. Ths dsparty remans largely unchanged: n a 2005 tme use study, 84 percent of women performed some household tasks on an average day, whle 65 percent of men dd so. of the respondents, women reported dong 2.7 hours of housework on an average day, whle men reported only 2.1. Care of young chldren was smlarly skewed along gender lnes, wth women averagng 3.6 hours of care to mens 1.8.14 There are many possble explanatons for the negotaton to result n ths dfferental. The frst, and most often cted, s that women choose to do the work, wllngly or no. ether she or her husband beleves n tradtonal male and female roles around the house, and thus the woman does the housework that needs dong. The second explanaton s that women do not have as much barganng power n the household relatve to men because of womens weaker poston n the workforce. Because women cannot afford to push the ssue and rsk the marrage, partcularly when chldren are nvolved, they must accept a less than equtable negotaton. The average ncome of women after dvorce declnes sharply, whle mens ncome actually rses modestly. Because the past economc system has created a stuaton n whch most women are the prmary caregvers for chldren after a dvorce, they are more lkely than men to be awarded custody of ther chldren. Mantanng two households s more expensve than one, and the one wth chldren s more lkely to experence a dp n ts standard of lvng. Perhaps mplctly, t s understood by women that acceptng a larger porton of the household work wll avert ths crss. A thrd explanaton for the dfferental n sharng household work s that because women typcally work n lower-payng jobs, at a rate of about 75 cents to every mans dollar, they can afford to take tme and energy away from the job, but men tend to be more well pad and thus have to devote more energy nto mantanng the career. The second and thrd explanatons are related, obvously, because women cannot strengthen ther poston n the workplace untl they can devote ther full energy nto ther careers, but they cannot afford to do so at the rsk of ther partners postons.15 Most of these explanatons apply more broadly than at the level of the ndvdual famlyfew, f any, couples have ths blunt conversaton explctly. Many couples even descrbe ther housework arrangement as equal, even when t s clear that t s not, and some happly embrace the dsparty. However, women wshng for a lghter share of the second shft must wegh ther unhappness more carefully than men when decdng to dssolve a marrage. Many women avod ths struggle before tensons can escalate and devote themselves to full-tme housewfery and motherhood. There s a small but

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growng number of men who make ths choce as well, leavng ther partners n the workforce whle they choose to reman at home. only 52 percent of marred couples wth chldren under 18 are both employed full-tme, though that number s much hgher n the upper Mdwest and Northeast and much lower n the south and west, partcularly n rural areas. whle ths choce may contrbute to famlal harmony, there are sgnfcant economc costs, even the obvous loss of a second salary asde. The famly s dependent on the man earner for health nsurance and retrement savngs. There s also a rsk the at-home parents take because by leavng the pad workforce, they are allowng ther rsums and sklls for pad work to deterorate. If dvorce or death of ther spouse forces them back nto the workplace, they are thus at a sgnfcant dsadvantage. Nonetheless, many stay-at-home parents are happy to be deeply nvested n ther home lfe and are aware of the dffcultes of the path they have chosen. There are dffcultes n any famly lfe, especally at the very begnnng. Most countres guarantee a few weeks of pad maternal leave, and a few guarantee a few days to a few weeks of pad paternal leave. The Unted states does not guarantee so much as a sngle day of pad leave, ether maternal or paternal, though as long as an employee has worked for at least a year for a certan type of large employer or the government, they are allowed up to 12 weeks of unpad leave wthn each year. Ths leave s protected by the Famly Medcal Leave Act of 1993, whch also guarantees leave to take care of any famly member or oneself, not just a new nfant. some states have more generous polces, such as Calfornas recently guaranteed sx weeks of pad famly leave, but famly-frendly polces are generally left to the uncertan goodwll of ndvdual companes. smaller companes are more lkely to be flexble n helpng employees, whle larger companes have more resources to be generous wth benefts, leave, and programs lke on-ste day care. when ths last beneft s not provded by the employer, parents must make other arrangements for the care of ther chldren. There are a number of optons for those who can afford to pay: n-home care, such as a nanny, can be qute expensve, and places n good day care centers can be hard to fnd. The cost and avalablty of qualty care s a sgnfcant factor, especally when the mother of a young chld wants or needs to work. Fndng and payng for day care s a problem, especally for sngle parents, and may be nvolved n keepng one partner at home, f hs or her job does not pay enough to cover the expenses nvolved n takng t. A few workng-class or sngle parents, for whom workng s not a matter of choce, are lucky enough to have famly nearby who can pool resources to care for chldren. If they can fnd a small provder, lkely a woman who cares for several chldren n her own home, ths s lkely to be the next most

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cost-effectve opton. some low-ncome famles also qualfy to send ther chldren to federally funded preschools known as Head start, although fundng has been steadly decreasng for these programs. Just as the U.s. government does not provde for mandatory parental leave, t also does not provde for adequate day care for those same workng parents. day cares can range sgnfcantly n qualty, and the effects are frequently reflected n the behavor of the chldren that they help to rase. Chldren who were n day care at young ages for longer perods of tme were more lkely to be consdered aggressve, assertve, and dsobedent when startng kndergarten, though better-qualty care was less lkely to encourage those behavors. However, parental senstvty, ncome level, and educatonal attanment were sgnfcant mtgatng factors n decreasng undesrable behavor. Nonetheless, there are publc fgures that consstently express dsapproval at parentsmostly at mothers, n factwho send ther chldren to day care, as f by workng, they have somehow faled ther chldren through partcpaton n pad employment. For a sgnfcant amount of tme n the hstory of the Unted states, chldren were expected to contrbute to the household economy, especally chldren of lower and workng classes. when born to a farmng famly, they would perform chores from a young age; when born to a cty famly, they mght help at a famly busness, be apprentced out, or be expected to take factory work. After 1938, however, the mnmum age for chld workers was set at 16, wth possble exceptons for 14- and 15-year-olds, f ther work dd not nterfere wth ther schoolng. In modern households, chldren are generally expected to perform lght chores, for whch they may or may not receve an allowance, untl they turn 16. There are a number of younger teens wth lawn-mowng or babysttng ggs, but after age 16, unless the casual work s lucratve, most teenagers take a part-tme job n retal or food servcelow-payng but flexble postons. Most dangerous jobs are restrcted from teenagers, but t has become an expected norm that hgh school students wll ether hold a parttme poston or pursue a partcularly rgorous academc scheduledleness s seen as lazness or sloth, and workng even low-status postons can confer adult respect to teenagers. The jobs can also provde some adult freedoms, allowng the teenager to purchase an nexpensve car and pay for dates and other socal actvtes away from the parental home. Ths ndependence s encouraged, wthn lmts. There are lmts on how many hours teenagers may work, and some areas stll have curfews that restrct ther free movements. There are other laws that are desgned to help protect chldren such as laws restrctng certan behavors untl a set age, such as drnkng or sexual actvty. The drnkng age n the Unted states s set at 21, though adulthood, n the form of votng rghts or partcpaton n mltary servces, s usually conferred at the age of 18. Ths leaves young adults between 18 and 21 n a somewhat

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awkward poston, unquely among ther global peers. It s only n the Unted states that a 20-year-old, who may be legally marred wth a chld or two, cannot be served a glass of wne wth dnnerfor hs or her own protecton. There are also laws governng the age that a young adult can consent to sex or marrage, generally from 16 to 18 n most states. There are also mandated protectons for chldrens safety and welfare at a younger age. There s a program known as wIC, the specal supplemental Nutrton Program for women, Infants, and Chldren, run by the federal government, that provdes low-ncome women and ther under-fve chldren wth health care screenng, nutrton educaton, and some subsdzed foods, manly dary products, juces, and cheap protens such as beans, tuna, and peanut butter. Beyond the most basc needs, the state also carefully montors chldrens physcal safety wth ther parents, wth mandatory reportng laws makng nearly every publc employee a requred reporter of suspected abuse. when a parent cannot adequately or safely care for a chld, there s a system for foster care n place. Though there are federal laws governng the general requrements, each state has ts own gudelnes n place for nvestgatng clams and makng care plans for at-rsk chldren. If a chld has been abused, a report s made to Chld Protectve servces (n some states, ths department s known as the department of Chldren and Famly servces, n an attempt to create a less contentous atmosphere). If the clam s judged as vald after nvestgaton, the chld s removed from the parents home and placed n foster care, ether wth foster parents or n a group home. Foster parents generally receve a small stpend for the care of the chldren they take n, and states may requre that they be lcensed or otherwse credentaled to provde care. There have been several well-publczed cases of foster parents takng n more chldren than they can handle for the stpend that they would brng, but those cases are vastly outnumbered by the people who choose to brng abused, needy, and tme- and emotonally demandng chldren nto ther homes, for a sum that s laughably nadequate for the costs of the care requred. Addtonally, some foster parents later adopt foster chldren they have cared for, once parental rghts have been termnated. Adopton, however, would be an exceptonally good outcome; most chldren reman n foster care for several years and have multple placements, bouncng from home to home. There are over half a mllon chldren n foster care natonwde, a number that has more than doubled n the last 40 years due to tghtenng of reportng laws for chld abuse. A dsproportonate number of these chldren are chldren of color, partcularly Afrcan Amercan chldren, largely owng to racal nequalty n treatment by the systemwhte chldren receve more servces and are more lkely to be reunted wth

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parents, and are thus removed more quckly from the system. Though the stated goal of foster care s to fnd chldren famles, whether through reconclaton or adopton, many more chldren are placed nto foster care each year than leave the system. The Adopton and safe Famles Act of 1997 was passed n an attempt to lmt the amount of tme chldren spend n the system by shortenng the amount of tme between ther entry nto foster care and the termnaton of parental rghts to 15 months and demanded that a care plan be made for chldren so that they and ther caseworkers have a stated goal. However, most chldren n foster care are emotonally and psychologcally fragle, and many have specal physcal needs as well; fndng adoptve parents s a bt more easly sad than done. A few hundred Afrcan Amercan chldren are fndng homes outsde of the Unted states, reversng a popular trend for foregn adopton, but ths s stll an nfntesmal porton of the chldren needng permanent homes. If the reason for a famlal upheaval s not abuse, but the parents are stll unable to care for ther chldren, a socal worker may help the famly place the chld wth relatves such as grandparents. As sngle parenthood has ncreased, the role of the grandparent has ncreased n many famles. A sgnfcant number of chldren lve wth a grandparent, some wth parents present and many wthout. These types of households are more lkely than any other to be n poverty for a number of reasons. Multgeneratonal homes of ths sort are lkely to be composed of Afrcan Amercan or Latno famles, who are more lkely to be n poverty n general compared to whte famles. Also, the sort of famlal upheaval that produces the socal condtons under whch ths s an optonteen parenthood, drug abuse, un- or underemployment of a parents not one that lends tself to economc success. Addtonally, the grandparents may lkely be retred from the workforce and on a lmted penson or socal securty beneft and less capable of fndng supplemental ncome than a younger caretaker. There are many households headed by grandparents that receve publc assstance. There are a number of couples, or sngle people, who wsh to have chldren but cannot. For them, adopton can be a good opton. There are several dfferent types of adopton n the Unted states. Chldren can be adopted publcly, from foster care. As dscussed prevously, ths can be a troublng process, but foster chldren beneft greatly from recevng a permanent, carng home. Prospectve parents can also choose to go to a prvate agency, especally f they partcularly wsh to adopt an nfant or a chld wthout the rsk of the socal problems that affect the abandoned and neglected. Ths can be an expensve opton, and the wat for an approprate chld may be several years long. If the parents wsh to ensure that they adopt an nfant wth partcular characterstcshs curly har, or her blue eyes, for nstancethey can pursue

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an adopton ndependently, wth a pregnant young woman wth whom they reach an agreement. Ths s not legal n all areas of the Unted states, however, and can be just as expensve as prvate agency adopton. Another opton for prospectve parents s nternatonal adopton. About 13 percent of adopted kds are from overseas, nearly 21,000 of the 65,000 that took place n 2006. Ths can be a hghly expensve opton for would-be parents: there are agency fees, at least two trps overseas to vst the chlds country, and there s a hgh rsk of expensve health care beng needed. despte ths fnancal barrer, the number of nternatonal adoptons has been steadly rsng for over a decade, and the opton has been seen as an ncreasngly popular one, partcularly because of some hghly publczed cases of celebrtes adoptng foregn orphans. However, the ncreasng demand for orphaned foregn chldren also ncreases the rsk of chld traffckng, ether by desperately poor parents wllng to sell ther chldren to orphanages for mutual proft, or by prvate brokers stealng chldren to sell to Amercan parents. The Internatonal Crmnal Court (ICC) at the Hague has attempted to prevent ths sort of explotaton, but t remans a concern for adoptve parents, and enforcement s dffcult wthn the Unted states as t s not a member of the ICC as of 2007. Countres that provde the largest numbers of adopted chldren have been takng steps to slow nternatonal adoptons themselves, at least n some cases. In 2006, there were tghtenng restrctons on parents wshng to pursue foregn adoptons from Chna, south Korea, and romana, and those new barrers have led to decreasng numbers of adoptees. Prospectve parents have new requrements for age, weght, mental health hstory, and sexual orentatonsngle people adoptng from Chna must affrm that they are heterosexual, for nstanceand fewer parents can pass the more strngent tests. Adopton s not open to all n the Unted states, ether. There are several states, n the south and Mdwest, that explctly ban gay couples from adoptng, and Utah even bars cohabtng straght couples from adoptng chldren together. every state but Florda allows gay and lesban people to adopt ndvdually, though the parental rghts cannot be legally shared. some states, mostly those that have more lberal gay unon laws, allow for second-parent adopton, but most areas have nconsstent court records on the matter. In many cases, one partner loses all vstaton rghts over chldren that they may have rased from nfancy should the partnershp dssolve, and they would be consdered legal strangers. when all s sad and done, the real defnton of famly s created by the partcpants; however, much legal defnton mght restrct or allow some rghts. In the Unted states, there are as many defntons of famly as there are members of famles. extended knshp tes can be strong, creatng a small-town

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A famly consstng of seven adopted chldren hold hands n prayer before eatng dnner. AP Photo/The daly News, Bll wagner.

feelng wth a large and close-knt group of members, or weak, wth great dstance among ts members, who mght see each other rarely. A famly can be composed of mother, father, and seven chldren, or a cohabtng couple, or a grandmother wth a clutch of grandbabesand any possble permutaton thereof. The only necessty for a famly s tes of love. e duCation educaton n the Unted states s seen as a great equalzer; 72,075,000 Amercans, from prekndergarten chldren to graduate students and adults of all ages, were enrolled n educatonal nsttutons n the fall of 2005. Prekndergarten, kndergarten, elementary, and secondary enrollment totaled 54.7 mllon, and postsecondary enrollment, 17.3 mllon. of all these students, over 61 mllon, or a bt more than 85 percent, were enrolled n publc schools where opportuntes are thought to be equal. There are some problems wth ths dea, but n general, a motvated student of any race or class can ndeed succeed throughout the publc school system. The more than 10 mllon students n prvate educatonal nsttutons have not only equal opportunty, but also receve a delberately value-based educaton: 7.6 mllon of the prvate school enrollment s n roman Catholc schools, colleges, and unverstes, dwarfng the enrollment of other relgously based schools and colleges. The lteracy rate n the Unted states s estmated by

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the Unted Natons to be 99.9 percent, ted for the top spot wth 20 other natons.16 schoolng n the Unted states can begn for chldren as young as three or as old as sx, dependng on the regon. sx out of every 10 chldren attended some form of prekndergarten school n 2005.17 some larger ctes have Head start preschool programs for poor or at-rsk chldren; parents can also choose prvate or church-run preschools to begn teachng ther chldren. Among more exclusve crcles, such as the Upper west sde of Manhattan n New york Cty, entrance nto the correct preschool s seen as crucal to gettng nto a hghly ranked prep school, and from there nto a top-ter unversty. watng lsts for those schools are often longer than the prospectve student s old. The next step for most chldren s kndergarten, begun at age fve. Nnetyeght percent of Amercan chldren attend at least four hours of kndergarten per day before begnnng prmary school. The frst Amercan kndergarten was begun n 1856 n watertown, wsconsn, by a German mmgrant, and t was conducted entrely n German. The frst englsh-speakng kndergarten was begun four years later n Boston, Massachusetts. The program, orgnally a nurturng envronment for young chldren to transton nto schoolng, gradually became more of a practcal learnng envronment: many or most programs have readng and math nstructon every day. Kndergarten, whch can be ether a half- or a full-day program, s more common n large ctes and small towns, where t s offered n 64 percent of publc schools, than t s n suburban areas or smaller ctes, where only 46 percent of publc schools offer t. Addtonally, students n the south are more lkely to beneft from kndergarten programs as 84 percent of publc schools offer full-day programs.18 In the Mdwest, 57 percent of publc schools have full-day programs, and only 38 percent n the west and 37 percent n the Northeast offer full-day programs. Chldren who take full-day kndergarten classes begn frst grade wth a dstnct learnng advantage over ther half-day or no-day peers. despte ths, there s no natonal requrement for kndergarten. Kndergarten s requred n only 14 states and s generally avalable, but not requred, n the other 36.19 After kndergarten comes prmary school, or elementary school; grade levels n the Unted states are counted wth ordnal numbers, not cardnal numbers. Thus, whle one mght fnd a Canadan chld n grade one, the correspondng Amercan chld would be n frst grade. elementary school lasts for sx years, and the 12- and 13-year-old chldren leave n seventh grade to attend junor hgh school for two years. some areas add sxth grade to ther junor hgh, and others add nnth gradeths s commonly called a mddle school, rather than a junor hgh school. secondary educaton ncludes 9th through 12th grades. In most states, students are requred to reman n hgh school untl they are 18, whle n others,

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they are permtted to leave school at age 16 f they choose. Nearly 90 percent of Amercan students complete hgh school, although dropout rates tend to be hgher n urban than n suburban and rural areas. Boys are more lkely to leave school earler than grls, and Afrcan Amercan and Hspanc students are more lkely to leave earler than non-Hspanc whte students. Those who leave hgh school wthout a dploma fnd themselves at a sgnfcant dsadvantage n the job market, and manyup to two-thrdsof those who leave school early choose to pursue a dploma or General educatonal development certfcate wthn eght years.20 Publc hgh schools are open to all students who wsh to attend, though several dfferent vocatonal tracks are avalable. For students who plan to contnue n ther educaton, and who score well on tests conducted n the eghth grade, a college preparatory track, consstng of upper-level mathematcs, scence, and lterature courses, wll provde a thorough groundng n bascs that the students can draw on. some of these courses, Advanced Placement and Internatonal Baccalaureate, can even be gven college credt f a hgh score s acheved on an examnaton. For those students who do not plan to contnue ther educaton or who tested below the benchmark for college preparatory classes, less rgorous courses are avalable as well as some vocatonal tranng. In many ctes and towns, all-vocatonal hgh schools are becomng more frequent for ncreasng numbers of students. Arguments have been made that ths trackng system s unfar to the students who mght be plannng to attend college but do not test well enough n junor hgh to enter the most elte math and scence courses. even f they mprove mdway through hgh school or change ther mnds about ther college plans, t s dffcult, f not mpossble, to catch up and move upward n the track. The trackng system benefts the top 20 percent of students, but the students who perform well n the average classes are nadequately prepared for college coursework, even f they express a desre to contnue to college. The debate over trackng s further charged by the fact that many students who tend to be systematcally msdrected toward lower tracks are poor or belong to ethnc and racal mnorty groups. There are other systematc forms of racal dscrmnaton that stll persst n the schools. Followng world war II, massve expanson of suburbs combned wth hgh levels of race-based housng dscrmnaton left urban and suburban areas racally segregated. As a result, neghborhood schools were largely racally segregated, and n 1971, the supreme Court found that the separate schools perpetuated and exacerbated a system of nequalty between whte students and Afrcan Amercan students, and the Court mandated the bussng of students of color from ther local schools to manly whte, suburban schools, and whte students to manly Afrcan Amercan, urban schools.

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Ths was not a popular order n many ctes, and n south Boston, several antbussng protests turned volent throughout the 1970s. As of the 1990s, bussng programs have been phased out, although some school dstrcts have voluntarly retaned the practce. despte attempts at correctng the nequaltes, t cannot be dened that some schools are better funded than others. schools are prmarly funded by local property taxes, wth major fundng comng from the state and a small proporton of the funds comng from federal money. Because of ths emphass on the local, schools tend to reflect the socoeconomc status of the neghborhood that supports them. In wealthy suburbs, publc schools can be lavsh, wth well-mantaned athletc facltes and pools and hgh levels of per-student spendng. At the other extreme are schools n poor, urban dstrcts; whle poor parents may pay a hgher proporton of ther ncome nto property taxes, the schools struggle to provde an adequate envronment, let alone suffcent books or desks for the large number of students n each class. Another attempt at correctng ths dfferental s through establshng magnet schools n urban areas, whch have a broad area of potental recrutment. rather than acceptng only students from a lmted neghborhood, magnet schools have an entrance processether apttude or lottery basedfor all students wthn bussng dstance. To make these schools appealng to potental students, magnet schools wll offer specalzed or partcularly nnovatve programs such as n the arts or scences. These schools tend to be more racally and ethncally dverse and to have a better academc reputaton than many nearby schools. The downsde, of course, s that there are lmted spots for students eager to attend. These types of schools account for only 3 percent of publc schools natonwde, wth predomnance n Calforna, Illnos, and Vrgna. other types of educatonal reforms n publc schools are frequent, n an attempt to mprove performance and accountablty of schools and teachers. Usually, those reforms have been enacted at the state and local level, not at the natonal level. A natonal ntatve was, however, sgned nto law on January 8, 2002the No Chld Left Behnd Actwas ntended to ncrease the qualty of educaton by ncreasng the accountablty of schools. The act (commonly known as NCLB) requres states to outlne gudelnes for mprovement, whch are to be assessed yearly, and schools that do not mprove are subject to ncreasng admnstratve sanctons as well as provsons that requre the dstrct to offer parents the opton to transfer ther chldren to another school. NCLB also requres that all teachers be rated as hghly qualfed by the end of the 20052006 school year. Under these gudelnes, many students have tested hgher n readng and math than ever before, and

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the gaps n achevement between Afrcan Amercan and whte nne-yearolds as well as a few others n some areas have lessened. Addtonally, NCLB provdes more detaled data on the achevement of margnalzed groups of students than has been prevously avalable such as poor students, students wth dsabltes, and students of color. Although t s true that f even one such group fals to mprove over a year, the entre school s rated as needng mprovement, trackng the economc or racal achevement gaps that exst n schools s the frst step to closng them. each school must also provde a detaled report to parents on the progress of the school as a whole every year. NCLB has a few major shortcomngs, however, that lmt ts helpfulness n total educatonal reform. Though the strngent requrements that even the poorest school dstrct s expected to complete are thoroughly outlned, the fundng for those requrements has not been attached. Many school dstrcts are already stretched to ther lmts, and though they would lke to hre only hghly qualfed teachers and afford them all possble professonal development, that s smply not feasble wthout ncreasng funds. There has also been ncreased pressure over test scores, leadng to clams that some admnstrators are ether encouragng teachers to coach students drectly to the tests or are outrght manpulatng ther schools statstcs. Many schools have had to cut tme from other subjects to provde more tme for teachng readng and math, the only two subjects currently tested. For poor, urban schools that experence hgh student turnover each year, ncludng a large nflux of new mmgrants who are not fluent n englsh, the annual testng and sanctonng procedure seems extraordnarly harsh. some school dstrcts n Calforna have restrcted access of chldren of llegal mmgrants to publc educaton, at least partly because of the effects of NCLB. In Utah, a law has been passed that rejects several of the provsons of NCLB, and at least eght other states are on the verge of followng Utahs lead. The act s up for reauthorzaton n 2007, and all sgns pont to sgnfcant revsons that may leave more leeway for states use of federal funds. At a more local level, dstrct school boards have a great deal of leeway over what s and s not taught n schools. school boards may have control over controversal ponts of currcula, but the publcly elected boards can be forced from offce, as happened n dover, Pennsylvana, over the requred teachng of creatonsm, newly renamed and reframed as ntellgent desgn. Intellgent desgn s a bblcally based orgn theory that presupposes the exstence of a creator. some conservatve Chrstan groups are tryng to lobby publc schools to teach the controversy, or present the relgous explanaton as an alternatve to the scentfc theory of evoluton, despte the fact that n the scentfc communty, no such controversy exsts. Intellgent desgn s not testable and not provable and thus cannot be consdered to be a scence.

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The teachng of orgn theores n scence classes has been controversal snce 1925, when a teacher, John scopes, was arrested and fned over the teachng of evoluton n a Tennessee publc school. eghty years later, a Pennsylvana court found that mentonng creatonsm as a dsclamer to a dscusson of evoluton volated the establshment clause of the Frst Amendment, and the members of the school board who supported ntellgent desgn were voted out of offce n late 2005. The dvson between church and state n schools s a flexble one that n more relgous areas of the Unted states may be nonexstent. In Texas, one would be hard-pressed to fnd a hgh school football game that dd not begn wth a prayer, for example, and most courts have ruled that the students may express themselves n prayer, unless they cause a substantal dsrupton thereby. Followng these rulngs, there have been attempts to rentroduce a formal prayer at the begnnng of the school day n many areas, but the most that seems to be allowed s a slent moment for prayer or reflecton, rather than allowng outrght prayer n schools. In addton to a level of support for relgous expresson n schools, there are also voucher systems n some states that allow parents to pull ther chldren from publc school to attend relgous prvate schools and help pay the students tuton, thereby provdng some level of publc fundng to parochal schools. There are steps short of prvate schoolng, however. If tradtonal publc schools cannot serve a student suffcently, n 40 states, there are alternatve forms of publcly funded schools: charter schools, whch were created n 1988. These generally urban schools have relatvely more autonomy from procedures and requrements than tradtonal publc schools and serve students who may not do as well n publc schools. Ther purpose s nnovaton and nspraton to best serve ther students, most of whom had bad experences n other schools. In Mchgan and Calforna, the only states where t s allowed, many of these schools operate on a for-proft bass, whch gves rse to concerns that the fundng that mght otherwse beneft students s nstead reserved for profts. even n nonproft charter schools, though, per-pupl fundng tends to be lower than tradtonal schools, even wth donatons from busnesses and foundatons, and t s common for newly chartered schools to flounder. recent studes have suggested that students n charter schools do not perform as well as students n tradtonal schools, but charter proponents argue that more accurate demographc correlaton of the data would dsprove that clam. one of the reasons students mght have for choosng to attend charter schools mght be n relaton to volence and bullyng n publc schools. Fghtng and bullyng are serous problems for nearly one-thrd of students, and about 6 percent of hgh school students felt so unsafe that they dd not attend

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class at all. yet from a statstcal vew, students are far safer at school than nearly anywhere else, but schools, especally hgh schools, are perceved as partcularly dangerous. Less than 1 percent of homcdes among teenagers occurred at school, but those homcdes receved an extremely hgh level of meda attenton. The shootng at Columbne Hgh school n Lttleton, Colorado, on Aprl 20, 1999, n partcular, n whch 12 students and a teacher were klled, and another 24 njured, served to frghten the entre naton. In the wake of the Columbne shootngs, there seemed to be a rash of dsaffected, bulled young men brngng guns to school and takng am at ther tormentors. Columbne and the other shootngs spurred drug searches, often wth dogs, and the nstallaton of metal detectors. Zero tolerance polces became popular for punshng mnor nfractons. However, these polces are fallng out of favor, nearly a decade later, as they lmt dscreton on the part of the school, and there s lttle evdence that they are effectve. Another tactc taken by school boards n an attempt to ncrease levels of dscplne s mandatng a dress code or unform polcy. Most schools have dress codes, whch restrct students from wearng obscene or napproprate clothng, but some publc schools, about one-ffth natonwde, wth that number much hgher n urban areas, requre a unform. A few unform programs are voluntary, but n most cases, any students who wsh to attend that school must purchase and wear the unform. There are frequently programs n place to help provde low-cost or free unforms to needy students, and at $3540 each, dependng on regon, many unforms cost less than street clothng. The benefts of unform polces nclude reductons of school volence, reductons of gang-related actvty, reductons of obvous economc dfferences among students, and ncreased focus on studes. However, there have been few studes that track long-term effects of unforms, and most of the reports of ncreases n dscplne have been anecdotal. Addtonally, some students have brought suts aganst school dstrcts, argung that unform polces volate ther freedom of speech. Courts have tended to uphold the rght of the school dstrct to mpose unforms to mprove learnng condtons, and the lawsuts have been largely unsuccessful. wth all the controversy and fear surroundng publc schoolng, t s unsurprsng that some parents would wsh to send ther students to prvate or parochal schools or choose to teach them at home. As of october 2005, approxmately 12 percent of students were enrolled n prvate schools.21 Parents wth means have always had the opportunty to decde on prvate schoolng, and there are several thousand day schools and a few hundred boardng schools, many of whch are qute expensve. These prvate schools can, and do, offer a number of hgh-level college preparatory courses, but they can also offer help to strugglng or troubled students, preparaton for a mltary career,

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educaton n the arts, or relgous educaton. The student-to-teacher rato s usually much lower than n publc school, whch allows students much more ndvdual attenton. These postves come wth a hefty prce tag, however, and many lowerncome parentsor even mddle-class parentswant the opton to wthdraw ther chldren from publc schools and apply the funds that would otherwse be provded to the publc schools to the prvate school tuton. Ths presents the obvous problem that only a few parents would have ths opton open to them, and removng fundng from the publc schools only worsens condtons and the qualty of educaton for the students who are forced to reman n the absence of other optons. Addtonally, many prvate schools have a relgous afflaton, and channelng government funds to the prvate schools nstead of the publc schools could be seen as a volaton of the separaton of church and state. The consttutonalty of a voucher system was upheld n wsconsn but struck down n Florda, and several other cases are currently ongong n other states. There are several other optons for parents who feel that nether tradtonal publc nor prvate schools can provde the rght educaton for ther chldren. There are about 5,000 schools that follow the Montessor method, some 300 of whch are publcly funded, and 157 waldorf schools, both of whch espouse partcular holstc teachng phlosophes that are not consdered manstream by current educatonal theory. The Montessor schools are based on the phlosophy that chldren want to learn and wll teach themselves f guded properly n a collaboratve envronment. students are not strctly age segregated, most school assgnments are not graded, and postve socal sklls are emphaszed. success s met wth ncreasng academc challenge, and much of the learnng s self-paced. The waldorf schools smlarly emphasze communtystudents stay wth the same teacher from frst through eghth grade. However, the waldorf method nvolves more structure and a slower ntroducton to task-based work. readng s taught later than s tradtonal, and the educaton s mapped onto preestablshed developmental stages. Both of the methods nclude preparaton for college as a stated goal for the students. Parents who declne these optons, or who lve n an area where they are not avalable, may choose to homeschool ther chldren. In many natons, homeschoolng s not a legal opton, but as long as students pass compulsory testng, parents are afforded much leeway n the Unted states. Tradtonally, homeschoolng has been perceved as hghly relgously orented, but t s ganng n popularty among less conservatve famles. Nearly 1.1 mllon students were beng taught at home n 2003, whch s about 2.2 percent of the student populaton.22 The majorty of these students were n rural areas,

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n the south, and wth one parent n the labor force and one parent who was not. There are many reasons for choosng to homeschool such as the parents feelng that they can do a better job of educatng ther chld, ther objecton to thngs that are taught n publc school, a lack of challenges or resources provded by the local schools, or even transportaton ssues for rural famles, among many others. There are several currcular choces for the parent who homeschools, from Montessor and waldorf to a varety of prvate homeschoolng organzatons. Churches and relgous nsttutons also provde some materals, as do some publc schools. Homeschooled students tend to do vastly better than ther tradtonally schooled peers on achevement tests and self-esteem measures. opponents to homeschoolng argue that students socalzaton s lmted by not attendng school, but most homeschoolng famles are careful to foster cvc engagement n ther chldren. After hgh school, students can contnue on to postsecondary studes f they so choose. In 2005, nearly half of young adultsover 17 mllon of themwere enrolled n some form of hgher educaton, though the majorty of students n hgher educaton are women56 percent of those who are enrolled. College attendance has rsen sharply n the last few decades, and nearly one-thrd of Amercans have a bachelors degree, though the proporton who have degrees s hgher n the Northeast and lower n the south. Ths s lkely due to populaton densty and the number of urban centers, whch employ more degreed professonals, rather than any real geographcal characterstc. There s also a racal gap n educatonal attanment, wth proportonately low numbers of Afrcan Amercans and Hspancs achevng an advanced degree, though these numbers have rsen every year.23 Access to hgher educaton s open to all students, n theory, though some optons may be lmted by a students means. The U.s. mltary pays for the hgher educaton of ts veterans through a program called the G.I. Bll, frst ntroduced after world war II. Many young men and women who would not otherwse have the resources to attend college jon the mltary for three or four years to take advantage of ths beneft. Addtonally, there are federal grants and loans for whch needy students may apply as well as loans and grants awarded by prvate nsttutons and foundatons. students n prvate colleges, even relgously based ones, are elgble for federal fnancal ad f they qualfy on a standard needs bass. some states also subsdze the hgher costs of prvate college expenses wth fxed grants that go drectly to ts student ctzens. Church-state separaton s not volated, t s argued, because grants and loans go through the schools drectly to the students. Prvate schools are also elgble for federal research and other specal funds wth the provso that no federal money may be used for relgous purposes. Colleges and unverstes also have ther own need- and mert-based fnancal ad awards for poor or

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partcularly talentedacademcally or athletcallystudents. despte these attempts at fnancal ad, tuton rses every year, and many students graduate wth a heavy student loan burden. There s no natonal system of colleges n the Unted states, wth the excepton of the mltary academes; nstead, the exstng publc unverstes have been establshed by ndvdual states. These schools can be qute affordable for low-ncome and workng students, and though some have better reputatons than others, mllons of students matrculate n state unverstes and colleges each year. There are several optons other than state college. For students wth even more constraned budgets, communty colleges and techncal nsttutes offer certfcatons and practcal degree optons at a lower level. There are also colleges that serve partcular groups, such as womens colleges, hstorcally Afrcan Amercan colleges, or trbal nsttutons. For students wth greater loan or scholarshp opportuntes, or smply wealther parents, prvate colleges abound, from the small and local schools to the large and prestgous Ivy League unverstes. These prestgous schools also attract nearly a half mllon foregn students, from all regons of the globe. entrance to these prestgous schools can be hghly compettve. As n many other countres, there s a strong market for tutorng and test preparaton tools. In tryng to gan entrance to the college of ther choce, students and ther parents may spend thousands of dollars on professonal preparaton. Hgh school students pay a fee to take standardzed tests, ether $41 for the sAT reasonng Test for students on ether coast, or $29 for the ACT Assessment for students n the Mdwest and south, or both, f they plan to apply to colleges n a dverse geographcal area, though these fees may sometmes be waved f a student can demonstrate hardshp. There are a number of companes that offer tutorng drected toward rasng scores on these tests, and there s a large market n manuals and preparatory books. Because ths ntensve tranng s usually qute effectve n rasng test scores, teenagers wth greater access to economc resources are advantaged n ths aspect of unversty admsson. They also have an advantage n the academc black market; there are a growng number of servces from whch a strugglng student can purchase a prewrtten essay. Though the specter of expulson hangs over ths market, desperate students wth means have been known to go to desperate lengths for better grades. There are other transgressons, besdes the possblty of cheatng ther way n, for determned troublemakers to fnd at college. students at resdental colleges are less lkely to be vctms of volent crme than ther nonstudent peers.24 However, the popular percepton of a college experence ncludes a great deal of Animal Houseesque drunken revels, resultng n the sort of crmes that generally result from heghtened levels of alcohol consumpton

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such as sexual assaults, hazng, and assaults. Though many resdental campuses are qute prettya haven of green grass and shady trees n the mdst of a ctythey are often not nearly as much as an uncorrupted sanctum as they appear. Increasngly, crme on campus s attractng attenton. A horrfyng ncdent at Vrgna Tech on Aprl 16, 2007, n whch a 23-year-old male student opened fre n two dfferent locatons, kllng 32 students and faculty and woundng many more, brought awareness to campus volence, just as the shootng n Lttleton, Colorado, brought awareness of hgh school volence n 1999. However, such volence at unversty campuses s rarer than at hgh schools; the last such ncdent occurred n 1966. despte these well-publczed horror stores, the fact remans that crme s much lower on campus than n the Unted states overall: the murder rate n the Unted states was 5.7 per 100,000, and the murder rate on campus was 0.13 per 100,000.25 After safely obtanng an undergraduate degree, many students opt for further schoolng, contnung to graduate, medcal, law, and busness colleges for advanced degrees. Ffty-nne percent of the students who choose to do so are women. Many of the students who contnue ther educaton work fulltme, n addton to attendng school. Though some felds pay stpends to graduate students, full fundng s rare for all but the most hghly sought after students. Graduate school s tradtonally a tme of poverty for students, even whle workng or wth famly support. There s not necessarly an expectaton of a large payoff, as there mght be at professonal schools, such as medcal school, f the graduate student expects to reman n academa as a professor, though a masters degree or doctorate may pay dvdends n the prvate sector. The salares for those wth advanced degrees are consderably hgher than for those wth bachelors degrees, of course. Tranng for the hgher-payng professons of busness, medcne, and law also causes students to ncur hgh levels of debt, n most cases. doctors, n partcular, must tran for many years before seeng any beneft of the hgh expected salary and must pay down student loans for many years after graduatng. Ths rsk of debt s not enough to dscourage prospectve doctors, t must be noted. other types of educaton come at a bt of a premum. There has recently been a rse n the feld of unverstes operatng for proft. There are dozens of schools offerng degree optons, typcally to older students who are already n the workforce and want to return to school to maxmze ther earnngs potental but have trouble attendng tradtonal college. some of these schools offer dstance learnng, so students anywhere can take courses from the Unversty of Phoenx, for nstance. Unlke tradtonal models of colleges, whch requre students to take general educaton courses and expect professors to be leaders n academc research, these for-proft schools offer drected courses n

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felds wth hgh demandnursng, computer scence, and accountng, for exampleand hre teachers only to teach. Anyone wth the money for tuton s accepted nto the program, and the course schedules are qute flexble. detractors of for-proft educaton rase some legtmate concerns over these programs. Prvatzng educaton seems contrary to Amercan deals, and the prospect of publc knowledge becomng the property of a corporaton seems antthetcal to tradtonal academc systems. In ths model, the students become customers, and the qualty of ther educaton may suffer n deference to the companys proft margn. There have been some scandals and lawsuts nvolvng some of these schools, and students must be careful to research ther schools of choce. Many of these schools, however, are careful to emphasze ther commtment to ther students success and boast hgh rates of postgraduate career placement. There s yet another mode of adult educaton; n partcular, new mmgrants who wsh to become naturalzed ctzens of the Unted states must pass an examnatonn englshon the U.s. government and swear an oath of loyalty to the Unted states. To pass ths test, many mmgrants enroll n englsh as a second language courses and cvc educaton courses, avalable n most communtes free or at a low cost. There are currently about

Immgrants from Bosna-Herzegovna become Amercan ctzens as they lsten to the Pledge of Allegance durng a naturalzaton ceremony. AP Photo/east Valley Trbune, Jennfer Grmes.

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35 mllon foregn-born Amercans, 13 mllon of whom have undergone the process to become naturalzed ctzens. They go to great lengths to learn about ther adopted country and how to succeed as Amercansand what, really, could be as Amercan as that? n otes
1. Centers for dsease Control and Preventon, CdC Fact sheet: young People at rskHIV/AIds Among Amercas youth, January 31, 2001, http://www.the body.com. 2. A. d Censo, Gordon Guyatt, A. wllan, and L. Grffth, Interventons to reduce Unntended Pregnances among Adolescents: systematc revew of randomzed Controlled Trals, British Medical Journal 324 (2002), www.bmj.com. 3. U.s. Census Bureau, Income, earnngs, and Poverty data from the 2005 Communty survey, http://www.census.gov. 4. rasmussen reports, wllngness to Vote for woman Presdent, Aprl 8, 2005, http://www.rasmussenreports.com. 5. r. Clare snyder, Gay Marriage and Democracy (New york: rowman and Lttlefeld, 2006), 15. 6. U.s. Census Bureau, Famles and Lvng Arrangements: 2005, http://www. census.gov. 7. Centers for dsease Control and Preventon, Brths, Marrages, dvorces, and deaths: Provsonal data for 2004, Table A, http://www.cdc.gov. 8. dan Hurley, dvorce rate: Its Not as Hgh as you Thnk, New York Times, Aprl 19, 2005. 9. rose M. Kreder, Number, Tmng, and duraton of Marrages and dvorces: 2001, n Current Population Reports (washngton, dC: U.s. Census Bureau, 2005), 7097. 10. steven P. Martn, educaton and Martal dssoluton rates n the U.s. snce the 1970s (workng paper, Unversty of Maryland, College Park, n.d.), http://www. russellsage.org. 11. U.s. Census Bureau, Amercan Communty survey, 2005, http://www.cen sus.gov. 12. Defense of Marriage Act, Publc Law 104199, U.S. Statutes at Large 100 (1996), 2419, codfed at U.S. Code 1 (2000), 7 and U.S. Code 28 (2000), 1738C. 13. U.s. Census Bureau, Populaton dvson, Fertlty and research Branch, Lvng Arrangements of Chldren under 18 years old: 1960 to Present: Household Famles, http://www.census.gov. 14. U.s. department of Labor, Bureau of Labor statstcs, Amercan Tme Use survey, 2005, http://www.bls.gov.us. 15. shelly Lundberg, Gender and Household decson-Makng (lecture notes, Unversty of sena Internatonal school of economc research, Certosa d Pontgnano, Italy, 2005).

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16. Natonal Center for educaton statstcs, Digest of Education Statistics, 2005, Table 1, http://nces.ed.gov; Natonal Catholc educaton Assocaton, Catholc educaton Questons, http://www.ncea.org. 17. U.s. Census Bureau, Populaton dvson, educaton and socal stratfcaton Branch, school enrollmentsocal and economc Characterstcs of students: october 2005, http://www.census.gov. 18. Natonal Center for educaton statstcs, Trends n Full- and Half-day Kndergarten, 2004, http://nces.ed.gov. 19. Natonal Center for educaton statstcs, regonal dfferences n Kndergartners early educaton experences, 2005, http://nces.ed.gov. 20. Chld Trends databank, Hgh school dropout rates, summer 2006, http:// www.chldrensdatabank.org. 21. U.s. Census Bureau, socal and economc Characterstcs of students: october 2005, http://www.census.gov. 22. Natonal Center for educaton statstcs, Homeschoolng n the Unted states: 2003 statstcal Analyss report, http://nces.ed.gov. 23. U.s. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States 2007, Tables 215 218: educatonal Attanment by race, sex, and state, http://www.census.gov. 24. U.s. department of Justce, Bureau of Justce statstcs, Volent Vctmzaton of College students, december 7, 2003, http://www.ojp.gov.bjs. 25. Federal Bureau of Investgaton, Crime in the U.S. 2004, september 2005, http://www.fb.gov; U.s. department of educaton, summary of Campus Crme and securty statstcs, 20022004, october 6, 2006, http://www.ed.gov.

B iBliograPhy
Amato, Paul r., et al. Alone Together: How Marriage in America Is Changing. Cambrdge, MA: Harvard Unversty Press, 2007. Baker, davd. National Differences, Global Similarities: World Culture and the Future of Schooling. stanford, CA: stanford socal scences, 2005. Carlson, Allan C. Conjugal America: On the Public Purposes of Marriage. New Brunswck, NJ: Transacton, 2007. Hochschld, Arle. The Second Shift. New york: Avon, 1989. Lyons, wllam. Punishing Schools: Fear and Citizenship in American Public Education. Ann Arbor: Unversty of Mchgan Press, 2006. Natonal Center for educaton statstcs. The Condton of educaton, 20002006. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe. Newton, Judth Lowder. From Panthers to Promise Keepers: Rethinking the Mens Movement. Latham, Md: rowman and Lttlefeld, 2005. Popenoe, davd. War over the Family. New Brunswck, NJ: Transacton, 2005. rosenfeld, Mchael J. The Age of Independence: Interracial Unions, Same-Sex Unions, and the Changing American Family. Cambrdge, MA: Harvard Unversty Press, 2007.

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sacks, Peter. Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American Education. Berkeley: Unversty of Calforna Press, 2007. snyder, r. Clare. Gay Marriage and Democracy: Equality for All. New york: rowman and Lttlefeld, 2006. Thstle, susan. From Marriage to the Market: The Transformation of Womens Lives and Work. Berkeley: Unversty of Calforna Press, 2006. wolfson, evan. Why Marriage Matters. New york: smon and schuster, 2004.

4
Holdays and Lesure
Wende Vyborney Feller

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

stephen Kng, The Shining

Americans are notorious for ther reluctance to make tme for play. on average, they work fve more weeks each year than Brazlans or the Brtsh and two and a half weeks more than Canadans, Mexcans, Australans, or the Japanese. whle the French average 39 vacaton days each yearand use themAmercans accrue only 14 vacaton days and typcally leave four of those unused. And when Amercans do go on vacaton, 41 percent of offce workers brng ther laptops and plan to work.1 Ths appette for work must be a surprse to the socologsts who predcted, back n the 1950s, that Amercans would soon be burdened by an excess of lesure. At the same tme, the Amercan standard of 14 vacaton days and half a dozen pad holdays represents a sgnfcant ncrease n lesure tme from 150 years ago, when 12-hour workdays and sx- or even seven-day workweeks were commonand even Chrstmas was not necessarly a day of rest. Although fars, celebratons, sports contests, and hobbes appear n the frst records of Amercan hstory, not untl 1870 were there offcal holdays that guaranteed many workers a day wthout labor. Today, as Amercans come to expect around-the-clock shoppng and entertanment, holdays are agan becomng unstuck from the dea of rest and play.

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h olidays Holdays n Amercan culture encompass a wde range of events. The closest approach to a lst of natonal holdays s the 10 federal holdays, whch represent vacaton days gven to employees of the federal government and whch are often also gven as pad holdays by state and prvate employers: New years day, the brthday of Martn Luther Kng Jr., washngtons brthday, Memoral day, Independence day, Labor day, Columbus day, Veterans day, Thanksgvng, and Chrstmas. Ths federal holday lst scarcely defnes what Amercans see as events worth celebratng snce t omts three of the holdays that Amercans celebrate most enthusastcally: Valentnes day, Mothers day, and Halloween. Broadenng the defnton to nclude offcal observances makes almost every day a holday. There are enough federal observances to average one per week, year-round. Add state observances, and t s possble to pack a dozen holdays nto a sngle day: May 1 s Loyalty day, Brd day, Famly day, Law day, Le day, and a natonal day of Prayer as well as the frst day of monthlong commemoratons of Asan Amercans, famles, keepng Massachusetts beautful, kndness, law enforcement workers, chldren, composers, senor ctzens, the steel ndustry, and women veterans. Gven that Thanksgvng was a tradtonal event before t became a federal holday, perhaps a holday may be defned as a communty festval that gans natonwde popularty. Certanly there are plenty of festvals vyng for consumers lesure and dollars. Popular festval themes nclude local hstory, local ndustry or agrculture, musc, ethnc hertage, gay prde, food, and flowers. A typcal festval ncludes a parade, a craft or art show, food vendors, face pantng, muscal performances, and possbly a competton to crown a queen or prncess from among local young women. Although t s easy to assume that a festval honorng a communtys swedsh hertage or plethora of rattlesnakes has roots n the dstant past, few festvals predate world war II. one researcher found that n Mnnesota, about one-thrd of communty festvals started n the 1980s, and fully 12 percent were part of a Bcentennal-era surge of nterest n local hstory. Festvals do not necessarly grow organcally from local tradton, ether. when organzers of the whgham rattlesnake roundup were asked why they chose rattlesnakes, they responded that t was ther frst dea other than a fsh fry.2 even when a festval commemorates an hstorc event, the festval tself may not be hstorc. In Apache Juncton, Arzona, the Lost dutchman days festval celebrates the legend of a mysterous vanshng mne supposedly dscovered n the 1880s. The festval dates only to 1965, about 15 years after the communty was establshed.3

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The Lost dutchman may be a myth, but beng fcttous does not stop events from nsprng a festval. Impersonators of characters from Gomer Pyles fcttous town of Mayberry appear at festvals throughout the rural south, culmnatng n Mayberry days n Ary, North Carolna. Mena, Arkansas, celebrates Lum n Abner days, based on a rado show that was popular n the 1930s.4 Not all communty festvals are recent nventons, of course, nor are they all n small towns. In rochester, New york, the Llac Festval has been celebrated contnuously snce 1902 (organzers clam 1892), drawng about 250,000 people each year.5 san Francscos Chnese New year was celebrated as early as the 1860s; New orleanss Mard Gras s older yet. one researcher argues that the appeal of festvals s how they allow partcpants to belong to a communty wth mnmal effort or commtment.6 Certanly there are plenty of communtes vyng for membershp. In a sngle weekend n late February, people who lst cookng and eatng as ther favorte lesure actvtes can choose from seven events. At the top of the food chan s the south Beach wne and Food Festval, a Florda weekend that ncludes the Food Network Awards and s expected to draw 20,000 gourmets who can afford to spend upward of $1,000 on tckets. whle ths festval dates only to 2002, the Twn Ctes Food and wne experence and the Newport seafood and wne Festval are somewhat older (13 years and 30 years, respectvely) and offer more modest tcket prces. More accessble, owng to free admsson, are the Annual Clam Chowder Cook-off n santa Cruz, Calforna; the Grant seafood Festval, whch draws 50,000 vstors to oregon and dates to 1996; the Parke County, Indana, Maple syrup Far; and the Annual Florda Gourd Festval. Ths last event offers not only classes n gourdng, but also free parkng for recreatonal vehcles.7 Perhaps the most famlar festvals are the county far and the state far. The tradtonal county far, wth lvestock exhbtons, parades, performances, and bakng compettons, evolved from agrcultural and employment fars around 1811 and was wdely popular before the Cvl war. Although only about 20 percent of Amercans lve n rural areas, county fars have stayng power. Though fewer than 1 percent of the resdents of san Mateo County, Calforna, work n farmng, fshng, or forestry, the county stll holds ts far. even a completely urbanzed county lke san Francsco sees perodc efforts to start a county far.8 County fars are held durng the summer, as a precursor to the bg event: the state far, tradtonally held near Labor day weekend. As county fars became popular, the state far was a natural way to pt county wnners aganst one another and to showcase the states agrcultural bountya powerful

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means of attractng mmgrants to settle the fronter states. These larger fars requre a permanent exhbton ground that s also used for other events throughout the year. The state Far of Texas can gross $2.3 mllon n a sngle day.9 Most communtes put more fervor nto ther county far than nto celebratng a federal holday lke washngtons brthday. yet t s unlkely that anyone has ever sent a greetng card to commemorate the san Mateo County Far. sendng holday cards s such a thoroughly entrenched Amercan tradton that the term Hallmark holidays s used to descrbe occasons that were reputedly nvented byor at least promoted bymajor card company Hallmark to boost sales. suspected Hallmark holdays range from Valentnes day and Mothers day to more obscure sweetest day, secretarys day, and Grandparents day. Greetng cards and true holdays from work both became popular at about the same tme, the md-nneteenth century. Untl the federal government declared four bank holdays n 1870Independence day, Thanksgvng, Chrstmas, and New years daythere was no connecton between a celebraton and a day off from work. whle even Chrstmas was celebrated sporadcally for years before becomng a major event, Independence day has been wdely celebrated snce 1777, the year after the declaraton of Independence was sgned. Bands, freworks, parades, and pcncs have been part of the celebraton as far back as records go. Today, commemoratng ndependence from Great Brtan requres 150 mllon hotdogs, or approxmately one for every two people. No one records how many sheet cakes decorated lke a flag wth strawberres, blueberres, and whpped cream are served, though the recpe has been a staple of womens magaznes snce the 1830s. It s also one of the least controversal holdays. other than a gay rghts protest n Phladelpha n 1965, there s lttle record of the controverses over ncluson that enlven st. Patrcks day, the Chnese New year, and Columbus day.10 enjoyng outdoor fun rases no publc complants about forgettng the meanng of the day. For Thanksgvng, the cvc meanngthankfulness for the harvest slpped away so gradually that lttle protest surrounds todays custom of servng a large meal amd a long day of watchng televson, notably the Macys Thanksgvng day parade and varous football games. Although the holday reputedly dates to the Plgrms frst harvest n 1621, and George washngton establshed a late November date for a day of thanksgvng n 1789, Thanksgvng was not celebrated consstently untl after 1863. In 1941, the date was set as the fourth Thursday n November. Turkey and pumpkns were consdered tradtonal as early as 1854, but the famlar menu for the largest eatng holday of the year was defned largely

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by army fare n world war II. The dnner served to solders n 1941 started wth celery and olves, then ncluded almost all of todays standard fare: roast turkey, sage dressng and gblet gravy, cranberry sauce, canded sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, hot rolls, a vegetable, salad, and pumpkn pe as well as other desserts. The most crucal mssng tem was green bean casserole, a recpe nvented for Campbells soup n 1955. By the early 1990s, cookng mavens were promotng nontradtonal menus to spce up the day.11 Turkey remans the centerpece, but sde dshes are where ethnc communtes ncorporate ther own culnary tradtons. The Thanksgvng feast has become a source of stress. Turkey producer Butterball offers vdeos on thawng, stuffng, roastng, or barbecung the turkey; the san Francsco Chronicle offers Turkey Tranng Camp for the worst cooks n the Bay Area. More than half of all cooks ncorporate restaurantprepared take-out tems n ther feast, usually sde dshes or dessert, up from one-thrd n 2002.12 No wonder people are ready to collapse n front of a football game. rest s vtal, as the Frday after Thanksgvng marks the kck-off of the holday shoppng season. Although so-called Black Frday s not the heavest shoppng day of the year, the flood of shoppers nto stores, along wth the

shoppers, some of whom have been shoppng snce 5:00 a.m., bargan hunt to grab specals on everythng from toys to flat screen TVs on Black Frday, the begnnng of the holday shoppng season. AP Photo/Jeff Chu.

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popularty of door-buster bargans offered as early as 5:00 a.m., provdes suffcent mayhem to justfy the days nckname. The goal of all the shoppng s Chrstmas: the most sentmentalzed holday of the year. whle 77 percent of Amercans dentfy as Chrstans, 95 percent celebrate Chrstmas. Amercans send 1.9 bllon holday cards, cut 20.8 mllon trees, spend almost $32 bllon n department stores alone n december, and mal 1 mllon packages.13 specal holday programmng rules the televson. The most famous Chrstmas classc, A Charlie Brown Christmas, mentons the brth of Chrst and ends wth a loosely Chrstan message of peace and acceptance, but most of the classc programs from the 1960s are more focused on remndng chldren that Chrstmas nvolves santa Claus and that santa brngs presents. Although there s a st. Ncholas n the Catholc pantheon, the legend that he brngs presents to good chldren dd not become popular n the Unted states untl the early nneteenth century. Before then, t was New years day, not Chrstmas, that was assocated wth presents. The vson of a st. Nck as a jolly brnger of presents who drove a rendeer-drawn slegh and sld down the chmney to fll stockngs frst appears n Clement Moores poem The Nght before Chrstmas n 1823. Moores work was part of a movement to establsh a tradtonal holday based loosely on customs current n Germany, where Amercans beleved famly lfe was better apprecated. The fat, jolly, fur-clad santa Amercans know s largely the creaton of llustrator Thomas Nash n the 1860s. department store santas became common at about the same tme, and now no shoppng venue s complete wthout a jolly old elf. A sklled santa can make up to $18,000 n the sx weeks between Thanksgvng and Chrstmas. so popular s vstng santa that the Herald square Macys alone gets 1,000 vstors per hour. The magc may be more n the eyes of the parents than the chldren, though: one busness professor observed that 82 percent of the chldren n one lne to see santa seemed bored. It s estmated that a full 20 percent of the people clmbng on santas lap are adults.14 Belevng n santa Claus s one of the benchmarks of chldlke nnocence; learnng that there are no flyng rendeer, and that the presents come from parents, s an mportant, f not traumatc, rte of passage. santa s also the sgn of the so-called wars over Chrstmas, n whch some Chrstans worry that greed for gfts, and concern over the senstvtes of the non-Chrstan mnorty, has taken the Chrst out of Chrstmas. In 2005, the uproar was over wal-Marts decson that clerks should say happy holidays! nstead of merry Christmas! By 2006, wal-Mart was back to merry Christmas! Another frequent controversy s whether government agences can sponsor natvty scenes or other dsplays of Chrstan symbols; the answer s usually no.15

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Chrstmas s so pervasve that, as one rabb noted, Ths month of december s a rather dffcult tme for Jews.16 Amercan Jews have transformed Hanukah, the festval of lghts that falls n december, from a mnor legend to an eght-day extravaganza of partes and gfts, complete wth ts own slverand-blue gft wrap. (In sprtual terms, Hanukah s far less mportant than yom Kppur, the day of atonement, and rosh Hashanah, the Jewsh new year, both of whch fall between Labor day and Halloween.) Ths shft n the mportance of Hanukah brngs ts own controverses about how much Jews should assmlate wth the Chrstan majorty. It wll be nterestng to see what happens f the Hndu populaton of the Unted states contnues to double each decade snce the major Hndu festvals also cluster n the sprng and autumn. wll some lesser Hndu legend gan promnence at mdwnter? even more complcated s the stuaton wth Muslms, the second largest non-Chrstan relgon n the Unted states, as the monthlong daytme fast of ramadan falls durng the holday season at least every 12 years. Attachng a holday to Chrstmas has worked for Kwanzaa, the Afrcan Amercan celebraton nvented by ron Karenga n 1966. Celebrated the week after Chrstmas, Kwanzaa devotes one day to each of the values of unty, self-determnaton, collectve responsblty, cooperatve economcs, purpose,

santa Claus prepares before makng an appearance n december. AP Photo/ Nevada Appeal, Brad Horn.

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A member of sstahs supportng sstahs lghts the candle of Ujma, meanng collectve work and responsblty, durng a Kwanzaa celebraton. AP Photo/The Holland sentnel, J. r. Valderas.

creatvty, and fath. As the festval grows n popularty, some leaders worry that commercalsm s waterng down ts orgnal meanng of ethnc prde and self-respect.17 Perhaps the most potent rebellon aganst Chrstmas, surpassng even Adbusters Buy Nothng day on Black Frday, s Festvus, the festval for the rest of us, nvented by the ht televson comedy Seinfeld. The hallmarks of Festvus are erectng a bare Festvus pole nstead of a Chrstmas tree, arng grevances, and performng feats of strength. As quckly as t caught on, the holday became commercalzed: Ben and Jerrys launched a Festvus-themed ce cream flavor n 2000, and by 2006, manufacturers were warrng over who produced the authentc Festvus pole.18 The last of the orgnal four holdays s New years day, or the mornng after a New years eve party that s supposed to nclude toastng the strke of mdnght wth champagne, kssng, and sngng Auld Lang syne. once day breaks, about 40 percent of Amercans make New years resolutons, most often to stop smokng, lose weght, and be a better person. A wTVU/ Marst College poll found that at the end of 2005, 63 percent of those surveyed had kept ther resolutons, though men were more lkely than women to clam success.19

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Addtonal federal holdays were added to the calendar gradually, then generally moved to Mondays wth the Unform Monday Holday Act of 1968 (actually mplemented n 1972). These lengthened weekends were supposed to beneft retalers, but t s doubtful that anyone predcted how thoroughly bargan shoppng and mnvacatons would dstract attenton from the people beng honored. Many of these holdays were somewhat controversal n ther orgns. For nstance, Memoral day (orgnally decoraton day) started n 1866 as a way to honor Unon solders n the recent Cvl war. The south had ts own Confederate Memoral day, most often celebrated on Aprl 26. It has been noted that Afrcan Amercans observed federal Memoral day celebratons, whle whtes n the south stll preferred Confederate Memoral day.20 Now settled on the last Monday n May, Memoral day may be more recognzed as an excellent weekend for weddngs than as a day of remembrance. Memoral day s also often confused wth Veterans day, whch honors all who fought, ncludng the lvng. Lke Memoral day, Veterans day started wth a dfferent name, Armstce day, and a slghtly dfferent purpose: to honor those who fought n world war I, then beleved to be the war to end all wars. After world war II, the day became a more general celebraton for veterans. of the approxmately 24.5 mllon lvng veterans n the Unted states, about one-thrd fought n world war II, whle 15 percent fought n Vetnam.21 Although Veterans day was among the Monday holdays defned n 1968, t has snce returned to ts orgnal date of November 11. Approprate actvtes for both Memoral day and Veterans day nclude decoratng the graves of dead solders. Labor day, assgned to the frst Monday n september, developed n the 1880s as a symbolc day of rest for the workngman. At the tme, rest was controversal: even sundays were commonly workdays. As late as 1910, labor leaders and mnsters were lobbyng for an eght-hour workday and a sxday workweek. wthn the next decade, labor leaders adopted Labor day as an occason for speeches promotng unonzaton. workers must have acheved some rest; by the 1930s, Labor day had become a bg day for trps to the beach.22 whle Memoral day has the Indy 500 race, Labor day has the Muscular dystrophy Assocaton telethon, hosted by Jerry Lews snce 1966. Perhaps the temptaton to stay parked n front of the televson on a beautful fall day has somethng to do wth the realty that school tradtonally starts on the day after Labor day. The start of the school year assumes some of the character of a holday n ts own rght, wth the average famly spendng over $500 n 2006, mostly on clothng and electroncs.23

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Also born n the 1880s was the far less controversal holday honorng the brthday of George washngton. Now celebrated on the thrd Monday of January and popularly beleved to be a Presdents day that also honors Abraham Lncoln, the holday remans offcally dedcated to washngton alone. However, enthusasm for celebratng washngtons leadershp has waned substantally snce 1855, when New yorkers turned out for a parade wth mltary bands and floats, plus speeches, songs, and freworks. By the 1980s, the Manhattan parade had been reduced to a parochal school ffeand-drum corps and the Knghts of Columbus, and most celebratng was done at Herald square department stores.24 Martn Luther Kng day, the newest of federal holdays, demonstrates how a holday s pulled two ways. Celebrated on the thrd Monday n January, the day was added to the federal calendar n 1986 to nclude an Afrcan Amercan n the offcal pantheon of Amercan heroes. The day was not observed n all 50 states untl 2000, when New Hampshre renamed ts nne-year-old Cvl rghts day. More predctably, the last serous hold out had been south Carolna, whch balanced honors for the cvl rghts leader by addng Confederate Memoral day to ts offcal state calendar.25 other than publc readngs of Kngs famous I Have a dream speech, there s not yet consensus on how to celebrate the holday. some advocate a natonal day of communty servce, descrbed as a day on, not a day off. It

People march n honor of Martn Luther Kng Jr. AP Photo/The Fresno Bee, Chrstan Parley.

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s stll controversal when a natonal chan such as Cathernes, a store offerng plus-szed womens clothng, holds a Martn Luther Kng day sale. Is the chan trvalzng the struggle for cvl rghts, or s t recognzng that Afrcan Amercans have dsposable ncome and corporate careers? Meanwhle, one small Florda town dscovered t could mprove turnout for the days cvc events by addng floats, arts and crafts, and food boothsjust lke other communty festvals.26 wth floats and craft booths, Martn Luther Kng day may be dong better than Columbus day, arguably a falure among federal holdays. From ts orgns n 1869 n san Francsco, Columbus day was ntended to celebrate Italan hertage along wth the european dscovery of Amerca. The day was added to the offcal federal calendar n 1937. snce then, observance has lagged. workplaces stay open; few tradtons are assocated wth the day; the Natonal retal Federaton does not bother to track spendng. Hspancs have redefned the day as da de la raza, a celebraton of Hspanc hertage, whle south dakota celebrates Natve Amercan day. Ths ambguous status s a comedown from the holdays heyday near the end of the nneteenth century. In 1892, Columbus day was one of the holdays deemed approprate for cvc pageants: Brdgeport, Connectcuts, pageant ncluded a reenactment of the landng of the santa Mara, n whch locals dressed as salors and prests, and Indans dedcated the New england coast to span. when Columbus day frst became a state holday n New york n 1909, celebratons ncluded an 80,000-watcher parade up Ffth Avenue, wth 300 Italan Amercan socetes partcpatng. wth da de la raza celebratons havng taken over the Ffth Avenue parade route and Natve Amercan communtes renventng the pageant, Columbus day seems to be mutatng nto a new ethnc holday.27 da de la raza rases the queston of how an ethnc celebraton becomes a popular holday. representng the hertage of a large number of Amercans helps: st. Patrcks day, celebrated on March 17 snce 1762, has a natural consttuency among the 34.7 mllon Amercans who clam Irsh ancestrymore than quadruple the populaton of Ireland. The day calls for eatng corned beef and cabbage (an Amercan varant of a tradtonal Irsh dsh), vstng Irsh pubs, and (n recent years) drnkng green beer; parades are also popular. In the md-1990s, partcpaton n New york Ctys st. Patrcks day parade was a matter of dspute as the controversal Irsh natonalst organzaton snn Fen was allowed to partcpate, whle gay and lesban groups were not.28 smlarly, Cnco de Mayo can clam support from the fastest growng ethnc group n the Unted states: Hspancs. The day commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla, when an outnumbered Mexcan army defeated French

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Chldren from Ballet Folclorco Quetzalcoatl n New york celebrate Cnco de Mayo wth a tradtonal dance. AP Photo/Tna Fneberg.

forces. An offcal holday n Mexco, the celebraton of Cnco de Mayo frst became popular n states along the Mexcan border. Lke st. Patrcks day, Cnco de Mayo has become a bonanza for restaurants and bars; even grngos can apprecate bargan cerveza.29 on the other hand, Irsh and Mexcan are only the fourth and sxth most frequently clamed ancestres among Amercans. The others n the top 10 are German, Afrcan Amercan, englsh, just plan Amercan, Italan, Polsh, French, and Amercan Indan. whle Italan Amercans have Columbus day and Afrcan Amercans have Martn Luther Kng day, celebratons of the other domnant ethnctes reman local: an oktoberfest here, a Bastlle day there. Meanwhle, an ethncty that represents less than 1 percent of the populaton puts on one of the bggest partes on the west Coast: Chnese New year n san Francsco. The celebraton, datng to the 1860s and held on the lunar New year n February or early March, rvals New year events n Chna and s televsed worldwde. The event s so large that southwest Arlnes now sponsors t. And, lke the st. Patrcks day parade n New york, who s n and who s out s a battlefeld of dentty. In 2006, members of Falun Gong, a movement banned n the Peoples republc of Chna, were barred from partcpatng because they had allegedly broken rules by passng out lterature durng the 2004 event.30

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Touchng a chord n many lves may be why some festvals grow nto holdays. It s hard to oppose honorng mother and father, so there are huge consttuences for celebratng Mothers day, on the second sunday n May, and Fathers day, on the thrd sunday n June. Both holdays were products of lngerng Vctoran sentmentalty. Anna Jarvs of Grafton, west Vrgna, spearheaded Mothers day n 1908 to honor her late mother. The same year, Grace Golden Clayton of Farmont, west Vrgna, ntroduced a day to honor fathers klled n a mnng accdent; two years later, sonora smart dodd of spokane, washngton, held an event to honor her fathers devoton as a sngle parent. dodd aggressvely promoted the event, whch was recognzed by Congress n 1956 and became a permanent holday n 1972.31 Mothers day had been on the calendar snce 1914. Mothers day elcts slghtly more spendng than Valentnes day, at an average of $122 per person. Accordng to the Natonal retal Federaton, 85 percent of buyers send greetng cards, 65 percent send flowers, and 32 percent buy gft cards. The enormous greetng card spendng s stll just 4 percent of annual sales, but Mothers day s defntely the years busest day for phone calls. The tradton most frmly assocated wth the day s wearng a carnaton: red for a lvng mother and whte for a deceased one. However, ths practce s an evoluton from the orgnal practce of wearng or dsplayng whte carnatons to honor all mothers, lvng or dead.32 Fathers day packs nowhere near the emotonal wallop of Mothers day. only about 100 mllon cards are sent for Fathers day, versus 150 mllon for Mothers day. Hallmark and Amercan Greetngs agree that funny cards outsell sentmental ones. whle the Natonal retal Federaton mourns that spendng s about 20 percent lower than for Mothers day, the Natonal restaurant Federaton notes that Fathers day s the fourth bggest day of the year for dnng out. (The others, n reverse order, are Valentnes day, New years eve, and Mothers day.)33 A thrd holday devoted to sentment, st. Valentnes day on February 14, has a clouder hstory. The sants day was establshed n 496 as a celebraton of hs martyrdom more than 200 years earler. Not untl 1493 dd the legend of Valentne helpng persecuted lovers appear. why a roman Catholc sants day ganed popular appeal n 1840s Amercaa tme of wdespread prejudce aganst roman Catholcss unclear. However, t s known that mass-produced Valentne cards found a market as early as 1847, when esther Howland of worcester, Massachusetts, started sellng lacy, sentmental confectons.34 Valentnes day remans the second largest holday for greetng card sales, after Chrstmas, wth 190 mllon cards sold. About 25 percent of these cards are humorous, though 45 percent of men and 34 percent of women clam

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to prefer humorous cards. In general, Valentnes day s the second bggest retal holday after Chrstmas, the stars of spendng beng chocolate, roses, jewelry, and dnners out. The Natonal Confectoners Assocaton rates Valentnes day as fourth among holdays (Halloween s bgger), wth about 36 mllon heart-shaped boxes of candy sold. one-thrd of Amercans send flowers, amountng to 180 mllon roses and gvng florsts a reason to rase prces up to 30 percent n the pror week. Among bargan-seekng wal-Mart shoppers, at least, romance burns most brghtly n Msssspp (thrd n sales of damonds, frst n chocolates, and ffth n roses) and fzzles n Vermont.35 Ths romantc holday s also reputedly the best tme of year to catch lovers cheatng. No wonder one poll found that 1 n 10 adults under age 25 feels depressed, nsecure, nadequate, or unwanted on the day. The same poll determned that one-thrd of women feel ndfferent toward the holday and that two-ffths of sngle people feel ndfferent or negatve. retalers are rushng to serve ths market of the dsaffected. In 2007, Altods opened Ant-V day shops n New york, Chcago, and Mam, whle greetng card manufacturers ntroduced antValentnes day lnes.36 The death of sentmentalty s evdent n the sudden rse of Halloween. The Natonal retal Federaton calls t the sxth largest holday for retal spendng, worth about $5 bllon n 2006, wth $1.8 bllon spent on costumes alone. Party Cty says t s the second largest holday for decoratng, tralng only Chrstmas, thanks to the popularty of plastc bats and faux gravestones. Two-thrds of all Amercans attend Halloween partes, wth partcpaton reachng 85 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds.37 Ths s not Halloweens frst appearance as a festval prmarly for adults. In the 1920s, Halloween became a stylsh tme for hgh socety galas, ncludng one n 1933 that followed the frst known scavenger hunt party among New yorks smart set.38 The custom of trck-or-treatng at Halloween dd not become commonplace untl the 1940s. wth wdespread trck-or-treatng came rumors of Halloween treats contamnated wth razors, poson, or Lsd. However, the Urban Legends reference can fnd no documented nstance of tanted food beng gven to chldren by nonfamly members.39 The popularty of Halloween has also made t more controversal. Although the da de los Muertos has a legtmate hstory as a sprtual precursor to All sants day on November 1, some evangelcal Chrstans call Halloween ant-Chrstan because t shares the calendar wth the pagan festval of samhan. Pagans, n turn, clam the holday s thers and always has been. However, t s unlkely that the famlar Amercan celebraton wth costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and trck-or-treatng descends from ether of these tradtons. one of the earlest mentons n the New York Times appears n 1879, n an artcle that acquants the reader wth the quant fortune-tellng cus-

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toms of All Hallows eve n england. Just three years earler, the Times had complaned that Halloween tradtons were entrely forgotten n the Unted states.40 As wth Chrstmas, current tradtons are probably nventons, based only loosely on european customs. The other popular holday for dressng up and lettng down nhbtons s Mard Gras, the Fat Tuesday that precedes the start of Lent, whch n turn leads to easter. In New orleans, the center of Mard Gras fun, multple parades full of elaborate floats, sponsored by socal clubs, or krewes, wth names lke Momus and Comus, have been part of the tradtonal celebraton snce before the Cvl war; women lftng ther shrts for Girls Gone Wild vdeos are a newer twst on the revelry. whle New orleans saw only 350,000 vstors n 2006, the year after Hurrcane Katrna devastated the cty, organzers n 2007 hope for a return to numbers closer to 2005s 1.4 mllon.41 Lenta perod of prayer, fastng, and alms gvng before easterwould seem to be the last event that could attract retal sales. The major Jewsh holday of Passover, whch occurs near easter and commemorates the Jewsh peoples flght from slavery n egypt nto the promsed land of Israel, at least requres unleavened foods that are kosher for Passover. However, the roman Catholc requrement to eat no meat on Lenten Frdays makes ths the season for restaurants to promote ther fsh menus. KFC has gone so far as to request that the Pope bless ts new fsh sandwch.42 Unlke Hanukah, Passover has not been transformed by proxmty to a major Chrstan holday: t remans an mportant relgous festval, but advertsng does not show the easter Bunny showng up for the seder. Kosher grocery stores currently do about 45 percent of ther annual busness at Passover (lke easter, t s a holday that brngs out less observant belevers), though they are facng ncreased competton from manstream grocery stores tryng to reach a Jewsh market. For those who dread cleanng every corner of the house to purfy t (or seeng ther relatves at the rtual dnner), resorts now offer vacaton packages that promse to comply wth the complex detary rules of the season.43 Meanwhle, Chrstans celebrate easter by buyng $2 bllon n candy, ncludng 1 bllon Peeps marshmallow chcks and bunnes, 16 bllon jelly beans, and 90 bllon chocolate rabbts (most of whch wll have ther ears eaten frst).44 The candy goes nto an easter basket, the tradtonal reward to chldren for fndng decorated eggs that ther parents have hdden on behalf of the easter Bunny. Although t s now popular to trace the easter Bunny to pagan customs, the rabbt and the egg hunt were popularzed n Amerca n the md-nneteenth century as part of a fashon for famly-focused German customs. These partcular customs frst appear n German sources after the Protestant reformaton.

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The connecton between Jesus and colored eggs remans so unclear that some ctes have renamed ther annual egg hunts to remove references to easter, though the juxtaposton of egg hunt, church servce, and elaborate luncheon remans customary. of the major holdays, easter has the least frmly establshed menu, though spral-cut hams outpace candy n dollars spent. It s also a holday that gans appeal from occurrng varously from late March to late n Aprl, so that t becomes an occason for showng off new sprng clothes.45 The most clothng-orented celebraton s nether easter nor even Halloween. on few occasons wll a typcal woman spend as much on a dress as she does for her weddng gown, wth an average prce of over $1,000. Postworld war II prosperty started weddngs growth to a personalzed festval far larger than Chrstmas and requrng over a year to plan. each year, almost 2.3 mllon Amercan couples plan a formal weddng, at an average cost of $26,800, resultng n an ndustry worth $7.9 bllon.46 whle a whte gown and vel for the brde reman standard, the weddng ceremony has become more ndvdualzed and complex, wth couples wrtng ther own vows, lghtng a unty candle to honor ther famles, askng ther attendants to read poems or sng, and offerng famly medallons to chldren from earler marrages. A large weddng can expand to fll the entre weekend, wth a brdesmads lunch, rehearsal dnner, and bachelor party before the bg day, a formal recepton and dance followng the ceremony, and a present-openng brunch on the day after. other rtes of passage have exhbted the same expanson. one Boston wrter commented that lamentng materalsm s as much a Jewsh bar mtzvah tradton as holdng a lavsh party after the relgous ceremony. Both the ceremony, n whch a boy of about 13 s admtted to manhood and reads from holy scrpture n front of the synagogue, and the subsequent party dd not become wdespread n the Unted states untl the 1970s. Pecularly, for a rtual that was meant to apply only to males, the popularty of the bar mtzvah may have ncreased as Jewsh femnsts promoted a parallel ceremony for ther daughters.47 The Chrstan ceremony of confrmaton, held by roman Catholcs at about the same age as the bar mtzvah, receves a far less lavsh treatment. The closest equvalent s the Hspanc quinceaera, or 15th-brthday celebraton, whch calls for elaborate ball gowns, a mass, and a dance. wth a typcal cost between $5,000 and $10,000, the qunce s not qute as grand as a weddng. However, the smlarty to weddngs s obvous to mass-retaler davds Brdal, whch markets quinceaera gowns; and just as t s possble to have a combned weddng and honeymoon at an exotc locaton, t s possble to celebrate the quinceaera on a seven-day cruse. There s even a magazne

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for grls plannng ther qunces. Although the party has a long hstory n Latn Amerca, t became wdely popular n the Unted states only wth a larger cultural shft to embracng ethnc tradtons, rather than attemptng to Amercanze those rtuals away.48 The 1990s also saw the growth of the kdde brthday party from a cake, balloons, and pn the tal on the donkey to extravaganzas wth clowns, rented zoo anmals, elaborate favors, and guest lsts of 50 or more. Parents n the san Francsco Bay area call elaborate brthday partes a fundamental rte of passage. Meanwhle, n Mnnesota, the parents behnd Brthdays wthout Pressure are tryng to launch a local and natonal conversaton about how chldrens partes are out of control.49 l eisure self-ndulgence may have become the theme of todays lesure actvtes, compared to past generatons nterest n communty partcpaton and useful hobbes. In hs wdely dscussed best seller Bowling Alone, Harvard poltcal scentst robert Putnam lamented how Amercans gve less tme to cvc actvsm, church, clubs, and even playng brdge or pnochle. In farness, card games reman a monthly actvty for about 3.9 percent of Amercans, though the survey does not dsclose whether the game was soltare. Certanly the two most popular lesure pastmesdnng out and watchng televsonmake no ones lst of character-buldng actvtes.50 Buldng character has been a justfcaton for play as far back as the seventeenth century. Purtan clercs recommended sports that could refresh the sprt but warned aganst games that mght lead to gamblng, drnkng, and dleness. of the actvtes that at least 1.5 percent of Amercans enjoy once a month, few would have won approval n colonal salem. Along wth dnng out and playng cards, the top actvtes nclude entertanng at home, barbecung, bakng, cookng, gong to bars, gong to the beach, gong to lve theater, playng board games, photography, scrapbookng, and readng books. Just over a century ago, a smlar propensty for sedentary actvtes led Theodore roosevelt to urge Amercans to take up football and bg game huntng to develop the rougher, manler trats of ther character.51 Amercans took up footballfrom the stands. Footballs popularty as a spectator sport s almost unrvaled. From 1990 to 2005, attendance at professonal and college football games grew 23 percent, pushng t ahead of ts tradtonal rvals, baseball and basketball. Football s the most watched sport on televson, makng the average professonal team worth $898 mllon, compared to just $376 mllon for the average baseball team and $353 mllon for the average basketball team. Thanks to ts popularty and ts large

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squads, football s also the mens college sport that felds the most players. However, tackle football and ts gentler varant, touch football, rank only 25 and 24 among the most popular partcpaton sports among Amercans as a whole, and more than two-thrds of the players are college-age or younger. By the tme Amercans get nto ther fftes, they overwhelmngly prefer walkng, fshng, swmmng, and golf.52 each of the bg three sports represents a dstnct aspect of Amercan character. Baseballs hotdogs and hot July nghts, wth the game played under the sky n an old-style brck stadum and on real grass, summons nostalga for a smpler, queter, slower tmeapproprate for a sport that evolved from crcket before the Cvl war. Basketball, whch was nvented for play n the ghettos of Chcago n 1891, expresses the lghtnng-fast pace of urban lfe and the egaltaran deals of a naton of mmgrants. And football, whch rose to domnate homecomng games n the 1920s and became a televson phenomenon n the 1960s, eptomzes the Unted states movement nto beng a superpower. By the tme Joe Namath led the New york Jets to vctory n the thrd super Bowl n 1969, Presdent Nxon was talkng football n campagn speeches to the slent majorty as part of hs message that Amerca should be number one.53 The drve to be number one has resulted n concerns about brutal play ever snce football developed from rugby n Ivy League colleges n the 1870s. even Theodore roosevelt called for reforms, a movement that led n 1905 to the foundng of the organzaton that s now the Natonal Collegate Athletc Assocaton (NCAA). College play has also suffered under crtcsm that the natonal ttle s mythcal or arbtrary because the teams wth the top records are not ptted aganst one another n a sngle champonshp game, thanks to a system of rankng teams based on votes. Modfcatons to the bowl system, whch has matched hghly regarded teams on New years day snce the frst rose Bowl n 1902, have resulted n a champonshp game played on the second weekend n January, but there are stll crtcsms that top teams are excluded. In professonal football, superorty s more clear-cut. Beng number one means wnnng the super Bowl, n whch the wnners of the Natonal Football Conference and Amercan Football Conference face off. super Bowl sunday, n late January or early February, has become a de facto natonal holday. The only bgger day for food consumpton s Thanksgvng; the only program to beat the 2006 super Bowl for total vewers s the 1983 fnale of M*A*S*H. Forbes calls the super Bowl the most valuable brand n the Unted states, possbly because people tune n as much for the nnovatve commercals as for the play. A 30-second commercal spot cost $2.6 mllon n 2007.54 The major advertser s usually Anheuser-Busch, an approprate choce for a day

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when tradtonal party menus feature beer, chcken wngs, pzza, chps, and guacamole. That water systems break durng halftme as everyone flushes smultaneously s an urban legend.55 Producers of the halftme show do ther utmost to hold vewers. snce 1992, marchng bands have been supplanted by celebrtes such as Glora estefan, dana ross, steve wonder, Paul McCartney, Brtney spears, the rollng stones, Prnce, and (most nfamously) Justn Tmberlake and Janet Jackson. Jacksons so-called wardrobe malfuncton, when Tmberlakes playful tug on her buster revealed her entre breast, resonated so strongly n popular culture that t led the Federal Communcatons Commsson to crack down on nudty n soap operas. The ncdent also resulted n a $550,000 fne for CBs, the network that broadcast the 2004 super Bowl.56 No one worres about excess flushng durng Major League Baseballs world seres. A best-of-seven-game seres smply does not generate the same passon as an all-or-nothng contest, and the televson ratngs show t. snce the early 1990s, vewers have slumped from an average of about 20 mllon households to fewer than 10 mllon households. The 2004 seres between the Boston red sox and the st. Lous Cardnals temporarly reversed the trend, but the 2005 and 2006 seres set new record lows.57 The secret s that watchng baseball s less a pastme than a lfestyle. one type of hardcore fan s devoted to sabremetrcs, the scence of statstcal analyss of at-bats, home runs, and ptch count. Ths nterest n numbers means that whle httng a game-wnnng home run at the bottom of the nnth nnng, wth the bases loaded and two outs, will earn a player momentary glory, the lastng heroes are the ones who post numerc records such as Hank Aaron (most home runs over hs entre career, at 755) and Cy young (most career wns as a ptcher, at 511). The true sabremetrcan s equally delghted by more esoterc records, such as the left-handed htter whose ground balls led to the most double plays n a sngle season (Ben Greve of the oakland As).58 A second type of fan attends mnor league games, sometmes wth so much enthusasm that a mnor league team lke the durham Bulls can draw over 300,000 fans each year and fll a snazzy new ballpark. A thrd type of fan turns out, 2.8 mllon strong, for sprng tranng n Florda and Arzona, where the more ntmate settng makes t easer to get autographs from favorte players. some fans fear that as Cactus league stadums ramp up concessons and events to attract more spectators, tcket prces wll skyrocket, and the sense of a specal tme outsde the professonal season wll collapse.59 A fourth type of fan chershes the ballparks for ther own sake, possbly makng a project of seeng a game at every major and mnor league ballpark. even casual fans love ballparks: Amercans 150 favorte buldngs nclude

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four tradtonal-style ballparks (wrgley Feld, number 31; the orgnal yankee stadum, number 84; retro-style AT&T Park n san Francsco, number 104; and Fenway Park, number 113), but just one multpurpose sports center (the Astrodome, number 134).60 whle baseballs grass and sunshne gve t a suburban feel even n the mddle of a cty, basketball s relentlessly urban, from ts asphalt courts to ts orgns as a low-cost way to keep workng-class youth out of trouble. Playng baseball s part of an dyllc chldhood, wth 2.6 mllon kds partcpatng n Lttle League, but the romance of pck-up basketball appeals more to teenagers and adults.61 And just as Chcago gave brth to the game, t s also the orgn of the Harlem Globetrotters, the Afrcan Amercan team that amazed Amercans wth ts stunt-flled exhbton play from 1927 untl long after basketball had been ntegrated, even spawnng a saturday mornng cartoon n the early 1970s. In becomng a bg-league ndustry, basketball remans the most egaltaran of the bg three sports, offerng more opportuntes to Afrcan Amercans and women than ether football or baseball. Professonal football banned Afrcan Amercan players from 1933 to 1946, ntegratng only when the managers of the new Los Angeles stadum nssted, and then only wth two players. Though 65 percent of NFL players are Afrcan Amercan, there s some evdence that Afrcan Amercan players are shunted nto roles that rely more on athletcsm than on strategy.62 Baseball confned Afrcan Amercans to the so-called Negro League untl 1947, when Jacke robnson was assgned to the Brooklyn dodgers; as late as 1959, there was an unntegrated team, and not one Negro League player appears on the All Century Team of the 100 greatest players. snce 1975, the proporton of Afrcan Amercan players n Major League Baseball has dropped from 27 to 9 percentfewer than the proporton of players from the domncan republc.63 Professonal basketball, by contrast, permtted Afrcan Amercans to play n 1942 and ntegrated wth 10 players.64 Both professonal football and professonal basketball have been good for colleges because Natonal Football League and Natonal Basketball Assocaton (NBA) rules forbd recrutng players straght out of hgh school. Feldng a team gves alumn a chance to watch the next Joe Namath or Mchael Jordan. In turn, football and basketball open doors for young Afrcan Amercans to attend prestgous unverstes. Ths stuaton encompasses controverses: Afrcan Amercan student-athletes graduate at a lower rate than whte student-athletes but at a hgher rate than Afrcan Amercan students as a whole, and there are questons about how standards are appled to male student-athletes.65 There s no queston that basketball seems to ncte the strongest loyaltes at the college level: whle professonal basketball has stars,

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college basketball has decade-long rvalres. Matchups between tradtonal enemes, such as duke versus the Unversty of North Carolna, help assure that the mens NCAA champonshp tournament, ncknamed March Madness, earns televson ratngs hgher than the NBA champonshp.66 Basketball s also more hosptable to women than football or baseball. despte the nfluence of Ttle Ix federal cvl rghts legslaton n drectng resources to grls and womens athletcs snce 1972, there s no NCAA womens football, and womens professonal leagues struggle for recognton. Although there are four serous natonal womens football leagues, the only womens game that rated a menton durng 2007 super Bowl commentary was the Lngere Bowl, a novelty event featurng models playng n shorts and sports bras.67 Baseball ganed a more woman-frendly reputaton wth the 1992 release of A League of Their Own, the move that rased awareness of the All-Amercan Grls Baseball League (AAGBL) that was popular durng world war II. whle the AAGBL drew crowds of over 500,000 n a good season, only n ther last years dd they play true baseball, rather than a cross between baseball and softball. women are stll encouraged to play softball, whch uses a larger ball, a shorter bat, a smaller ballpark, and modfed rules. even so, women are enthusastc about httng a ball wth a bat: the fourth largest number of female college players s n softball, behnd soccer, outdoor track, and ndoor track. whle basketball s only the ffth most popular sport among college women, t s the hands-down wnner among televsed womens college sports and womens professonal sports. Basketball s the explodng revenue generator, drvng esPNs $200 mllon, 11-year deal to televse womens college sports. The professonal league, the womens Natonal Basketball Assocaton, struggles wth declnng n-person attendance (though televson vewershp of champonshp fnals was up 33 percent from 2005 to 2006), but has at least managed to outlast the womens Professonal softball League and the womens Unted soccer Assocaton.68 outsde the bg three, favorte spectator sports and favorte college sports dverge. Colleges favor sports that requre lttle expensve equpment, so soccer, track, cross-country runnng, and swmmng all appear n the top 10 NCAA sports for both men and women. of these sports, only soccer lures more than 1 percent of Amercans to games at least once a month. snce twothrds of soccer players are under age 18, the odds are good that many people at games are the mddle-class, suburban soccer moms targeted by Bll Clnton n hs 1992 presdental campagn. Track and feld events elct wdespread fan nterest mostly n summer olympcs years, partcularly when a telegenc athlete sets new records, as Florence Grffth-Joyner and her sster-n-law Jacke Joyner-Kersee dd n the

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detrot shockers Cheryl Ford holds up her MVP trophy. Besde her s wNBA presdent donna orenda. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert.

1980s. smlarly, brngng attenton to swmmng requres, f not a Mark sptz wth seven gold medals and seven world records n the 1972 olympcs, at least a Gary Hall Jr., wth 10 medals n three olympcs, a famous famly, and a penchant for struttng and shadowboxng. The cultural mportance of a sport s not, however, necessarly ted to ts attendance. More Amercans regularly watch horseracng than ce hockey, but hockey jons football, basketball, and baseball as the sports where havng a major league team s one mark of beng a world-class cty. Hockeys narrow audence s the result of geography: at the college level, t s played n only 38 states, and most of the players come from Mnnesota or Canada. snce 1990, when san Jose was granted a team, professonal hockey has followed job mgraton nto the sunbelt. Cvc prde and dsplaced mdwesterners fll local arenas, but hockey struggles wth televson ratngs; the average hockey team s worth only $180 mllon, about half the value of a baseball or basketball team.69 The sport that people are actually attendngand watchng on televson s the races sponsored by the Natonal Assocaton for stock Car Auto racng (NAsCAr). NAsCAr s the second most watched sport on televson, after football, and clams one-thrd of Amercans as fans. About 2.5 mllon Amer-

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cans go to the races at least once a month, even though auto racng tracks are even less wdely accessble than hockey rnks. For corporate sponsorshp, NAsCAr roars past football, wth $1.5 bllon n sponsors.70 wth motors alone costng $40,000 each, and a team usng two or more motors every weekend, the need for bg corporate money s obvous. Happly, NAsCAr fans have a reputaton for beng ntensely loyal to brands that sponsor cars and races. despte ts reputaton for beer-swllng, Confederate-flag-wavng, redneck antcs, NAsCAr owes ts mportance n Amercan sports to ts clean-cut, famly-frendly, Chrstan mage. More women watch NAsCAr on televson than football or baseball, and one esPN survey estmates that 42 percent of total fans are women.71 NAsCAr s unque among the major sports n that women compete alongsde men, rather than n separate leagues, though women drvers reman few, and none has ever won a major race nor ganed the fame of Indy racer danca Patrck. what dstngushes Indy from NAsCAr s the cars: Indy racng uses openwheel, rear-engne cars, whle NAsCAr racers drve stock Fords and Chevys, modfed to handle the demands of 500-mle drves at over 200 mles per hour. The dfference n cars parallels the dstnct orgns of the two sports. The most famous Indy race, the Indanapols 500, dates back to 1911 and

NAsCAr beats out baseball and basketball as one of Amercas most popular sports. Courtesy of Photofest.

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has ts orgns n owner Carl Fshers passon for desgnng cars for speed. NAsCAr developed out of a popular pastme n the prosperous years after world war II, when men would turn out at local drt tracks to race the famly car. Thanks to nterest n Patrck, the 2006 Indy 500 showed a respectable upswng n televson ratngs, though t stll ate the exhaust of NAsCArs Coca-Cola 600.72 In ts spectacle of hard-jawed, laconc heroes who harness horsepower to ther wll, NAsCAr resembles an older, but equally rural, sport: rodeo. Focused on demonstratng sklls at ropng cattle and breakng broncos, rodeo developed from the real chores of ranch hands n the Amercan west, almost ded wth the closng of the fronter, then was revved n the 1920s by entrepreneurs who sensed a market for nostalga for a smpler tme. Today, rodeos most popular event s bull rdng, blled as the worlds most dangerous sport. women compete only n barrel racng, whch nvolves gudng a horse through tght turns along a preset course. rodeo s bg enough to play Las Vegas, whch credts ts annual Natonal Fnals rodeo wth brngng $50 mllon to the communty, comparng favorably to the $85 mllon generated by the local NAsCAr weekend.73 NAsCAr and basketball are not the only sports to show upward moblty as events to watch. Professonal boxng, a rough-edged bachelor pastme n the late nneteenth century, turned all-Amercan n the 1960s. The fgure who looms largest s heavyweght champon Muhammad Al, whose popularty survved hs converson to Islam and hs refusal to be drafted n the Vetnam war. Hs fght aganst underdog Chuck wepner nspred the 1976 move Rocky, whch s one of only two flms about Amercan sports to wn an oscar for Best Pcture. (The other wnner s a move about a female boxer, Million Dollar Baby.) despte hs controversal belefs and flamboyant lfestyle, Al became an con of Amercan sportsmanshp, pavng the way for bad boy star athletes lke boxer Mke Tyson, basketball player Charles Barkley, and sker Bode Mller. In retrement, Al has been heaped wth honors, ncludng sports Illustrateds Athlete of the Century n 1999, a Presdental Medal of Freedom n 2005, and a Nobel Peace Prze nomnaton n 2007.74 In Als gloves, boxng became so respectable that for sheer down-market brutalty, t s necessary to turn to the professonal wrestlng mana of the md-1980s, when matches that were more soap opera than sport made stars of Hulk Hogan and future Mnnesota governor Jesse Ventura. Conversely, tenns and golf have tred to shed ther mage as sports for the country club set, hopng to ncrease revenues by broadenng ther appeal. Among partcpants, the country club mage stcks: half of the players boast household ncomes of $75,000 or hgher. whle wealther Amercans gener-

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ally partcpate n sports at a hgher rate, the most affluent famles represent only about one-thrd of bllard players, bowlers, or hkers. some top players of the past, such as Blle Jean Kng, who started the frst womens professonal tenns tour and was the frst woman to be Sports Illustrated s sportsperson of the year, learned to play on publc courts, not at the country club.75 so dd the frst Afrcan Amercan tenns stars, ncludng actvst Arthur Ashe. But the cons of upward moblty through tenns are ssters serena and Venus wllams, whose parents groomed them to be professonal players as a path out of the slums of Compton. Part of the wllams magc s how young they burst nto the top ranks of professonal tenns, wnnng ther frst open tournaments n ther late teens. smlarly, a part Afrcan Amercan chld prodgy, Tger woods, s credted wth broadenng nterest n golf. woods started wnnng amateur matches at age eght and won the Masters by age 22, makng hm the youngest ever wnner as well as the only Masters wnner of Afrcan Amercan or Asan descent. However, f Venus wllamss fve Grand slam sngles ttles, serena wllamss eght Grand slam sngles ttles, or Tger woodss 12 major professonal golf champonshps have ncreased youth nterest n tenns or golf, the effect s not dramatc. The Natonal sportng Goods Assocaton reports that between 1995 and 2005, the number of 12- to 17-year-old tenns players fell just 1.5 percent, compared to 11.5 percent for all ages. The number of golf players n the same age group grew 7.4 percent, notably more than the 3 percent n the general populaton.76 young people from ages 7 to 17 are losng nterest n tradtonal team sports, wth the possble excepton of ce hockey and soccer. even basketball and bcycle rdng, whch nvolve more than 7 mllon teenagers each, attract fewer partcpants than they once dd. The growth sports are skateboardng, snowboardng, and (only among the age 711 set) alpne skng. Partcpaton n skng may be the result of sk resorts dong more to attract famles, but the growng appeal of skateboardng and snowboardng are surely ted to the sports extreme reputatons. Unlke older sports that reward teamwork or sheer speed, skateboardng and snowboardng nclude compettons that emphasze showmanshp n performng complex stunts. The tenson between speed and style was btterly demonstrated at the 2006 wnter olympcs, when Lndsay Jacobells lost her commandng lead n the snowboard cross event because she nserted a trck nto a hgh-speed runand wped out.77 The not-so-young prefer gentler sports, wth walkng, campng, swmmng, exercsng wth equpment, bowlng, net fshng, bcycle rdng, freshwater fshng, bllards, and aerobc exercse leadng the pack. despte numerous studes showng that Amercans are gettng fatter, health clubs are a $15.9 bllon

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U.s. snowboarder shaun whte won several gold medals durng the 2006 wnter olympc games. AP Photo/Lonel Cronneau.

ndustry, wth over 41 mllon members. The Internatonal Health, racquet, and sportsclub Assocaton estmates that about 15 percent of Amercans belong to a health club; membershp ncreased 17 percent from 1995 to 2005. The number of members who work out frequently has doubled snce the md-1990s. For affluent professonals, the health club may be replacng the country club, as half of all health club members have a household ncome greater than $75,000. Clubs keep ther revenues up by explotng trends lke Plates, the yoga-lke stretchng exercses that burst nto popularty n 2002, wth partcpaton ncreasng 96 percent n a sngle year.78 Passon for sports s not lmted to tradtonal athletes. Athletes wth physcal challenges, such as cerebral palsy, lmted vson, or amputatons, compete n the Paralympcs, whch follow the olympcs n the same venue. Attempts to nclude athletes wth ntellectual dsabltes n the Paralympcs have generated controversy; these athletes are more lkely to compete n the specal olympcs. Frst developed n 1968 n Chcago by eunce Kennedy shrver, whose sster rosemary may have been ntellectually dsabled, the specal olympcs now serves about 550,000 athletes n the Unted states, competng nternatonally n 30 sports. Unsurprsngly, gven the Amercan belef that sports buld character, one of the specal olympcs offcal goals s

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to ncrease respect for people wth ntellectual dsabltes by dsplayng ther ablty to succeed on the playng feld.79 Among ordnary Amercans, the favorte sports that do not take place at the gym tend to take place n parks. Interest n developng parks started around 1838, when the rural cemetery movement remade the outdoors as a place to pcnc whle musng on eternal values. The frst major noncemetery park project, New yorks Central Park, developed n 1858, was wdely coped n other major ctes. By the end of the nneteenth century, Chcago had become the home of a populst drve for play parks, or smaller urban parks where workng-class youth could work off ther excess energy. snce the 1920s, play parks have been a routne part of new suburban developments, only recently supplemented by hkng trals. The orgnal mpetus for developng state and natonal parks was less access to recreaton than awe of the grandeur of the untamed west. The frst natonal park was founded n 1872 to preserve the area known as yellowstone and ts spectacular geysers; t was desgnated a natonal park because the area crossed the boundary of wyomng nto Montana and Idaho. of the 33 natonal parks defned before 1916, all but 4 are n the 11 western states. The popularty of motor travel spurred growth n the number of natonal parks after world war II, as a campng trp made an affordable and potentally educatonal famly vacaton. As of 2007, there are 390 natonal parks. The system has been extended beyond natural wonders and campgrounds to nclude hstorc stes as well as urban areas such as the Golden Gate Natonal Parks n san Francsco. Vstors surpassed 285 mllon n 1999, the last year for whch the Natonal Park servce provdes statstcs.80 state park systems also provde recreatonal facltes. Although Indan sprngs n Georga has exsted snce 1825, makng t the oldest state park, most state park systems had ther growth spurt n the 1930s, wth the help of the Cvlan Conservaton Corps. For sheer sze, the wnner s Alaska, boastng 3.2 mllon acres of park system.81 The domestcated cousn of the state park s the amusement park, once a raucous and slghtly unsavory scene of rckety rdes, bathng beautes, and bearded lades. Todays famly-frendly amusement park was nvented by walt dsney n 1955, wth the openng of dsneyland amd the orange groves of Anahem, Calforna. More than 515 mllon people have vsted dsneyland snce t opened. The second dsney park, dsneyworld n Florda, s the largest sngle-ste employer n the naton. The dsney vson s so popular that the company was able to populate an expermental new urbanst communty n Celebraton wth people who were eager to lve at dsneyworld.82 Much of the appeal of dsneyland and dsneyworld s the opportunty to partcpate n a fantasy, whether of small-town Amerca on Man street UsA

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or of the future n Tomorrowland. some people take ther fantases further. over 2 mllon Amercans partcpate n more than 180 renassance Fares each year, dressng n the garb of the Mddle Ages and reenactng jousts, feasts, and revels.83 Another popular fantasy s reenactng battles, partcularly from the Cvl war; partcpants clam that ths s one of the fastest-growng pastmes n the Unted states.84 war takes place on the tabletop, too. whle smulatons of battles have been used as a way to teach strategy all the way back to the nventon of chess, recreatng battles on a playng board or an elaborate tablescape started a rse n popularty n the 1970s, about the same tme that role-playng games lke dungeons and dragons became wdespread.85 Perhaps surprsngly, board games and card games are holdng ther own aganst vdeo games. Board games sales ncreased 18 percent n 2005, possbly because these games offer a quet way for 20-somethngs to gather for fun.86 The most quntessentally Amercan board game must be Monopoly, the real nvestment game that s played worldwde and ncludes sanctoned state and natonal tournaments. whle classc games lke Clue (solve a murder), rsk (nvade russa), and Trval Pursut (answer questons on pop culture) orgnated outsde the Unted states, Amercans can take credt for nventng the crossword-style game of scrabble and the conc game for small chldren, Hungry Hungry Hppos. scrabble games are found n one-thrd of all Amercan homes, and ts compettveness has grown to a scale smlar to that of chess, complete wth nternatonal tournaments and books on how to master advanced strategy.87 The most Amercan of card games s probably poker, played n numerous varants snce t appeared n the 1820s n New orleans. Moves about the old west are as ncomplete wthout poker games as they are wthout horses and shoot-outs, and ablty to mantan an expressonless poker face whle bluffng about ones hand s a test of a strong, slent man. A champonshp tournament lke the world seres of Poker can pay over $7 mllon to the wnner. Televsed tournaments have become qute popular. The mportance of slence over nteracton also makes poker deal for onlne play.88 Not all tabletop games are taken serously. Bngo, once the terrtory of blue-hared lades down n the church socal room, s enjoyng a resurgence as a campy, ktschy game for younger people, partcularly at gay bars. There s onlne bngo, too, a $710 mllon ndustry, where only 10 percent of the players are over 55, and 28 percent are under 34.89 Gamng s more serous busness for Natve Amercan trbes, who have been permtted by the U.s. government to run casnos snce the 1988 passage of the Indan Gamng regulatory Act. In 2006, 387 casnos generated over $25 bllon n revenue. Foxwoods, operated by the Mashantucket

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Pequot Trbal Naton of Connectcut, s the largest casno n the world, boastng 100 poker tables, over 7,000 slot machnes, and more than 40,000 guests each year. However, Indan gamng tends to beneft a handful of trbes, some of whch appled to be recognzed by the government n order to operate casnos: n 2002, just 13 percent of casnos, largely n states wth few Natve Amercans, generated 66 percent of total Indan gamng revenue. The gamng tral always leads back to the computer because electronc games have been popular snce the heyday of arcade vdeo games n the early 1980s, when Amercans spent 75,000 man-hours playng. People stll play Pong, the png-pong-lke game from 1972 that was the frst arcade game to be wdely successful; t also was the defnng game of the frst home gamng unts n 1977. Ths success was followed by space Invaders, the conc shoot-the-alens game, but t was Pac-Man, released n 1980, that truly captured the popular magnaton. More than 100,000 machnes were sold n the Unted states, followed by 30 lcensed versons of the game and multple sequels; Pac-Man even appears as a guest character n unrelated games. Pac-Man nspred an eponymous saturday mornng cartoon and a board game, along wth a controversy when Presdent ronald reagan sent a congratulatory letter to eght-year-old Jeffrey yee for a Pac-Man score that many players deemed mpossble to acheve. Pac-Man s stll n play, now on ffth-generaton Pods.90 Todays home gamng systems, whch feature more realstc graphcs, can be counted on to be among the years hot Chrstmas gfts when a new verson s released. In 2006, sonys Playstaton (Ps) 3 was so heavly n demand that onlne aucton gant eBay had to restrct sales to establshed sellers to decrease fraud. even so, more than 3,000 Ps3s were lsted two days before the offcal launch, wth bdders offerng over $2,000 for a gamng system that would sell for $600. The launch of the competng Nntendo w, later n the same week, excted smlar passon.91 More realstc graphcs have led to more realstc volence. The flagshp for complants about promotng bad values s the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) seres, n whch players roam a major cty and earn ponts for commttng crmes. Grand Theft Auto: Vce Cty, n a settng loosely based on 1980s Mam, has the dstncton of nspred complants from Cuban and Hatan mmgrants for racsm, two lawsuts clamng the game caused teenagers to commt crmes, and an epsode of CSI: Miami. The game s so wdely recognzable that Coca-Colas 2007 super Bowl campagn featured a GTA-style character spreadng sweetness, lght, and Coke as he passed through a cty.92 The next step from realsm s an alternate realty, ntally defned by the world-buldng computer game sm Cty n 1989, whch was followed by a dozen varants, ncludng The sms, the best-sellng game for personal com-

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puters. whle sm Cty was about buldng and managng a metropols, The sms offered players the opportunty to lve an alternate lfe.93 But a true alternatve lfe requres jonng the onlne second Lfe, a vrtual world nspred by Neal stephensons novel Snow Crash. A rush of meda attenton n late 2006 brought 4 mllon accounts to second Lfe, though economc statstcs suggest that the number of actve partcpants s closer to 450,000, wth about 230,000 actve enough to spend fctonal Lnden dollars. Because Lnden dollars can be converted to normal U.s. currency, t s possble to make a real fortune n the vrtual world: Ansche Chung of Chna was the frst person to make $1 mllon from deals n second Lfe.94 More hands-on hobbes nclude collectng, cookng, gardenng, handcrafts lke knttng or embrodery, and model-buldng pursuts such as tran layouts, rocketry, or dollhouses. Not all buldng hobbes are mnaturzed: the number of expermental home-bult full-szed arcraft regstered wth the Federal Avaton Admnstraton has been ncreasng by 1,000 a year for 15 years, surpassng 28,000 n 2007.95 Many hobbes evolved from handcrafts, such as sewng and buldng, that were useful on the fronter, but the heyday of hands-on hobbes occurred n the years mmedately followng world war II, when experts recommended hobbes as a way of copng wth excess lesure. Although hands-on hobbes

Grand Theft Auto s one of many popular, yet controversal vdeo games. AP Photo/Paul sakuma.

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struggle to attract a generaton accustomed to vdeo games, gracous-lvng guru Martha stewart s credted wth makng pastmes lke needlework and cake decoratng respectable for mddle-class women wth professonal careers. easly the most popular of the femnne hobbes s scrapbookng, whch transforms a basc photo album nto an elaborate producton of patterned papers, crops (ways to cut photos), de cuts (paper shapes used as decoraton), stckers, rbbon, and colored nk. snce ts ncepton n 1995, scrapbookng has grown nto a $2.55 bllon ndustry, wth over 32 mllon partcpants.96 The popularty of scrapbookng may be fueled by the rse of more elaborate celebratons, whch may n turn be related to how access to lesure has changed. Trends over the past four decades ndcate that the people wth the lowest-pad jobs saw the greatest gans n lesure, whle the upper mddle class are workng more hours. so the people who have tme do not have money, and the people who have money do not have tme.97 Bgger partes, wth more lavsh entertanment plus constant photography and vdeotapng, may be tryng to pack a months worth of fun and a years worth of memores nto a few hours worth of party. work hard; play hard. That s the Amercan way. n otes
1. Porter Anderson, study: U.s. employees Put n Most Hours, August 31, 2001, http://www.cnn.com; Tory Johnson, The death of the Amercan Vacaton, July 4, 2006, http://www.abcnews.com; ellen wulfhorst, Laptops n Tow, More Amercans work on Vacaton, PC Magazine, July 26, 2006. 2. robert H. Lavenda, Corn Fests and Water Carnivals: Celebrating Community in Minnesota (washngton, dC: smthsonan Insttute Press, 1997), 1112; rodger Lyle Brown, Ghost Dancing on the Cracker Circuit: The Culture of Festivals in the American South ( Jackson: Unversty Press of Msssspp, 1997), 2021. 3. Lars Jacoby, Fnd Fun at Lost dutchman days, Arizona Republic, February 21, 2007, http://www.azcentral.com; Troy Taylor, The Lost dutchman Mne, http://www.prareghosts.com; Apache Juncton Chamber of Commerce, Annual events, http://www.apachejunctoncoc.com. 4. The Lum n Abner ste, http://www.lum-abner.com; Natonal Lum n Abner socety, http://www.nu.net/stemple; Lum and Abner Festval, http://gomenaarkan sas.com/lumNabner.asp. 5. Park Hstory, http://www.llacfestval.com; robert w. Brown, week of Llacs at rochester, New York Times, May 11, 1947, x15. 6. Lavenda, Corn Fests, 45. 7. see http://www.foodreference.com; south Beach wne and Food Festval, http://www.sobewneandfoodfest.com; Twn Ctes Food and wne experence, http://www.foodwneshow.com; Newport seafood and wne Festval, http://www.

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newportchamber.org/swf; specal events, http://www.c.santa-cruz.ca.us; Grant seafood Festval, http://www.grantseafoodfestval.com; Maple syrup Far, http:// www.parkecounty.com; Florda Gourd socety, http://flgourdsoc.org. 8. U.s. Census Bureau, 2000 Census, http://factfnder.census.gov/; san Francsco County Far, http://www.sfcountyfar.com. 9. Top Ffty North Amercan Fars, Amusement Business, december 2004. 10. James r. Hentze, Fourth of July Celebratons database, http://www.amer can.edu/hentze/fourth.htm; U.s. Census Bureau, Facts for Features: The Fourth of July, May 17, 2006, http://www.census.gov; Amy Chozck, A slce of Amerca, Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2004; Jance Podsada, where Is the Cradle of Gay Lberty?, The Grand Rapids Press, Aprl 11, 2005, A6. 11. Make ready for Thanksgvng, New York Times, November 24, 1854, 4; The Thanksgvng dnner, New York Times, November 19, 1864, 8; A day for Gvng Thanks, New York Times, November 28, 1878, 5; Thanksgvng Is at Hand, New York Times, November 26, 1893, 18; dsplay ad, New York Times, November 28, 1923, 15; 750 Tons of Thanksgvng Turkeys ordered by Army for 1,500,000 Men, Plus All Fxns, New York Times, November 9, 1941, 44; rchard L. eldrdge, spllng the Beans about Holday Casseroles orgns, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, december 17, 2005, A1; Krstn eddy, shakng up the Tradtons: Alternatve Tastes That stay True to Thanksgvng, Washington Post, November 20, 1991, e1. 12. Butterball, http://www.butterball.com; stacy Fnz, Thanksgvng 101: Turkey Tranng Camp, San Francisco Chronicle, November 15, 2006; Natonal restaurant Assocaton, Natons restaurants ready to Ad Busy Amercans wth Ther Thanksgvng Feasts, November 13, 2006, http://www.restaurant.org; Janet raloff, Home Cookng on the wane, Science News 162 (2002), http://www.scencenews. org. 13. dana Blanton, Majorty okay wth Publc Natvty scenes, June 18, 2004, http://www.foxnews.com; U.s. Census Bureau, Facts for Features: The Holday season, december 19, 2005, http://www.census.gov. 14. Jack Kenny, yes, Vrgna, There Is a santa employment Agency, New Hampshire Business Review, december 1427, 2001, 1516; Bob rutan: drector of Annual event operatons at Macys, New york, T+D, december 2006, 96; Mary Beckman, Ho Ho Hum, Science Now, december 12, 2003, 23; Alex Mndln, santas Knee Belongs to everyone, New York Times, december 17, 2006. 15. M. Z. Hemngway, A Lull n the war on Chrstmas, Los Angeles Times, december 24, 2006, M2; warren rchey, Natvty scene Is Too relgous for New york schools, Christian Science Monitor, February 22, 2007, 4. 16. Maranne Bernhard, Jews and december, Washington Post, december 24, 1980, A7. 17. Maulana [ron] Karenga, The offcal Kwanzaa web ste, http://www.off calkwanzaawebste.org; dorothy rowley, Kwanzaa: Celebraton of Culture or retal Lure?, Afro-American Red Star, december 2329, 2006, A1.

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18. Buy Nothng day, http://adbusters.org; Joseph P. Kahn, yes, Vrgna, There Is a Festvus, Boston Globe, december 18, 2006, d12; Tme Lne, Ben & Jerrys, http://www.benjerry.com; Bran Cochrane, Pole Poston, Variety, december 25, 2006, 4; Phlp reccha, Festvus Flap Tckles the rest of Us, New York Post, december 24, 2006, 11. 19. Natonal Poll: Amercans resolve to Change, december 28, 2006, http:// www.marstpoll.marst.edu; Amercans Make resolutons, stck to Them, december 29, 2006, http://www.ktvu.com. 20. An Incdent of Memoral day, New York Times, June 7, 1868, 3; Tony Horwtz, Confederates in the Attic (New york: Vntage Books, 1998), 206. 21. U.s. Census Bureau, Facts for Features: Veterans 2006, November 11, october 12, 2006, http://www.census.gov. 22. Labor Jons Clergy n sunday Fght, New York Times, March 14, 1910, 4; Calls Unon Labor to study Its record, New York Times, August 31, 1921, 6; record Throng Here on Labor day Tours, New York Times, september 6, 1931, 1. 23. Muscular dystrophy Assocaton Telethon, http://www.mda.org/telethon; electroncs and Apparel to Fuel Back-to-school spendng, Accordng to Latest NrF survey, July 18, 2006, http://www.nrf.com. 24. C. L. Arbelde, By George, It Is washngtons Brthday! Prologue Magazine 36 (2004), http://www.archves.gov; washngtons Brthday, New York Times, February 23, 1855, 1; James Barron, washngtons Nonbrthday Pretty Much a Non-event, New York Times, February 19, 1980, B1; Jane Gross, shoppers Honor washngton by Flockng to Cty stores, New York Times, February 18, 1986, B1. 25. New Hampshre Becomes Last state to Create Martn Luther Kng day, The Gazette (Montreal), June 8, 1999, B8; state Holday n s.C. remembers Confederacy, Cincinnati Post, May 11, 2001, 2A. 26. Natasha Altamrano, Volunteers Take day on for Kng, Washington Times, January 16, 2007, A1; Hed Prescott and yaVanda smalls, It was only a Matter of Tme: Is an MLK day sale an Honor or enethcal?, South Bend (IN) Tribune, January 13, 2007, 1; Gordon Jackson, Kngsland Creates Festval; organzers Put New Twst on Annual salute to Martn Luther Kng, Jr., Florida Times-Union, January 20, 2004, B1. 27. Columbus day at Brdgeport, New York Times, september 24, 1892, 8; Bg Crowd Cheers Columbus Paraders, New York Times, october 13, 1909, 7; robert domnguez, Happenngs Honor Hspanc Hertage, New York Daily News, september 15, 2004, 24; Tasha Vllalpando, NArd openng Ceremony Kcks off Natve Amercan Actvtes, Au-Authm Action News (scottsdale, AZ), october 2005, 1. 28. U.s. Census Bureau, Facts for Features: Irsh-Amercan Hertage Month (March) and st. Patrcks day (March 17) 2007, January 17, 2007, http://www. census.gov; Adam Nosster, snn Fen Presdent wll March n st. Patrcks day Parade, New York Times, March 15, 1996, B3. 29. U.s. Census Bureau, Hspanc Populaton Passes 40 Mllon, Census Bureau reports, June 9, 2005, http://www.census.gov; Courtney Kane, Marketers extend

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Ther Holday efforts to a Mexcan Celebraton and even to Lent, New York Times, May 2, 2003, C2. 30. From Calforna, New York Times, February 23, 1860, 2; southwest Arlnes, Hstory of the san Francsco Chnese New year Parade, http://www.chneseparade. com; Vanessa Hua, Chnese New year Parade Accusatons wden dspute, San Francisco Chronicle, January 21, 2006, B3. 31. Kelly Barth, Frst Fathers day servce n 1908, Morgantown Dominion Post, June 21, 1987, http://www.wvculture.org; Vck smth, The Frst Fathers day, Martinsburg Journal, June 15, 2003, http://www.wvculture.org. 32. Hgh Gas Prces No Match for Mom, Aprl 19, 2006, http://www.nrf.com; John Hogan, dear Mom, Grand Rapids Press, May 10, 2003, d4; James Gallo, Card Industry n a slump, Baltimore Sun, May 4, 2004, 10C; Celebrate Mothers day, New York Times, May 10, 1909, 18; House Honors Mothers, New York Times, May 11, 1913, 2; Keep Mothers day wthout Flowers, New York Times, May 2, 1920, 12. 33. Barr Bronson, dumpng on dad, Times-Picayune, June 14, 2004, 01. 34. st. Valentne, http://www.catholc.org; Makng Valentnes: A Tradton n Amerca, http://www.amercanantquaran.org. 35. Are Men More romantc Than women?, February 2007, http://www. greetngcard.org; Jule Jette and Brad Kelly, Fond of the season, The Patriot Ledger (Quncy, MA), February 14, 2006, 19; Angus Loten, For specalty retalers, Love Is n the Ar, Inc., January 22, 2007, http://www.nc.com; renee deFranco, 10 Thngs your Florst wont Tell you, January 18, 2007, http://www.smartmoney. com; rob Lowman, we Know what you want for Valentnes day, Los Angeles Daily News, February 14, 2006, N1; does your state show the Love for Valentnes day?, PR Newswire, February 9, 2007, http://www.prnewswre.com. 36. rob Lowman, we Know what you want for Valentnes day, Los Angeles Daily News, February 14, 2006, N1; Valentnes day Broken Hearts, February 14, 2000, http://www.psos-mor.com; Ant-Valentnes Pop-up shop, February 9, 2007, http://www.sprngwse.com; Card Makers Captalze on Ant-V day, New York Times, February 11, 2007, http://www.nytmes.com. 37. davd Hnkley, Monster Mash, New York Daily News, october 31, 2006, 37; Pa sarker, More Treats Than Trcks, San Francisco Chronicle, october 31, 2006, d1. 38. scavenger Hunt Provdes Thrlls, New York Times, November 2, 1933, 24. 39. Halloween Posonngs, http://www.snopes.com. 40. wtches Nght, New York Times, september 28, 1879, 3; The decadence of Halloween, New York Times, November 1, 1876, 8. 41. Helen Anders, New orleans rsng to the occason, Austin (TX) AmericanStatesman, February 11, 2007, J14. 42. KFC Asks Pope to Bless New Fsh sandwch, February 22, 2007, http:// msnbc.com. 43. June owen, Food News: Passover dshes revewed, New York Times, March 28, 1952, 29; Janet Forgreve, Metro Markets Go Kosher for Passover,

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Rocky Mountain News, Aprl 7, 2006, 1B; debra Morton Gelbart, Trppng over Passover, Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, december 22, 2006, s28. 44. Candy sagon, record easter Candy sales expected, Tulsa World, Aprl 12, 2006, d3. 45. C. w. Nevus, Chocolate Bunny Meltdown, San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2007, http://www.sfgate.com; Clff Morman, Tde of easter Purchases rsng, The Sun (san Bernardno, CA), Aprl 14, 2006. 46. The weddng report, http://www.weddngreport.com. 47. Mark oppenhemer, My Bg Fat Amercan Bar Mtzvah, Boston Globe, May 22, 2005, d2. 48. Carolna A. Mranda, Ffteen Candles, Time, July 19, 2004, 83; Lsa Guterrez, As Hspancs Qunceaneras Get More Popular, Many Get More Lavsh, Knght rdder Trbune News servce, June 16, 2006; rob walker, The Prncess Buy, New York Times Magazine, october 15, 2006, 26. 49. wendy Tanaka, Party Profts, San Francisco Examiner, January 28, 1996; Ilene Lelchuk, Are Chldrens Brthday Partes Gettng out of Control?, January 16, 2007, http://www.sfgate.com; Brthdays wthout Pressure, http://www.brthday swthoutpressure.org. 50. Televson watchng s the number one use of lesure hours, accordng to the U.s. department of Labor, Bureau of Labor statstcs, Tme Use survey, 2005 (http://www.bls.gov/). Accordng to a study by Medamark research, cted n the U.s. Census Bureaus Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2007 (http://www.cen sus.gov), dnng out was the lesure actvty most lkely to have been performed n the past 12 months, second most lkely to take place once a month, and thrd most lkely to take place two or more tmes per week. Unless otherwse cted, ths study s the source of all statstcs on partcpaton n lesure actvtes and attendance at sportng events. 51. wth Theodore roosevelt, New York Times, december 3, 1893, 23. 52. Kurt Badenhausen, Mchael K. ozanan, and Maya roney, The Busness of Football, August 31, 2006, http://www.forbes.com; Mchael K. ozanan and Kurt Badenhausen, The Busness of Baseball, Aprl 20, 2006, http://www.forbes.com; Kurt Badenhausen, Mchael K. ozanan, and Chrstna settm, The Busness of Basketball, January 25, 2007, http://www.forbes.com; Natonal Collegate Athletc Assocaton (NCAA), 20042005 Partcpaton survey, quoted n Bureau of Labor statstcs, Statistical Abstract; Natonal sportng Goods Assocaton (NsGA), sports Partcpaton, http://www.nsga.org. Unless otherwse cted, throughout ths chapter, statstcs on college partcpaton come from the NCAA study, and statstcs on general partcpaton come from the NsGA survey. 53. stewart Alsop, Nxon and the square Majorty, The Atlantic Monthly, February 1972, 4147. 54. susan Conley and Matt Baun, UsdA offers Food safety Advce for your super Bowl Party, January 27, 2007, http://www.fss.usda.gov; super Bowl 2ndMost watched show ever, February 7, 2006, http://www.msnbc.msn.com; Peter J. schwartz, super Bowl Tops Forbes Most Valuable Brands, January 31, 2007,

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http://sports.espn.go.com; Peter Hartlaub, The 10 Best super Bowl Ads of All Tme, February 1, 2007, http://www.msnbc.msn.com; seth sutel, super Bowl wnner to Be . . . Ad revenue, Los Angeles Daily News, February 1, 2007, http:// www.dalynews.com; Marc Berman and John Consol, CBs super Bowl 2nd Mostwatched n Hstory, February 5, 2007, http://www.medaweek.com. 55. super Bowl Legends, http://www.snopes.com. 56. FCC says soaps Need to Be Cleaned Up, Aprl 8, 2004, http://www.soap central.com; John dunbar, CBs defends wardrobe Malfuncton n Court, Washington Post, November 21, 2006, C07. 57. world seres: seres ratngs drop from 92, New York Times, october 25, 1993; rchard sandomr, Baseball: Notebook; world seres ratngs, New York Times, october 22, 1997; world seres ratngs Lowest ever, october 31, 2005, http://www.sportbusness.com; rudy Martzke, Fox Cleans Up n seres ratngs despte sweep, USA Today, october 28, 2004, http://www. usatoday.com; Mchael Hestand, world seres starts strong, but ratngs Lag, USA Today, october 25, 2005, http://www.usatoday.com; ronald Blum, world seres ratngs Ht record Low, Washington Post, october 29, 2006, http://www. washngtonpost.com. 58. Baseball records, http://www.baseball-almanac.com. 59. durham Bulls, http://www.durhambulls.com; Charles Passy and Jon wenbach, ratng the Parks of sprng Tranng, Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2007, d1. 60. Amercas Favorte Archtecture, Amercan Insttute of Archtects, http:// www.aa150.org. 61. Partcpaton n Lttle League reaches 3-year Hgh, http://www.lttleleague. org; Chrs Ballard, Hoops Nation: A Guide to Americas Best Pickup Basketball (New york: Henry Holt, 1998); Tmothy Harper, The Best Pckup-Basketball Player n Amerca, The Atlantic Monthly, Aprl 2000, http://www.theatlantc.com. 62. Tm wendel, Global Trend remakes the Face of Team sports, http://www. hoopdreams.org; Jason Chung, racal dscrmnaton and Afrcan-Amercan Quarterbacks n the Natonal Football League, 19681999, october 25, 2005, http:// ssrn.com/abstract=835204. 63. Frank deford, racally Unbalanced, July 12, 2006, http://sportsllustrated. cnn.com. 64. douglas stark, Pavng the way, Basketball Digest, February 2001, 7478. 65. Black Teams and whte Coaches: why Afrcan Amercans Are Increasngly Beng shut out of College Coachng Postons, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 33 (2001): 4445; Afrcan-Amercan College Athletes: debunkng the Myth of the dumb Jock, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 35 (2002): 3640. 66. March Madness Brngs ratngs Uptck to CBs, March 21, 2005, http:// tv.zap2t.com; John Consol, NBA Fnals ratngs snk on ABC, June 14, 2005, http://www.medaweek.com; Kurt Badenhausen, Mchael K. ozanan, and Chrstna settm, The Busness of Basketball, January 25, 2007, http://www.forbes.com. 67. The four womens leagues operatng as of 2007 are the womens Professonal Football League, founded 1999 and offerng 15 teams (http://www.womensprofoot

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ball.com), the Natonal womens Football Assocaton, founded 2000 and operatng 40 teams (http://www.womensfootballassocaton.com), the Independent womens Football League, founded 2000 and offerng 30 teams (http://www.wflsports.com), and the womens Football League, founded 2002, currently wth four teams (http:// sportzon.com). The Lngere Bowl was a pay-per-vew game offered durng super Bowl halftme from 2004 to 2006; t s expected to return n 2008; Adam Hofstetter, Trouble Averted: Lngere Bowl Takng a year off, January 31, 2007, http://sport sllustrated.cnn.com. 68. rck Horrow, March Madness: The Busness of the womens Tournament, March 25, 2005, http://cbs.sportslne.com; oscar dxon, wNBA showcases Game as It Turns 10, USA Today, May 19, 2006, http://www.usatoday.com; Mchael Hestand, Unlke wUsA, wNBA Has NBA, USA Today, september 16, 2003, http://www.usatoday.com. 69. 20062007 states of the Game, december 19, 2006, http://nsdecollege hockey.com; old school Hockey Is Back, June 9, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com; Mchael K. ozanan and Kurt Badenhausen, The Busness of Hockey, November 9, 2006, http://www.forbes.com. 70. Bran oKeefe, Amercas Fastest-Growng sport, Fortune, september 5, 2005, http://money.cnn.com. 71. emly Murphy, NAsCAr Not Just for the Boys Any More, USA Today, July 2, 2004, http://www.usatoday.com. 72. Tm Lemke, Indy out of the Pts, Washington Times, May 24, 2006, C01. 73. Jeff wolf, organzers Match Premer rodeo event wth old west Locale, but Many say Money Matters Most, Las Vegas Review-Journal, december 5, 2004, http://www.revewjournal.com. 74. Al the Man, http://www.al.com. 75. Blle Jean Kng, http://www.wc.org. 76. Natonal sportng Goods Assocaton, 2005 youth Partcpaton n selected sports wth Comparsons to 1995, http://www.nsga.org. 77. stephen Harrs, xx olympc Games, Boston Herald, February 28, 2006, 60. 78. Internatonal Health, racquet and sportsclub Assocaton, http://cms.hrsa. org. 79. Internatonal Paralympc Commttee, http://www.paralympc.org; specal olympcs, http://www.specalolympcs.org. 80. Natonal Park servce, http://www.nps.org. 81. Georga state Parks and Hstorc stes, Indan sprngs state Park, http:// gastateparks.org; state of Alaska, Parks and Publc Lands, http://www.dced.state. ak.us; donald r. Leal and Holly Lpke Fretwell, Parks n Transton: A Look at state Parks, rs-97-1, 1997, http://www.perc.org. 82. dsney, http://home.dsney.go.com; douglas Frantz and Catherne Collns, Celebration, U.S.A. (New york: owl Books, 2000); Andrew ross, The Celebration Chronicles (New york: Ballantne Books, 2000). 83. renassance Fares by state, http://www.renfare.com.

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84. How to Get started n Cvl war reenactng, http://www.sutler.net. 85. Hstorcal Mnatures Gamng socety, eastern Chapter, what Is wargamng?, http://www.hmgs.org. 86. Alexa stanard, Make It a Game Nght, Detroit News, december 23, 2006, d1. 87. Hstory of Monopoly, http://www.monopoly.com; All About scrabble, http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble. 88. davd Parlett, A Hstory of Poker, March 3, 2005, http://www.pagat.com; world seres of Poker, http://www.worldseresofpoker.com. 89. Jod Lee refer, Bars Cash n on Bngos Popularty, Times-Picayune, February 21, 2007, 03. 90. Leonard Herman, Jer Horwtz, steve Kent, and skyler Mller, The Hstory of Vdeogames, http://www.gamespot.com; The essental 50 Archves, http:// www.1up.com; Pac-Man, http://en.wkpeda.org. 91. rachel Conrad, eBay restrcts sale of Playstaton 3, November 16, 2006, http://www.msnbc.msn.com. 92. Thor Thorsen, Hatan-Amercans Protest Vce Cty, November 25, 2003, http://www.gamespot.com; Thor Thorsen, Grand Theft Auto sparks Another Law sut, February 16, 2005, http://www.gamespot.com. The CSI: Miami epsode s Urban Hellrasers (http://www.cbs.com). 93. smCty 4, http://smcty.ea.com; The sms, http://sms.ea.com. 94. economc statstcs, http://secondlfe.com; rob Hof, second Lfes Frst Mllonare, Business Week Online, November 26, 2006, http://www.busnessweek.com. 95. Peter Fmrte, A Hgh-Flyng Hobby, San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2007, http://www.sfgate.com. 96. Beth Burkstrand, Homespun scrapbooks Become Prcey Labor of Love for some, Wall Street Journal, July 16, 1997; scrapbookng n Amerca survey Hghlghts, http://www.creatngkeepsakes.com. 97. Mark Aguar and erk Hurst, Measurng Trends n Lesure (workng paper, Federal reserve Bank of Boston, January 2006).

B iBliograPhy
Berlage, Gal Ingham. Women in Baseball: The Forgotten History. westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Cantor, George. Historic Festivals: A Travelers Guide. detrot: Gale research, 1996. Chudacoff, Howard P. The Age of the Bachelor. Prnceton, NJ: Prnceton Unversty Press, 1999. Cohen, Henng, and Trstam Potter Coffn. America Celebrates! detrot: Vsble Ink Press, 1991. djata, sundata. Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis. Vol. 1. syracuse, Ny: syracuse Unversty Press, 2006. draper, Joan e. The Art and scence of Park Plannng n the Unted states: Chcagos small Parks, 1902 to 1905. In Planning the Twentieth-Century American

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City, ed. Mary Corbn ses and Chrstopher slver, 98119. Baltmore: The Johns Hopkns Unversty Press, 1996. enhorn, edde. How March Became Madness. Chcago: Trumph Books, 2006. Fndlay, John M. Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture after 1940. Berkeley: Unversty of Calforna Press, 1992. Fsher, Jerry M. The Pacesetter: The Untold Story of Carl G. Fisher. Fort Bragg, CA: Lost Coast Press, 1998. Gelber, steven M. Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America. New york: Columba Unversty Press, 1999. Goodale, Thomas, and Geoffrey Godbey. The Evolution of Leisure. state College, PA: Venture Publshng, Inc., 1988. Green, Ben. Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters. New york: Amstad, 2005. Groves, Melody. Ropes, Reins, and Rawhide. Albuquerque: Unversty of New Mexco Press, 2006. Hall, Lee. Olmsteds America: An Unpractical Man and His Vision of Civilization. Boston: Lttle, Brown and Company, 1995. Hauser, Thomas. Muhammad Ali. New york: smon and schuster, 1991. Herman, danel Justn. Hunting and the American Imagination. washngton, dC: smthsonan Insttuton Press, 2001. Lavn, Maud, ed. The Business of Holidays. New york: The Monacell Press, 2004. Marlng, Karal Ann. Blue Ribbon: A Social and Pictorial History of the Minnesota State Fair. st. Paul: Mnnesota Hstorcal socety Press, 1990. McCarry, John. County Fairs: Where America Meets. washngton, dC: Natonal Geographc socety, 1997. Moss, rchard J. Golf and the American Country Club. Chcago: Unversty of Illnos Press, 2001. Natonal Park servce. The National Parks: Shaping the System, 3rd ed. washngton, dC: U.s. department of the Interor, 2005. Nssenbaum, stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New york: Vntage Books, 1997. Perla, Peter P. The Art of Wargaming. Annapols, Md: Naval Insttute Press, 1990. Pleck, elzabeth H. Celebrating the Family: Ethnicity, Consumer Culture, and Family Rituals. Cambrdge, MA: Harvard Unversty Press, 2000. Putnam, robert. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New york: smon and schuster, 2000. Putney, Clfford. Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 18801920. Cambrdge, MA: Harvard Unversty Press, 2001. rader, Benjamn G. American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports. Upper saddle rver, NJ: Prentce Hall, 1983, 2004. ratjar, steve. United States Holidays and Observances. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2003. rust, edna, and Art rust Jr. Art Rusts Illustrated History of the Black Athlete. Garden Cty, Ny: doubleday and Company, 1985.

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schor, Julet B. The Overworked American. New york: Basc Books, 1992. sloane, davd Charles. The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History. Baltmore: The Johns Hopkns Unversty Press, 1991. smth, Lsam, ed. Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports. New york: Atlantc Monthly Press, 1998. smth, ron. The Ballpark Book. st. Lous, Mo: The sportng News, 2000. wetzel, dan, and don yaeger. Sole Influence: Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of Americas Youth. New york: warner Books, 2000. whte, G. edward. Creating the National Pastime: Baseball Transforms Itself, 1903 1953. Prnceton, NJ: Prnceton Unversty Press, 1996. wrght, Jm. Fixin to Git: One Fans Love Affair with NASCARs Winston Cup. durham, NC: duke Unversty Press, 2002. Zmbalst, Andrew. Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports. Prnceton, NJ: Prnceton Unversty Press, 1999.

5
Cusne and Fashon
Benjamin F. Shearer

a meriCan C uisine
we are barely begnnng to sft down our own cusne. Charles Beard

Lets grab a bte to eat. Ths typcal Amercan expresson suggests a host of unsavory connotatons. Chldren are chastsed for grabbng. There s a sense of lawlessness and a certan mproprety about grabbng thngs. Grabbng s not polte, but mllons of Amercans are grabbng a bte to eat every day. Grabbng s what s done on the run. There s a knd of natonal fast food cusne to cater to all these people on the run, but fast food s just part of the story. Contrary to ther portrayals n flm, Amercans are not always runnng. In fact, ther expendtures on fast food are a relatvely small porton of ther total food expendtures. The same transportaton and food handlng systems that helped to create a natonal fast food cusne have also blurred the lnes among regonal cusnes. It s not at all unusual for Mane lobsters to be served n restaurants n Calforna or rhode Island quahogs to show up n chowder n Arzona. Tradtonal Amercan cusne s, however, regonal, based on what s avalable. It s dfferentated generally by methodfryng n the south and bolng n New englandand by natonal orgn. The Germans and the englsh had the bggest effect on the development of Amercan cookng because they represented the largest groups of Amercas frst mmgrants. It should not be forgotten, however, that the Unted states began ts exstence as 13 englsh
193

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colones nhabted mostly by englsh men and women who brought ther taste for englsh cookng wth them. The development of the jambalaya that became called Amercan food can be seen, therefore, as a gradual lberaton from smple englsh home cookng, decred by vstors to england for centures as an abomnaton, a tradton kept alve today by French presdents. Mdwest cusne s based heavly on the movement and settlement frst of Germans and then scandnavans. southern cusne s nextrcably mxed wth the legacy of slavery, as black slaves over tme turned hgh-table englsh plantaton cookng nto flavorful dshes no longer englsh or Afrcan, but completely Amercan. southwestern cusne can no longer be broken down nto ts component natve Indan, Mexcan, spansh, and Anglo components. Calforna, wth ts ncredble ethnc dversty, has developed a regonal cusne that s conscously based on fusng the culnary arts of varous cultures wth locally produced goods. The Pacfc Northwest s a developng cusne but s most certanly based on regonally avalable fresh food. Thats Amercan as apple pe. Ths often heard Amercan expresson s meant to refer to anythng an Amercan thnks s really Amercan, lke an old Ford truck or Bng Crosby sngng whte Chrstmas. The fact s, of course, that apple pe s not Amercan at all. recpes for apple pes showed up n elzabethan england and were even stowed away on the shps brngng the frst colonsts to Amercan shores. Typcally, apple pes became so ubqutous that Amercans approprated them as ther own. To most Amercans, apple pe s a natonal emblem of Amercan cusne. yet n spte of the Amercan preoccupaton wth unformty n fooda Bg Mac s a Bg Mac n Boston, Kansas Cty, and Los Angeleseven apple pes are susceptble to regonal varaton. Germans and Amsh n Pennsylvana may toss n some sour cream and rasns or ce the top pastry layer. In Massachusetts, some cranberres may fnd themselves baked wth the apples. Apple chffon pe s popular n upstate New york. In Illnos, apples and pumpkn mght be pureed together n a pe. An old Calforna recpe cooked the apples frst and lad them on a bed of caramel sauce before bakng. The case of the lowly bean llustrates even better the regonal nature of Amercan cusne. Beans, no matter the varety, have always been a staple n Amercan dets. Boston has proudly accepted the appellaton Bean Town snce the 1700s thanks to ts great northern baked beans flavored wth brown sugar and molasses. In south Texas, however, barbequed baked pnk beans get spced up wth chles. In Vermont, baked navy beans get a treatment of apples and maple syrup. Hoppn John n the southern Low Country pars rce wth black-eyed peas and ham. In the southwest, Pueblo Indans combned chorzos, a legacy of span, beef, hot peppers, cumn, corn, and tomatoes wth Anasaz beans for a local delcacy.1

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so what does t mean to have an Amercan meal? There s no recpe for cookng the Amercan way. Amercan cookng, lke Amercan lfe, s an ndvdual effort n whch nnovaton and effcency are przed. Qute smply, Amercan food s what Amercans cook and eat. It s food approprated from the cultures of the people who lved or came there and, n most all cases, changed to ft local crcumstance, taste, and the means of mass producton.
Eating and drinking in america

In 2002, each Amercan ate (per capta consumpton) 64.5 pounds of beef, 48.2 pounds of pork, 56.8 pounds of chcken, 15.6 pounds of fsh and shellfsh, 180 eggs, 885.3l pounds of dary products, 30.5 pounds of cheese (topped by Amercan at 12.8 pounds, followed by Italan at 12.4 pounds), 26.4 pounds of frozen dary products, 191.3 pounds of flour and cereal products, 63.2 pounds of sugar, 125.6 pounds of fresh frut and 146.0 pounds of processed frut, 193.4 pounds of fresh vegetables (potatoes n frst place at 45.0 pounds, and lettuce n second place at 22.4 pounds), and 208.6 pounds of processed vegetables. Amercans also per capta drank 23.6 gallons of coffee, 7.8 gallons of tea, 21.9 gallons of mlk, 8.0 gallons of frut juce, 21.8 gallons of beer, 2.1 gallons of wne, and 1.3 gallons of dstlled lquor.2 Food s bg busness n Amerca, the brthplace of casual dnng. In 2006, there were about 925,000 restaurants n the Unted states, whch means there s roughly one restaurant for every 300 people, and 70 percent of them are sngle-restaurant small busnesses. More than 50 percent of Amercan adults have worked at one tme n the restaurant ndustry. estmates are that Amercans spent $511 bllon n these eatng and drnkng establshments, whch have 12.5 mllon employees, thus makng the restaurant ndustry second only to government n number of workers. on a gven day, 130,000,000 Amercans vst a restaurant for a meal or a snack, and they spend, on average, $2,434 per household, or $974 per person per year, eatng out. Amercans spent 47 percent of ther total food money n restaurants n 2006, up dramatcally from only 25 percent n 1955. Amercans lke to eat out. sxty-sx percent of them agree that they can get flavorful food eatng out that cannot easly be duplcated at home.3 Amercans spend about $165 bllon a year at full-servce restaurants. snack and nonalcoholc beverage bars pull n almost $17 bllon, cafeteras and buffets, another $5.3 bllon. Bars and taverns have annual revenues of more than $15.2 bllon. Hotel restaurants brng n nearly $25 bllon a year. Busness and lesure travel help to fuel restaurant sales, as do major holdays. Mothers day, for example, brngs 62 percent of those celebratng the occason wth specal meals nto restaurants. Many wll go out for more than one meal. Twenty-two percent go for breakfast, 51 percent for lunch or brunch, and 59 percent for dnner.

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Fast-food eatng places account for over $134 bllon per year of Amercans food expendtures.4 All-you-can-eat restaurants and buffets are popular n Amerca. Needless to say, Nouvelle cusne, as t morphed nto Amercan cookng as the new Amercan cusne, was not a ht wth the typcal hungry Amercan. The problem was not fresh ngredents, or even the lack of rch sauces (gravy to Amercans), but the outrage that a speck of meat supportng an archtecture of unknown and strangely cut vegetables amd dots of red or green stuff dropped strategcally on the plate appeared to be an appetzer at a man course prce. Full-servce restaurants, all characterzed by a watstaff servng st-down meals n the establshments, run the gamut from tny lttle ndependent neghborhood eatng establshments to themed, casual dnng chan restaurants lke Chpotle Mexcan Grll, outback steak House, olve Garden, and red Lobster, all the way to world-class restaurants that have won the coveted fve stars from the Mobil Travel Guide. In 2006, only 15 restaurants n all the Unted states earned that dstncton. New york Cty had four; the san Francsco area, three; Atlanta, two; Los Angeles, Chcago, and Phladelpha, one each. The others were located n washngton, Vrgna, summervlle, south Carolna, and Kennebunkport, Mane. Another 122 restaurants earned four stars, led by New york Cty, wth 14, and Chcago, wth 9.5 A meal at any of these restaurants would be beyond the means of most Amercans, even for a specal occason, and even f they could get reservatons. what do ordnary Amercans order when they go to restaurants on a typcal day? The top 10 selectons for men n descendng order accordng to one survey were a hamburger, French fres, pzza, a breakfast sandwch, a sde salad, eggs, doughnuts, hash brown potatoes, Chnese food, and a man salad. women ordered French fres, a hamburger, pzza, a sde salad, a chcken sandwch, a breakfast sandwch, a man salad, Chnese food, and rce.6 Hamburgers, sold n the bllons each year from ubqutous franchses (Mcdonalds, Burger Kng, and wendys are, n order, the largest), bars and taverns, and county and state farsanywhere there are Amercansare the quntessental Amercan food. Hamburgers are also featured at most backyard cookouts, talgate partes, pcncs, and sports events. Most of the beef consumed n Amerca s n the form of ground beefhamburger. Amercan ngenuty has elevated the smple hamburger to a gastronomc art form. The hamburger chans have attempted to brand ther burgers by charbrolng them, flame-brolng them, steamng them wth onons, and grllng them; by shapng them round, square, and trangular; and by heapng them wth varetes of condments ncludng lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnase, specal sauces, secret sauces, salad dressngs, onons, peppers, chles, mustard, and ketchup, not to exhaust the lst. Many a local restaurateur clams to have the best hamburger

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n town. Indeed, the varatons are endless. A hamburger steak, ground srlon, may be at the pnnacle of the hamburger herarchy, but the Amercan meatloaf (a baked loaf of ground beef and pork and spces of choce) s a basc Amercan concocton that has reached such gustatory heghts that famous Amercan-born French chef Jula Chld called t Amercan pt. orderng a hamburger and fres s lke orderng ham and eggs or mlk and cookesthey just go together naturally n the Amercan mnd. French fres, as the name mples, are not Amercan n orgn (they are Belgan, as the name does not mply). Nether, of course, s pzza, whch Amercans have transformed from a smple Italan tomato bread starter nto a ggantc complete meal. Bgger s always better; Amercans eat around 100 acres of pzza every day. Nnety-three percent of all Amercans eat at least one pzza a month; about 3 bllon pzzas are sold every year. Lke the hamburger, the pzza has been subjected to Amercan nventveness. There are nearly 70,000 pzzeras n the Unted states, 64.3 percent of whch are ndependents, but they accounted for a bt fewer than 50 percent of total U.s. sales of almost $31 bllon. The top 25 pzzera chans wth nearly 25,000 stores account for just over 50 percent of total U.s. sales. Pzza Hut, the largest chan, alone accounts for over 17 percent of all sales.7 They, too, are round and square, small and large, and can have just about anythng on them. There are Hawaan pzzas (pneapple and ham), Mexcan pzzas, barbeque pzzas, whte pzzas (no tomato sauce), fsh pzzas, vegetable pzzas, Cajun pzzas, eggplant pzzas, venson pzzas, duck pzzas, and even breakfast pzzas, wth peanut butter and jelly or bacon and eggs. sxty-two percent of Amercans want meat on ther pzza, and 36 percent of all pzzas ordered have pepperon on them. other tradtonal favorte ngredents are mushrooms, extra cheese, sausage, green peppers, and onons.8 There are about an equal number of Italan and Chnese full-servce restaurants n Amerca. Among lmted servce restaurants, mostly carryout establshments, Mexcan restaurants outnumber Chnese restaurants seven to fve and Italan restaurants seven to two.9 All together, there are more than 40,000 each of Mexcan and Chnese restaurants n the Unted states. Italan, Chnese, and Mexcan cusnes have been completely ncorporated nto what mght be called the category of typcal Amercan food, what Amercans lke to eat, and they eat a lot of t. spaghett and meatballs, egg rolls, and tacos are standard fare eatng out and at home. If college students can be thought of as future trendsetters, there s no gong back to old-tme plan Amercan cookng. when asked what ther favorte cusnes were, 95 percent lked Italan; 90 percent lked Mexcan; and 83 percent lked Chnese.10 Many have decred the fact that the tradtonal Amercan st-down famly meal has gone the way of tntype and typewrters. Most parents work

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outsde the home, and kds have busy schedules flled wth athletc actvtes, events, and other after-school oblgatons, to whch they must be shuttled back and forth. eatng on the go s the new Amercan meal tradton. There s lttle tme for food preparaton and precous lttle tme to gulp t down. Amerca has produced new generatons for whom comfort food n later lfe s a box of macaron and cheese, whch they learned to make n a mcrowave at the age of fve, mostly out of necessty. so what are Amercans eatng at home? A trp to the grocery store, where shelf space s at a premum and grocers gve space only to what sells fast, lends some understandng. Fresh frut and vegetables get half an asle, as do fresh meats (a lot of space for hamburger) and breads. soft drnks (Coke, Peps, and tens of varatons) and snacks (potato chps, tortlla chps, peanuts, etc.) get an entre asle. Juces and varous knds of sport drnks have nearly half an asle, and canned vegetables get half that. soups, n cans, n ready-to-eat contaners, and n boxes, get about a quarter asle. Frut, n cans, but mostly n ready-to-eat contaners, get about a quarter of an asle, but cookes and crackers get more space. There seems to be a lot of boxes: rows of cake mxes, bread mxes, muffn mxes, and cooke mxes. Cereal, the all-Amercan breakfast food, gets a full sde of an asle. even more mpressve s the space gven to boxes of rce, potatoes, and pasta. Boxes of potatoes may seem unnatural, but by just addng water, mlk, and butter or margarne, and a few mnutes of cookng, a varety of potato dshes can be created quckly. rce gets some space, but not much n ts pure form. small boxes of rce wth flavor packets tucked nto the box get qute a bt of space. Nearly an entre row s flled wth pasta n all ts szes and shapes, accompaned by jars of prepared spaghett sauce, clam sauce, and Alfredo sauce. The Mexcan food secton s growng, but the Italan foods, as understood, coopted, and transformed by Amercans, are the space wnner. Busy Amercan cooks can also go to another asle to choose from nearly half a row of boxes of macaron and cheese, pasta salad, and pasta dshes. In fact, n the contnung trbute to Amercan food as the ultmate fuson cusne, a chcken quesadlla flavor pasta s now avalable n a box. Those who fnd that to be too much fuson can always rely on Hamburger Helper avalable n several flavors. Just fry the hamburger, add the flavor packet and pasta and some water, and you have an Amercan meal. There are often two entre asles of frozen food cases n grocery stores, whch stands to reason because 94 percent of Amercans sometmes buy frozen food on a typcal trp to the grocery, and 30 percent always do. sx tmes a month, the typcal Amercan sts down to a heated up frozen meal.11 In 2003, Amercans spent over $6 bllon on frozen dnners and entrees. In total, they spent $29.2 bllon on frozen foods. Frozen vegetable sales of $2.8 bllon,

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A long grocery store asle n one of Amercas large supermarkets. Corbs.

whch ncluded $858 mllon of frozen potatoes, nearly equaled frozen pzza sales of $2.74 bllon. sales of ce cream, whch many Amercans would consder a homegrown nventon, came to $4.8 bllon.12 wne s sold n some 3,000 grocery stores as well as other stores across the naton. U.s. wne consumpton has been ncreasng steadly snce 1991 and across age and ethnc lnes. Many Amercans now consder wne to be a requrement of a good meal, especally n a good restaurant, but t s also served at home on specal occasons. wne s a staple at partes, often replacng hard lquor. In 2005, wne sales n the Unted states totaled 703 mllon gallons, valued at $26 bllon. Table wnes accounted for most of the sales at 619 mllon gallons; champagne and sparklng wnes came to only 30 mllon gallons. The remander was dessert wnes. Amazngly, Calforna wnes took a 63 percent market share of all wnes sold. Calforna produced 532 mllon gallons of wne n 2005, of whch 441 mllon gallons were sold n the Unted states. Premum wnes, defned as $7 or more per bottle, were 66 percent of revenues, and everyday wnes, below $7 per bottle, consttuted the remander. U.s. wne exports of 101 mllon gallons were 95 percent Calforna wnes. whle wne s grown all across Amerca, there can be lttle doubt that

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Calforna wnes are the ones that have made Amercan wnes respectable around the globe.13 Amercans lke Amercan beer. In fact, July s Amercan beer month. Breweres were frst lcensed n New england n 1637. Beer s now an $83 bllon busness. In 2005, domestc beer sales of 178.8 mllon barrels (a barrel equals 31 U.s. gallons) dwarfed sales of 25.7 mllon barrels for mported beers. The large brewers, such as Anheuser Busch, wth ts flagshp Budweser brand, domnate the domestc beer market. That company alone accounts for around half of all domestc beer sales. The bg brewersalso ncludng Mller, Coors, and Pabsthave attempted to bolster ther sales by caterng to weght-conscous beer drnkers wth lght and low-carbohydrate brews, whch are overtakng tradtonal lagers n sales. There s, however, another concurrent trend n Amercan brewng flled by Amercas 1,415 craft breweres, whch are turnng out multflavored and full-boded 100 percent malt beers. These regonal craft breweres, contract breweres, mcrobreweres, and brewpubs together are a $4.3 bllon dollar busness that produces about 7 mllon barrels annually and takes a 3.42 percent share of the Amercan beer market. That s not much compared to the noncraft domestc brewers 84.14 percent of the market or even mported beers share of 12.43 percent, but craft brewers are provdng Amercans wth an alternatve to what crtcs have been known to call nspd Amercan beer.14 Amercas orgnal contrbuton to the famly of dstlled sprts was nspred by a Natve Amercan food staple combned wth scotch-Irsh mmgrant dstllng know-how and then gven a French name. It even caused a rebellon n 1794 n Pennsylvana that George washngton hmself had to put down after the federal government tred to tax t. Bourbon whskey, the old red eye, rotgut, and frewater of the wld west, was dstngushed from other whskes by the use of corn n the mash. Corn was preferred n southern whskey makng, rather than the rye that was used prevalently n the North. Amercans soon came to favor the smoothness of the corn-based whsky. By 1784, commercal dstlleres were operatng n Kentucky, and Bourbon County, Kentucky, named for the French royal famly who supported Amercan ndependence aganst the englsh, became the center of bourbon whskey producton n the Unted states, thus lendng ts name to the product. Today, regulatons requre that bourbon be at least 51 percent corn and aged for not less than two years n new charred barrels. Tennessee whskey, a dstnct classfcaton from bourbon, has an addtonal requrement of beng fltered through sugar maple charcoal. Moonshne, untaxed clear whskey (the Cvl war brought n the permanent taxaton of whskey) legendarly dstlled n the hlls of Kentucky and Tennessee by the lght of the moon to avod federal agents and aged n a glass jar, s the source of much

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Amercan humor and a steppng off pont for story lnes that celebrate ndvdual freedom over government regulaton.15 Alcoholc beverages made up only about 13 percent of each Amercans total consumpton of 192 gallons of lquds n 2004. In the country that made Coke and Peps nternatonally known trademarks, combned det and nondet carbonated soft drnks alone counted for 28 percent of consumpton. That s about 52 gallons a year for each Amercan, for whch Amercans spent about $66 bllon. Far behnd n second place, bottled water was only 12.4 percent. Curously, mlk, coffee, beer, and all others (ncludng tap water, vegetable juces, and sports drnks) each account for between 11 percent and 12 percent of lqud consumpton per year. Frut juces came n at 7.6 percent and tea at 4.4 percent. Amercans have about 450 soft drnks from whch to choose that are produced n around 400 plants. The most effcent plants can produce 2,000 cans of soda per mnute per lne to satsfy the demand for more than 68 bllon cans a year. only 23 percent of soft drnks are fountan dspensed, rather than packaged.16 Amercans consume legumes n large amounts, and n the case of peanuts, wthout knowng they are eatng them, snce most thnk they are nuts lke walnuts or pecans. Peanuts came to the Unted states va south Amerca and are grown today mostly on small farms n the south that average 100 acres. each Amercan eats over sx pounds of peanutsa favorte snack food both roasted and salted and great wth beer and cocktalsand products made from peanut butter a year. Most peanuts are used to make peanut butter, whch was patented by Harvey Kellogg n 1895, who also brought corn flakes to the world, but t was frst sold at the 1904 st. Lous worlds Far. By 1908, t was beng produced commercally. The annual consumpton of peanut butter, on whch Amercans spend $800 mllon a year, s enough to make 10 bllon peanut butter and jelly sandwches (PB&Js). Peanut butter and jelly sandwchessoft whte bread, peanut butter, and Concord grape (preferably) jellyhave a place n every young students lunch pal. The typcal young Amercan wll have eaten 1,500 PB&Js before graduatng from hgh school.17 In Amercas schzophrenc lfestyle, there s one thng that brngs famles together: the backyard cookout, whch usually takes place on weekends wth famly and frends. For Amercans n New england and the Mdwest, t s a celebraton of the outdoors after beng shut n the house all wnter and lberaton from the ktchen. Most famles have outdoor grllssome cheap and servceable charcoal grlls, others gas-fred and qute elaborate. Grllng the meatsparerbs, steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, pork chopss typcally the mans job for some prmordal reason. Back n the ktchen, the woman prepares (or opens the contaners of ) the staples of the cookout: coleslaw (a gft

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to Amerca from early dutch settlers), macaron salad, and baked beans. The red ketchup and yellow mustard, the jar of pckles, and some slced onons and tomatoes are placed on the backyard pcnc table wth the hotdog and hamburger buns, the beer and soft drnks are n the cooler, and the party s under way. Ice cream, brownes, and watermelon are for dessert.
regional Cuisines The East

Amercan cusne began, of course, n New england, where englsh cookng and ngredents fused wth natve Indan cookng and local ngredents. Indan succotash, or mxed vegetables (green beans, lma beans, and corn), s stll the most eaten vegetable n the Unted states. A cookout or pcnc anywhere n Amerca probably ncludes Boston baked beans, for whch there are nnumerable recpes. Cranberres n one form or another and Vermont maple syrup are avalable n every bg grocery store n the country. Pumpkn pe s a requred Thanksgvng dessert. Indan puddng, made wth molasses, yellow cornmeal, and brown sugar, s a fuson of englsh puddng makng wth natve corn. rhode Island Johnny Cakes are popular pancakes made wth whte cornmeal. Boston brown bread s also made wth cornmeal. The coasts off New england make seafood a basc staple of the New england det. Massachusetts even named the cod ts state fsh. Baked cod, codfsh pe, and cod balls reman popular dshes. rhode Island s famous for ts clam cakes. If there were a state soup n Massachusetts, t would be creamy whte New england clam chowder. The New york verson, called Manhattan clam chowder, has tomatoes that redden the broth. The New england clambake and Mane lobster bake are, however, the regons premer outdoor eatng events. Quahogs are hard-shelled clams that can be found up and down the eastern coast but are most prevalent between New Jersey and Cape Cod, where envronmental condtons favor them. In order of smallest to largest sze, quahogs are also known as lttle necks, cherrystones, and chowders. Natve Amercans used the shells as money, and they were also the probable source of ths cookng technque. The clambake, n ts elemental form, takes place n a pt on a beach, n whch rocks have been placed and a fre lt. The heated rocks steam the clams, unhusked corn, and potatoes, whch have been layered n seaweed, when the pt s covered. The Mane lobster bake employs the same cookng technque and uses the same ngredents, to whch lobster and mussels are added. Melted butter s a must wth the lobster. on down the coast, every cusne n the world s avalable n New york Ctys 17,300 restaurants, ncludng the best Jewsh delcatessen food anywhere. Coney Island hotdogs, whch also made ther way to Cncnnat va

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an mpressed mmgrant restaurateur, are a local specalty. In upstate New york, around endcott, spedes, chunks of meat marnated n vnegar, ol, oregano, and other spces, then skewered, cooked, and usually placed on a bun, were the creaton of Italan mmgrants. Buffalo helped to make chcken wngs dpped n varous sauces a natonal food, but ts beef on weck (Kummelweck, a potato, caraway, and salted roll) of German orgn remans a local specalty. Turtle soup, rch, thck, and often flavored wth sherry, are specaltes n Maryland and Phladelpha. Meat from terrapns s used n Maryland, snapper meat n Phladelpha. Crab cakes can be found all along the Maryland coast, but the Chesapeake Bay crab cakes on Marylands eastern shore are legendary. In Phladelpha are those foot-long submarne sandwches called hoagies. In Connectcut, they are called grinders. The Italan hoage s made of salam, capcola, and provolone, wth optonal lettuce, tomatoes, red peppers, onons, vnegar and ol, and oregano. Meatball hoages, drenched n a tomato sauce, are also avalable. The Phlly cheesesteak, however, s Phladelphas best-known sandwch. Fresh, thnly slced beef s grlled, and Amercan cheese (sometmes provolone) or a processed cheese spread s placed on the

A fresh Mane lobster satsfes the taste buds of many New englanders durng the summertme. Getty Images/Photodsc.

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beef n a long roll. Peppers, onons, and other toppngs may be added, but f the cheesesteak s not drppng and nearly mpossble to eat poltely, t s not a real Phlly cheesesteak. Cheese fres, French fred potatoes topped wth cheese, can usually be purchased wherever cheesesteaks are sold. Phladelpha and the regon north and west of the cty are famous for soft pretzels, a gft of the heavy German mmgraton there. In Phladelpha, soft pretzels are eaten wth mustard. It s worth a trp out of Phladelpha to Amsh country around Brd-n-Hand, Intercourse, and Lancaster to satsfy a sweet tooth wth local specaltes. shoof ly pe s an ncredbly sweet molasses and sugar pe. whoope pes are two cookes, usually chocolate, but oatmeal cookes can also be found, that are sandwched together by a cream fllng. It seems clear how shoof ly pe was named, and apparently, whoope pes make one yell whoope! at frst bte.
The South

Fred chcken s the souths prmary contrbuton to a natonal cusne, but n fact, many southern dshes have crept far beyond ther orgnal boundares. soul food as well as Cajun and Creole cusnes are subsets of southern cookng. They are popular and avalable everywhere. Georga pecan pe and Florda key lme pe, buttermlk bscuts and corn bread, hush puppes and salt-cured Vrgna country ham are not just southern anymore. Tradtonally, southerners prefer rce to potatoes and pork to beef; they lke ther meats fred or barbequed, ther ced tea sweet, and grts for breakfast wth ham, bscuts, and red-eye gravy. rce has long been grown n the Carolna lowlands and fnds ts way nto numerous tradtonal southern dshes. (Potatoes do not grow well n the hot southern clmate.) savannah red rce, kn to Lousana red beans and rce, mxes rce wth bacon, peppers, onons, spces, tomatoes, Tabasco sauce, and optonal shrmp or sausage. Flordas yellow rce, colored wth saffron, s a gft from spansh colonzers. rce plau, also called purloo, s thought to have been brought nto the port of Charleston by tradng shps n early colonal tmes. There are many recpes for plau, a drty rce dsh that may contan bacon fat, okra, red peppers, onons, seafood, and country ham. rce puddng s also an old southern dsh, but fresh Georga and south Carolna peaches make an even better dessert. The pt barbeque probably orgnated wth blacks n the Carolnas, and pork was the meat of choce, doused wth a somewhat vnegary sauce. Chckens, too, were barbequed. Today, any knd of barbeque, ncludng beef, s popular n the south. Along the coasts of southern states, seafood s abundant. Fred fsh s a favorte, but crabs offer specal treats. Around Moble, Alabama, crabs from Moble Bay are the bass for the local specalty, west

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Indes salad: fresh crabmeat and dced onons n a marnade of vnegar and ol, eaten wth crackers. soft-shell crabs, when n season, mght be found n spder burgers. stone crabs n south Florda are a very specal delght. In Vrgna and parts of Maryland, Crab Norfolk s a specalty that combnes lump crabmeat, tarragon, rce, cream, country ham, and butter for a unquely southern taste. The submarne sandwch, made wth varous cold cuts and lettuce, tomatoes, onons, and so on, as optonal toppngs, s avalable all over the south. Around New orleans, however, the east Coast grnder, hero, or hoage morphs nto a poboy. Poboys can have about anythng n themoysters, ham, beef, shrmp, sausage, lunchmeat, chcken, hamburgerbut the French bread makes them dstnctve, and eatng a poboy wth mayonnase, ketchup, and gravy calls for an mmedate change of clothng. New orleans also has a dstnctve local sandwch of sclan orgn, the muffuletta, whch s also dffcult to eat dantly. Ths large round sandwch s flled wth cold cuts and cheese, over whch s spread an olve salad flavored wth garlc, peppers, capers, celery, and oregano. The south also has ts own verson of the mdwestern whte Castle slyder, the Krystal. only true gourmands can dstngush between a slyder and a Krystal because n Amerca, a hamburger s a hamburger. soul food orgnated from slaves mported prmarly from west Afrca before 1808, when the external slave trade was ended by law. They brought wth them varous cultural cookng habts, whch were once solated to southern plantatons but moved throughout the country, especally after world war II, to northern urban areas as Afrcan Amercans sought employment there n a tremendous northern mgraton. soul food developed from these west Afrcan cultures as they were homogenzed on plantatons, and blacks used the new foods avalable to them. Afrcan cookng nfluenced both Creole and southern cookng. soul food s characterzed by the use of pork fat, usually bacon fat, as a substtute for palm ol used n Afrca, the use of sauces and spces (often pepper), beans, mustard and turnp greens, okra, yams, bananas, and melons. Pork and chcken are the preferred meats, and Afrcans ate the whole anmal. Bread s a staple. Corn s used to make cornmeal, homny, grts, and bread. Barbeque s a specalty. Typcal dshes nclude black-eyed pea soup, fred pork chops, chtterlngs, fred chcken, fred fsh, collard greens, and mxed greens. Gullah rce (rce, nuts, butter, and celery) s a specalty of Afrcan Amercans solated on slands off the Carolnas and Georga who mantaned old tradtons.18 The Creole and Cajun cusnes of south Lousana around New orleans are often spoken and thought of together, but they have separate orgns, even though tme has obscured dfferences. Creoles were the frst born-n-Amerca

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chldren of the mx of europeans (Germans, Italans, French, englsh, spansh), Afrcans, and Natve Amercans who settled the Gulf Coast from Moble, Alabama, to New orleans early n the eghteenth century. Creole cookng developed n New orleans from the contrbutons of all these groups. spansh paella became jambalaya. French boullabasse became gumbo, flavored wth okra from Afrcans and fl powder (ground sassafras leaves) from natves. German sausage makers contrbuted ther knowledge to help create Creole hot sausages and chaurce. Acadans (Cajuns), French Canadan settlers forcbly cast out from Nova scota by the Brtsh, began reassemblng n south Lousana n the 1750s. Already wth over 100 years of poneerng experence, these were hard-scrapple people accustomed to lvng off what the land provded them. More solated than the Creoles, Cajuns nevertheless came nto contact wth the Creole culture that surrounded them. The three classc dshes of New orleansgumbo, bsque, and touffeare bult on a roux, whch s flour browned n ol. onons, bell peppers, celery, and garlc usually are added, along wth a varety of seafood choces. Chcken can also be used, and spcy sausages lke andoulle and tasso gve added flavor to these one-pot stews, whch are usually served over rce.19 Cajuns also were known to cook anythng that swam or slthered or crawled or flew through the swamps they nhabted. The Cajun crawfsh bol remans a celebratory event. Anythng could end up n a 20-gallon pot over a propane burner flled wth salted and spced water or beer. Most often, t s crawfsh, but shrmp and crabs are popular, too. The seafood bol ncludes potatoes, ears of corn, and onon, lke ts northern cousns, but garlc, vnegar, lemons, and zesty spces may be added, too, whch gves ths bol a specal flavor. Beer s the preferred beverage, and dxe s the preferred beer.
The Midwest

Tradtonal mdwestern cookng s qute plan and, to many tastes, qute bland. salt and pepper n moderaton are the spces of choce. The englsh and German habts of overcookng meat and vegetables survve n ths basc meat and potatoes fare, where a beef roast, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, and apple pe make up a fancy dnner. The hearty homemade farm meals of the pastchcken noodles, pork wth dumplngshave gven way to hasty box-top recpes that reflect the fact that farm famles, lke most Amercan famles, need two ncomes to survve, and tme s at a premum. Quantty s often more przed than qualtywtness Chcagos contrbuton to pzza, turnng t from a delcate crust wth a dash of tomato sauce, cheese, and pepper flakes nto a deep-dsh thck crust to contan all the cheeses and meats avalable n the Mdwest.

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The potluck dnner s the most radcally democratc of Amercan culnary experences. There are no rules; no one s n charge. All t takes s one person wth the nerve to nvte several frends over for a party wth the nstructon that they have to brng somethng and brng ther own beverages. (The fomenter of the event usually supples plastc glasses, plastc slverware, and paper or plastc plates, and, wth luck, ced-down coolers.) Potlucks are, clearly, not upscale socal events, or they would be catered at the expense of the host. Potlucks can be found n homes, offces, and church basements. They can be found all over the country, but they are a favorte n the Mdwest. Those who accept an nvtaton to a potluck may compare notes about who s brngng what, but t s a fact that potlucks always seem to work outthere s never all appetzers, all man dshes, all vegetables, all salads, or all desserts, and these are the only fve choces. Potlucks brng out foods famlar to mdwesterners, n part owng to the cooks need for adulaton, and n part owng to the cooks desre to fx somethng everyone wll lke. Typcal appetzers mght nclude devled eggs, a tray of cheese and crackers, lttle hot dogs enveloped n a crust (often called pgs n a blanket), cut fresh vegetables (carrots and celery are the most popular) wth a dppng sauce, and guacamole wth tortlla chps. Casseroles are popular at potlucks. Man courses seem to always nclude macaron and cheese, tuna noodle casserole (canned tuna and store-bought noodles baked n canned cream of mushroom or celery soup, topped wth potato chps, sometmes wth peas), and chl-mac (a concocton of hamburger and onon, noodles, tomatoes, and some chl powder, wth cheese on top, wth or wthout red kdney beans). salads can range from a smple shredded lettuce and cheese tossed wth ranch dressng to taco salad, carrot salad (shredded carrots wth mayonnase, rasns, and nuts), three-bean salad (green and yellow beans wth kdney beans and onon n vnegar and ol), and frut salads (canned frut encased n flavored gelatn). Vegetable selectons mght nclude creamed corn, scalloped potatoes, a sweet potato casserole sweetened wth brown sugar and a toppng of marshmallows, a broccol and cheese casserole, and a green bean casserole (canned green beans n canned mushroom soup wth fred onon rngs on top). desserts are often spectacular because the real cooks lke to show them off. There are apple pes and cherry pes wth golden peaked crusts, chocolate merngue pes, lemon merngue pes, and butterscotch merngue pes. Creatve mxtures of cherry or raspberry gelatn and Cool whp (a fake whpped cream purchased already whpped n a frozen contaner) can also be found. every potluck has a least two pans of brownes, cut nto squares, from whch to choose. The chocolate-frosted ones go frst, but all of those most chocolate lttle cakes quckly dsappear.

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The bg Amercan breakfast stll survves n the Mdwest, f not at home, n the dners and lttle restaurants that cover the countrysde. eggsscrambled or fred, over easy or sunny sde upwth bacon, ham, or sausage, buttered toast wth jelly or jam, a sde order of pancakes wth butter and syrup, or maybe some French toast or hash brown potatoes, and as much coffee as you can drnk are expected. Ham and eggs as a breakfast duo s beleved to be an Amercan nnovaton, but the Amercan breakfast s of certan englsh orgn. The Mdwest s not wthout nterestng or unque foods. wld rce, whch s actually a large-graned grass, grows naturally n lakes, rvers and streams around the Great Lakes area. Natve Amercans, partcularly the ojbway and Menomnee, harvested t from canoes by flalng the grans off the plants nto the canoes. Also called water oats, squaw rce, and marsh oats, wld rce (genus Zizania) was a staple to Natves and european adventurers n the North Country. Today, t s often mxed wth long-graned rce as a sde dsh, but t s also cooked alone. It was not untl 1950 n Mnnesota that wld rce began to be grown n flooded felds surrounded by dkes. Mnnesota remans the largest producer, followed by Calforna.20 The Germans certanly left ther mark to the extent that natve mdwesterners thnk that goetta, leberwurst, bratwurst, wesswurst, and blutwurst are Amercan foods that could be found everywhere. The Germans, of course, also brought beer to the Mdwest to drnk wth the sausages, centerng brewng empres n st. Lous and Mlwaukee as well as Cncnnat. sauerkraut s a frequently served sde dsh and a requrement wth a pork roast. Zweback s often fed to teethng chldren. Pretzels and potato salad are ubqutous. rye and pumpernckel breads, dansh coffee cakes, and pastres are typcally avalable. The Poles who mgrated to Pennsylvana, many to work n coal mnes, gave Pttsburgh one of ts culnary clams to fame: peroges. Pttsburgh przes peroges whether fred, baked, or boled. They are crcles of dough pnched together n a half-crcle wth any assortment of fllngs, ncludng, but not lmted to, mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese, sauerkraut, cabbage, cottage cheese, or hamburger. They are perhaps best fred n butter and onons. They can be a meal or a sde dsh, and snce they can be flled wth anythng, they can be subject to complete transformaton n the Amercan ktchen, but most peroge afconados want them the way grandma used to make them. The Norwegans who settled n wsconsn and Mnnesota remember ther North Atlantc hertage around Thanksgvng and Chrstmastme by enjoyng a feast of lutefsk. Not unlke the New england baked cod dnner, ths s served wth potatoes, peas, and bread, whch n ths case s lefse. However, the cod s nether fresh nor restored salt cod, but marnated and preserved n

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lye. The vapors from lutefsk, whch translates as lye fsh, s sad to have the power to peel pant from walls, brng tears to the eyes, and buckle the knees of a latter-day Vkng. Lutefsk, after several water baths, s smply salted and peppered, baked, and served wth melted butter. Gently put, a lutefsk dnner s an unforgettable experence. wsconsn s the bggest cheese-producng state n the Unted states, accountng for 2.4 bllon pounds (26.4%) of Amercas total cheese producton of 9.13 bllon pounds n 2005. There are 115 plants makng cheese n wsconsn, and where cheese s beng made, cheese curds, the local specalty that does not keep over a day or so or travel well, are avalable.21 Cheese curds result from the cheese-makng process, and they are plucked from vats before the cheese s blocked and aged. They may come from any cheese, but Amercan-type cheese (a cheddar) s the favorte and the most produced n wsconsn. Cheese curds are a slghtly salty snackng treat wth the consstency of a pencl eraser, and they emt squeaks aganst the teeth as f they were polshng the teeth squeaky clean. The stockyards of Kansas Cty and omaha, on the edge of the Great Plans, were the last stop for mllons of anmals on the way to slaughter. omaha s so proud of ts beef that they named a local football team the omaha Beef. There could be no greater honor. The cty s famous for ts steaks. Kansas Cty even has a cut of steak named after t, but the cty s perhaps more famed for ts barbeque, both beef and pork. Kansas Cty barbeque s defned by the use of hckory n the fre for a specal flavor and a sauce that s, n mdwestern tradton, nether too spcy lke Carolna sauces nor too hot lke Texas sauces. Molasses helps to thcken the tomato-based sauce and lend t a certan sweetness. A dry rub s used to flavor the meat before cookng. Kansas Cty s flled wth barbeque jonts.22 what barbeque s to Kansas Cty, chl s to Cncnnat, a cty wth a old German hertage. A Texan, however, would fnd Cncnnat chl to be somethng other than chl, f not a bt of a joke. There are more than 180 chl parlors (t s not clear why a chl restaurant s called a parlor) n Cncnnat, servng a chl that was created by a Greek mmgrant restaurateur of the 1920s who had trouble sellng Greek food to Germans. He nvented what he called a chl out of a Greek dsh, substtutng ground beef for lamb, addng some chl powder, but keepng spces lke cnnamon, allspce, and cloves n the dsh. In ths great fuson of cusnes, he also decded to serve hs chl over spaghett. Today, ths s known a two-way chl. Add grated cheese and t s three-way chl; add onons and t s four-way; add kdney beans and t s fveway. Coneys are hot dogs wth mustard, chl, and grated cheese.23 For folks who lve around the upper Great Lakes n Mchgan, wsconsn, and Mnnesota, the fsh bol s a Nordc rght of summer and fall. Unlke

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the New england clambakes and lobster bakes, ths s not a celebraton of seafood, but rather a celebraton of lake foodfreshwater fsh lke lake trout and whtefsh. The fsh bol s an outdoor event. A ragng fre s stoked under a large kettle or pot flled wth salted water, seasoned wth bay leaves, peppercorns, and allspce. Frst, a wre basket of potatoes s lowered nto the bolng water. Then onons are placed n the wre basket to bol wth the potatoes. Then the cleaned fsh are lowered nto the kettle n a separate basket to cook for about 10 mnutes. A pnt or so of kerosene s then thrown on the fre to produce an overbol. After the pyrotechncs, the meal s ready. The fsh, onons, and potatoes are usually accompaned by bread and coleslaw, butter, and lemons.24 Beer s the preferred beverage for adults. There are two foods born n the Mdwest that are stll largely avalable only n the Mdwest. Long before there was a Mcdonalds, a wendys, or a Burger Kng, the Mdwest had whte Castles and Mad-rtes. The frst whte Castle restaurant opened n wchta, Kansas, n 1921, sellng hamburgers for a nckel. Now wth 380 locatons, many of those n oho, Illnos, Mchgan, Indana, and around st. Lous, Mssour, whte Castle sold around 500 mllon burgers, affectonately called slyders, n 2005, and clams to be the frst hamburger chan to sell 1 bllon hamburgers. slyders are three-and-a-half-nch square, very thn, salted and peppered hamburgers wth fve holes punched through them that are steamed wth dehydrated onons, and then the bun s placed on top of them so that t absorbs the flavor of the process. A slce of dll pckle s placed on the meat, and the sandwch s placed n a box. A sack of slyders s sx burgers (mustard and ketchup separately packaged) and a lttle bt of heaven. whte Castle consders ts product so unque that they have based ther advertsng on cravng slyders, a message not lost on mdwestern college students wth the munches n the early mornng.25 In 1926, a butcher n Muscatne, Iowa, combned a specal cut and grnd of meat wth a selected set of spces and the Mad-rte sandwch was born, when an unknown patron declared on tastng the sandwch that t was just made rght. There are now more than 70 Mad-rte restaurants branchng out from Iowa and declarng to be Amercas #1 Favorte Made to order Loose Meat sandwch. The specal seasonng remans a secret, but s thought to contan garlc, onon, tomato juce, brown sugar, worcestershre sauce, and seasoned salt. Mad-rte clams to have nvented casual dnng and prdes tself on provdng an atmosphere of gracous, hometown hosptalty. In addton to the Mad-rte sandwch, the menu also ncludes a pork tenderlon sandwch, greatly favored n the Mdwest, and, n deference to the Mdwests changng taste, a Taco-rte. The restaurants also serve shakes, malts, and ce cream cones.26

CUIsINe ANd FAsHIoN The Southwest and West

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In the southwest and on nto the southern west Coast, spansh nfluence, mxed wth natve and Mexcan, has created a specal regonal cusne. southwestern cusnes basc ngredents are corn, chles, beans, and squashes. Tamales are cornmeal flour, masa, stuffed wth meat or spansh rce and steamed n cornhusks. Tacos are soft or fred corn tortllas stuffed wth meat and covered wth salsa and lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. enchladas are corn tortllas fred and stuffed and dpped n chl sauce. Chles rellenos are deep-fred mld chles stuffed wth cheese and served as an accompanment to meals. some man ngredents are chayotes, pear-shaped squashes; chlesAnahems, Chles del Arbol, chmayos, jalapeos, poblanos, and serranos; and dred corn n the form of cornmeal, posole, and tortllas. Blue cornmeal s especally flavorful. Posole s the homny of the southwest, produced by treatng dred kernels of corn wth lme. It s cooked before use and often eaten as a sde dsh and sometmes alone. Jcama s often used for salads and sde dshes. Nopales (cactus pears) are eaten as vegetable or n salads. Pones, pne nuts, are used n cusne, too. Tomatllos, related to tomatoes but stayng green when rpe, are used n salads, soups, and sauces. Burrtos and chmchangas are southwestern

A gant enchlada s cut nto many peces to be dstrbuted to vstors at the whole enchlada Festa n New Mexco. AP Photo/The Las Cruces sun-News, Norm dettlaff.

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U.s. adaptatons of old Mexcan foods. Modern southwestern cusne fuses varous other cusnes wth tradtonal southwestern ngredents to create new flavors. Thus one mght fnd escargot enchladas wth Madera sauce and endve or a cassolette of sweetbreads and pnto beans on the menu.27 Tex-Mex cusne can be consdered a Texan take on Mexcan food, and snce Texas s cattle country, addng beef to the Mexcan dshes was only natural. Chl, once smply beans n a tomato sauce, became chl con carne, or chl wth meat. Texas red chl s not magnable wthout beef. Chl lends tself to personal nnovaton and the addton of secret ngredents, especally spces and chles. Chl cook-offs are frequent and popular events. Fajtos, wheat tortllas flled wth marnated skrt steak, are, lke red chl, a pure Tex-Mex creaton. what passes for Mexcan food n most of Amercas Mexcan restaurants s, n fact, an Amercan adaptaton, lke Tex-Mex of true Mexcan food.28 The frequent use of chles also dstngushes Texas barbeque, whch was tradtonally beef. The sauces used n and on barbeque tend to be hot and spcy, as opposed to the vnegary Carolna sauces and sweet Kansas Cty sauces. New Mexco green chl s often just a hot weddng of pnto beans wth green chles flavored wth salt pork. Green chle stew adds pork to the pot. Another popular New Mexco dsh s calabacitas, a mxture of green chles, squash, corn, and cream or cheese. In northern New Mexco, dred and roasted corn kernels called chicos are cooked wth red chles, spces, and pork to make a favorte dsh, also called chicos. sopapllas, trangle-shaped deepfred pastry wth honey, for dessert can help take the stng out of the chles. The brth of Calforna cusne s generally traced back to Alce waters n the early 1970s and her restaurant Chez Pansse. waters ntroduced the dea of usng natural, locally grown fresh ngredents to produce her dshes. Calforna cusne s, therefore, not any one thng, nether a method of cookng nor any group of partcular ngredentst s local, based lke most tradtonal regonal cookng on avalable ngredents, ncludng abundant seafood. Fresh vegetables, lghtly cooked, and fresh fruts, berres, and herbs characterze the cusne generally, but Calforna cookng s also n fact a fuson of tastes from all over the world. The favorte man courses for 2006 of san Francscos top chefs make the pont. They nclude seared yellow fn tuna, marnated summer cucumbers, dakon sprouts, yuzu-wasab crme frache, lobster roe crusted Japanese hamach wth a warm Mau onon shellfsh vnagrette, and shellfsh tom yum noodles wth Tha basl pesto.29 The fuson of nternatonal cusnes s also gong on n casual dnng and fast food. In 1988, the three wahoo brothers wng, ed, and Mngo founded wahoos n southern Calforna. Ther objectve was to ntroduce the Mexcan fsh taco to the Calforna market but also to gve ther food a Brazlan flare (they grew up n Brazl) wth some orental hghlghts (ther parents

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ran a Chnese restaurant n Brazl). Now wth 30 locatons n Calforna and Colorado, wahoos offers fsh, chcken, steak, and vegetaran tacos, enchladas, and burrtos. The combo plate comes wth ah rce and black beans or spcy Cajun whte beans.30 yet even n Calforna, the cheap and portable hamburger s stll a hamburger, great for eatng whle sttng on a freeway. In-N-out Burger, wth around 150 locatons n Calforna, allowed customers to order ther hamburgers on a two-way speaker n 1948. Jack n the Box, the frst drve-through franchse, started sellng hamburgers n san dego n 1951. Fatburger, a Calforna hamburger franchse that clams to be a culture and a phenomenon, started n 1952. Mcdonalds dd not open ts frst locaton untl 1955, and t was n des Planes, Illnos.31 It would be far from the mark to say that Chnese food began n Calforna, of course, but Chnese-Amercan food dd ndeed begn there. Chnese, most from the Canton area, frst came to Calforna n the 1840s to work on ralroads and n gold mnes, often n menal postons. some Chnese entrepreneurs n the restaurant busness dscovered that they could sell Amercanzed versons of Chnese foods successfully. Chop suey houses spread across the naton. Many of them featured tradtonal Cantonese fare for ther Chnese patrons and an englsh menu wth such Chnese-Amercan dshes as egg rolls, wonton soup, chop suey, sweet and sour pork, and even meats wth lobster sauce. whle Chnese fast food n Amerca s for the most part Chnese-Amercan food, excellent regonal Chnese cookng has become avalable n the Unted states as Amercans tastes have matured. Cantonese dm sum s very popular. Mandarn dshes lke mu-shu pork and pot stckers have become manstays of Chnese restaurants. even the hot cusnes of szechwan and Hunan fnd ther place now n Amerca.32 The Pacfc Northwest s known for salmon, oysters, apples, berres, and oregon and washngton wnes to drnk wth them. In fact, however, ths area of the country also produces tremendous amounts of wheat, potatoes, lamb, beef, and dary products. A great varety of vegetables are also successfully grown there. ranbow trout are abundant n the freshwater streams all over the west, and n addton to salmon, the ocean provdes Pacfc cod, halbut, pollock, and other varetes of fsh. The bays that produce the oysters also produce crab. dary producton has gven rse to local cheese makng. washngton produces more apples than any other state. wld mushrooms abound n the forests. Natve berres nclude raspberres, strawberres, blueberres, blackberres, boysenberres, gooseberres, and the very specal huckleberres, to name just a few. Grapes for wne have been grown n washngton snce 1825. The developng cusne of the Pacfc Northwest makes use of these local foods much n the sprt of Calforna cusne. Fresh local food, perhaps wth an accent of Asan nfluence, characterzes the taste of the Northwest.33

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Fresh fsh caught n the Pacfc ocean are often sold n street markets such as ths one n washngton. Getty Images/MedoImages.

The luau s Hawas verson of the New england clambake. Chcken and taro plant leaves cooked n coconut mlk s called luau, thus the name of ths tradtonal and symbolc feast. Today, of course, a luau may nclude roasted pg and other meats, fsh n great varety, pneapples and coconuts, fruts, macadama nuts, and so on. whatever dshes a modern luau may nclude, t s never wthout po, the Hawaan specalty made by beatng tarot root nto a paste. Po, lke scandnavan lutefsk, s an acqured taste. Luaus, wthout the po, are popular for partes on the manland, but n Hawa, they are held mostly for the beneft of toursts. Indeed, the large Japanese populaton of the slands has made Hawa the best state n the naton for Japanese food. a meriCan f ashion
Thats hot! Pars Hlton

Pars, Mlan, London, Tokyo, and New york are the recognzed fashon captals of the world. Amercans had long looked to Pars for hgh fashon. It could be argued that only the demse of Pars because of Naz Germanys

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occupaton of France from 1940 untl 1944 brought New york, and thus Amerca, to the party. In fact, however, Amerca had been developng and nventng a dstnctve fashon look from ts begnnng that was purposely democratc, not arstocratc, and decdedly pragmatc, not flashy, and certanly not up to the qualty and exactng standards of haute couture. when New york took over the nternatonal fashon lead, the effect was to rent the fabrc of haute couture, so tghtly woven for centures n France. Amercan fashon desgners broke all the old rules, desgned for the masses, and clothed them n ready to wear (rTw). Amercan fashon desgn was n fact democratzed n the face of a mass market. The quntessental old rule that fashon was dctated from on hgh by a few fashon houses stood n sharp contrast wth Amercan thnkng and tradton. Amercan desgners were quck to gve the people what they wanted and placed ther mprmaturs on the fashon that came up from the streets, such as grunge and urban hp-hop, that complemented the Amercan casual lfestyle and that put modern twsts on Amercan classc styles, ncludng western wear. The great Amercan couture houses make ther money from rTw lnes of clothng and accessores, not from custom fttng ndvdual clothng tems to wealthy patrons. Amercan clothng s mass-produced, most of t outsde the country, n what has become a global ndustry. oddly enough, mens clothng was the frst to be mass-produced n the Unted states n meanngful quanttes. The problem wth mass-producng clothng s that some standard s needed for szng. The Cvl war created the need for mass-produced unforms, and as a pattern emerged from szng solders, that mltary standard became the standard for szng cvlan mass-produced mens clothng. whle womens clothng began to be massproduced n the later 1920s, the movement for standardzed womens clothng was pushed by populaton growth and the development of mass merchandsers lke sears, roebuck and Co. It was not untl 1941, however, that the bass for a standard for womens szes emerged after a natonal study of womens szes was publshed by the U.s. department of Agrculture n 1941. yet t was stll later, n 1958, that the government publshed a commercal standard, Cs215-58, for womens szes. The standard was updated and made voluntary n 1971 and then completely wthdrawn n 1983.34 Clothng marketers were quck to understand that a dress marked sze 6 but cut to a standard sze 10 sold better than the same dress marked sze 10 and cut to a sze 10. Amercans spent $326.5 bllon on clothng and shoes n 2004. At the wholesale level, consumpton totaled more than 18.4 bllon garments and 2.15 bllon pars of shoes. Imports accounted for 91 percent of apparel and 98 percent of footwear. Most Amercans are wearng clothes made n Central Amerca and the domnon republc, owng to a trade agreement, and

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Chna and Mexco. Most Amercans are wearng shoes made n Chna, whch alone accounted for 82 percent of footwear mports. one ndcaton of the total commodtzaton of clothng and shoes s that even as retal prces have ncreased overall by 15.9 percent from 1993 to 2004, the retal prces of clothng and shoes have slpped 9.5 percent and 6.8 percent, whle wholesale prces have remaned about the same.35 The fashon ndustry can make good money n ths ggantc market only when t successfully brands ts products to support hgher noncommodty prces n the marketplace. of course, a personal fashon statement cannot be made wth clothng and shoes alone. The whole package also ncludes jewelry, accessores lke handbags and rucksacks, and a scent. Marketng and advertsng are therefore every bt as mportant as desgn and fabrc n sellng the Amercan look. There was a tme even wthn the frames of baby boomers lves when Amercans travelng abroad were advsed not to dress lke Amercans to avod beng conspcuous n a crowd. Today, however, much of the world dresses lke Amercans. From Moscow to Capetown, Buenos Ares to Tokyo, and Madrd to Bejng, the casual style nvented by Amerca has taken hold n a sea of humanty dressed n jeans and T-shrts. Amercan fashon has long been sent around the world n Hollywood moves and, more recently, as a te-n to Amercan pop musc. Amercan fashon reflects the dversty and complexty of Amercan socety as the personal expresson of urban and country, rch and poor, young and old, ethnc, regonal, relgous, and even muscal cultures. In very general terms, northeasterners are sad to dress rather formally; southerners dress conservatvely and mantan the old-fashoned nostrumsstraw hats and seersucker suts may be worn only between easter sunday and Labor daythat are pretty much dead elsewhere; mdwesterners are consdered to be qute cost-conscous, wth a preference for practcal and plan clothng; and westerners seem to prefer casual clothng. Cowboy boots and stetson hats wth a busness sut would look normal n dallas and Houston but qute out of place n Boston and Phladelpha. For most of the older mmgrant populatons, tradtonal dress comes out only for festvals and specal events. Although most Amercan roman Catholc orders of relgous women have abandoned habts for plan dress, relgously nspred dress may be seen occasonally on Amercas streets. The Hassdc Jews, mostly n New york Cty, have mantaned ther tradtonal garb, as have the Amsh who settled frst n Pennsylvana and have moved westward over tme. some Amercan Muslm women choose to be n hijab, that s, wear head scarves, but t s not unusual to see them mantan the requrement for head-to-toe coverng wth a sweater or shrt and blue jeans rather than an overgarment. Indeed, t would be the excepton, rather than the rule, that any Amercan would stand out n a crowd

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of fellow Amercans by vrtue of dress. The mass culture has assured a certan sameness n dress. whle there s no real dstnctve eastern, mdwestern, or southern style, the same cannot be sad of the western style of dress. In fact, f there s ndeed an ndgenous Amercan style, the western style would be t. The cowboy s, of course, the mythcal conc Amercan. Tough, Golden rule far, a true ndvdual n command of all around hm, he roams the golden plans freely and uses hs gun only when he has to. Hs dress s smple: cowboy hat; ponted leather cowboy boots; jeans (chaps optonal), held on by a sturdy belt wth a bg buckle; and a denm shrt. on specal occasons, he mght don a shrt wth fancy sttchng and pearl buttons and slp on a bola te. Celebrated n wld west shows late n the nneteenth century and nto the twenteth century, the cowboy mythology grew larger through flms and televson, even as real cowboys vrtually dsappeared. Country musc approprated western wear, created sngng rhnestone cowboys, and seemngly moved the center of the west to Nashvlle, Tennessee. western fashon s very much alve on the rodeo crcuts and even n fashon desgners collectons. The wld west contnues ts hold on the Amercan magnaton.36 Amercan fashon s n a constant state of rebrth, borrowng from the past, appropratng from the present, and mxng up the sgnals by crossng tradtonal lnes. It can be value laden; t can be dangerous. It can be practcal; t can be outrageous. Fashon can also be confusng. Amercans are never qute sure what to wear on occasons that demand formal, black te optonal, semformal, casual, busness casual, or nformal attre. A come as you are party s an even more darng concept. A number of famous Amercan fashon desgners have contrbuted n achevng an Amercan look. New york Ctys Fashon walk of Fame, whch stretches along the east sde of seventh Avenue from 41st street to 35th street, s to Amercan fashon desgners as the forecourt to Hollywood, Calfornas, Graumans Chnese Theatre s to Amercan move stars. The plaques on the Manhattan sdewalks (no desgners footprnts, but rather desgn sketches) honor Amercan fashon desgners for ther contrbutons to Amercan fashon. They were elected from 1999 to 2002 by ballots passed around to 150 ndustry leaders. Nomnees were lmted to those wth a sgnfcant New york presence who owned ther own busnesses a mnmum of 10 years and who made a powerful mpact on fashon through ther creatve desgns or use of materals or who sgnfcantly nfluenced the way Amerca dresses.37 Most of the fashon desgners memoralzed on the Fashon walk of Fame are household names. Llly dach (18981989) came to New york Cty from France when she was only 16 years old. By the tme she closed her shop n

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1968, she had become the ctys most reputed mllner, havng added accessores and dresses to her salon. she also desgned headgear for move stars lke Marlene detrch and Betty Grable. Her sculpted hats helped to defne an Amercan look for decades before hats became costume, rather than everyday wear. Maryland-born Clare McCardell (19051958), however, s often credted wth orgnatng the Amercan look. she beleved that fundamental Amercan democratc values could and should be expressed n the clothng she desgned. McCardell, workng out of Townley Frocks, desgned for workngwomen, not the dle class, and she beleved that mass-produced clothng could also be fashonable, comfortable, and affordable. In the 1930s, she came out wth the monastc dress, whch women could shape to ther bodes wth a sash or belt. In 1940, McCardells desgns used a natural shoulder and pleats or bas cuts for comfortable wear. Her 1942 pop-over dress was a knd of wraparound. she desgned for a casual and free lfestyleths was Amercanat the beach, at play, at home, or at work. even the fabrcs she used, from denm and corduroy to seersucker and calco, expressed a basc casual feel. desgners, of course, contnued to cater to the wealthy. Charles James (19061978), though born n england, spent much the 1940s and 1950s n New york Cty desgnng opulent sculpted ball gowns that each n ts own rght was consdered a work of art. Norman Norell (19001972) left Indana to desgn clothes for Paramount Pctures n New york Cty n 1922. He also desgned for Broadway productons. In 1944, he and hs partner, Anthony, founded Trana-Norell and defned the Amercan look durng the war empre lne dresses, fur coats, and sequned evenng sheaths. In 1960, wth hs own label, called smply Norell, he desgned classc, mpeccably talored clothes meant to last and, n establshng the New york style, successfully translated couture to rTw. James Galanos (1924) had hs frst show n Los Angeles but opened a shop n New york n 1952. Hs expensve off-the-rack ornamented gowns, favortes of Nancy reagan, were superbly constructed. Man rousseau Bocher (18911976), brandng hmself as Manbocher, was born n Chcago but made hs name n Pars. one of hs famous clents was walls smpson, the duchess of wndsor. As war n europe loomed, he returned to the Unted states, where he contrbuted jeweled sweaters and short evenng dresses to the Amercan look and desgned unforms for the new womens mltary unts as well as the Grl scouts. Paulne Trgre (1909 2002) left her Pars brthplace n 1937 and started her own fashon house n New york n 1942. when she began makng rTw n the late 1940s, she was already a respected New york label. Her contrbutons to Amercan fashon, n addton to her costume jewelry, ncluded removable scarves and collars from dresses and coats, classc suts, sleeveless coats, opera capes, and reversble coats.

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Anne Klen (19211974) was, n her day, the most popular sportswear desgner n the Unted states. Her plaque on the Fashon walk of Fame notes that the coordnated day and evenng separates she developed, ncludng her body suts and zppered skrts, have become classc staples of the modern wardrobe. In 1948, she founded Junor sophstcates, and n 1968, Anne Klen and Company, where she nurtured future desgners who would mpact Amercan fashon. Bonne Cashn (19152000), after desgnng handbags for Coach, workng for 20th Century Fox and, desgnng womens mltary unforms, formed her own busness n 1953. Her loose-fttng, layered, nterlockng womens clothng and the poncho as fashon as well as canvas and popln rancoats were desgned to express ndependence, adaptablty, and the taste of the wearer. Amercan fashon could be playful. Geoffrey Beene (19242004) set up hs own frm n 1962. A dress from hs frst collecton made t to the cover of Vogue, and he suddenly had made t n the fashon world. Beene was one of the frst to show short skrts, and hs football jersey evenng gown wth jewels ganed hm some notorety. rud Gernrech (19221985) came to Calforna from Venna n 1938. He formed rud Gernrech Inc. n 1964. Gernrech ntroduced to Amerca and the world such nnovatons as kntted tube dresses, shrt-wast dresses, the womens topless bathng sut (the fashon sensaton of 1964), the no-bra bra, and womens boxer shorts, a statement of the 1980s. Italan by brth and bred n Argentna, Gorgo d santAngelo (19331989) came to the Unted states n 1962 and started a rTw busness n 1966. He expermented wth stretch fabrcs, wth the goal of freeng body movement. Hs body suts, devod of zppers and buttons, could double as swmmng wear. Iowan roy Halston Frowck (19321990) began hs career as a mllner, havng desgned pllbox hats for Jacke Kennedy. He opened hs own desgn busness n 1966 and got nto the rTw market. Halston was Amercas frst mnmalst desgnerclean and smple lnes wth classc fabrcs. Many consdered hm to be the best evenng wear desgner n the naton. Hs foray nto mass merchandsng a cheaper lne wth J.C. Penney put hs jet set busness n a talspn, but ths experence would not hold out for later desgners. ralph Lauren (1939) s, n many ways, the quntessental Amercan desgner. Born n Bronx, New york, he has cleverly renterpreted great Amercan fashon of the past for the contemporary age and, n the process, has produced classcally elegant mens wear and womens wear. Hs Polo brand s ubqutous, but he desgns beyond clothng for a total lfestyle. Lauren vrtually nvented the casual preppy style that has defned the look of the well-to-do. Another Bronx natve, Calvn Klen (1942), s perhaps the con of late-twentethcentury and early-twenty-frst century Amercan fashon. From the 1970s

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onward (Calvn Klen Inc. was founded n 1994 and sold n 2003), Klen defned Amercan fashon, ncludng jeans and underwear, wth a mnmalst approach and a zest for controversal advertsng campagns. domncanborn oscar de la renta (1932), on the other hand, s known for hs blendng of Latn elegance and Amercan ease. In the late 1960s, he notably featured bejeweled hot pants n hs Gypsy collecton, but hs day wear for workngwomen, as n hs less expensve osCAr lne, s qute restraned. Hs tasteful use of color mantans hs Latn roots. Bll Blass (19222002) bought the company he was workng for n 1970, and Bll Blass Ltd. was born. Hs plaque on the Fashon walk of Fame notes that he can rghtly be credted as one of the creators of a true Amercan style. Best known for hs womens day wear, t s Blass who can ether be blamed or credted for Amercans confuson about what s sportswear and what s formal wear because he brought the comfort and smplcty of sportswear nto the realm of formal dressng. sometmes referred to as the dean of Amercan desgners, Blass employed classc fabrcs n garments that curved to the body. Hs desgns, favored by notables such as Nancy reagan and Barbra stresand, could exude Hollywood glamour or be sutable for a country club settng. Perry ells (19401986) founded Perry ells Internatonal n 1978 and shared the desgner spotlght wth Blass n the 1980s. ells made hs name n sportswear. He beleved t should not be pretentous, and he sought to brng tradtonal fashon a modern Amercan look. He helped to revve hand-knt sweaters. Norma Kamal (1945) opened her frst shop n 1968 desgnng rhnestoned and applqud T-shrts. In 1974, she ntroduced parachute jumpsuts made of real parachute slk. Her sleepng bag coat came n 1975, and n 1977, she ntroduced swmwear that would make her famous. In 1978, Kamal opened oMo (on My own), and n 1980, she ntroduced another fashon nnovaton, her Fashon at a Prce collecton, that featured her sweatshrt collecton. she went on to develop fragrances, cosmetcs, and gym and athletc wear as well as a no-wrnkle poly-jersey collecton for travelers. Phladelpha natve wll smth (19481987) wanted to desgn fashons that would ft somewhere between formal evenng wear and very nformal jeans. He founded wllwear n 1976 and ntroduced moderately prced, brghtly colored clothng orented to young people that, wth baggy pants and overszed shrts and sweaters, precursed the rap and hp-hop styles that would come later. Born n Connectcut n 1942, Betsey Johnson had a background n dance and was a warhol groupe n the 1960s. she opened a boutque n 1969 and desgned rock n roll clothng n the 1970s. In 1978, she and a partner formed the Betsey Johnson label, now wth stores worldwde that nclude accessores as well as clothng. Johnson desgns youthful, sexymcromnsand colorful, even

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exuberant clothes, often n stretch fabrcs that allow ease of movement. Marc Jacobs (1963) s famous for hs wtthe Freudan slp dressand makng grunge hgh fashon n 1982. Hs label Marc for the mass market s desgned to be edgy and affordable. New yorker donna Karan (1948) worked for Anne Klen and, after her death, desgned sportswear for the company. she went out on her own n 1985 wth the donna Karan collecton. Karans desgns for women, whether for sports, work, or evenng wear, are smple, elegant, and comfortable. she lberated successful, ndependent women from the masculne corporate unform. Her fgure sut s casual chc. In 1988, she started dKNy, a less expensve brand more accessble to the masses. Perhaps n recognton of the global success and preemnence of Amercan fashon desgn and desgners, but certanly not n any recognton of the fact that some Amercans desgners had reached the hghest level of couture as practced only heretofore n France, fve Amercan desgners were nvted to show ther desgns at Versalles n 1973 wth fve French desgners. The occason was actually a fundrasng event for the Versalles restoraton Fund, but that Amercans were showng ther fashons n France was a revolutonary event. The Amercan desgners nvted ncluded Bll Blass, Anne Klen (donna Karan flled n for her), oscar de la renta, Halston, and stephen Burrows. Burrows had come to notce after he opened a New york boutque n 1970 and become famous for hs chffons, jersey dresses wth lettuce hems, usually n red, and hs brght colors. He dressed Cher and became the preferred desgner of the dsco scene. Thanks n part to the Versalles show, Burroughs became the frst Afrcan Amercan fashon desgner to attan an nternatonal reputaton. He now sells hs lesser desgns on televson through the Home shoppng Network. wth everyone assembled at the palace on November 28, the Amercan desgners showed ther rTw, whle the French desgnersyves sant Laurent, Hubert Gvenchy, emanuel Ungaro, Perre Cardn, and Chrstan dorshowed ther haute couture.38 whle these noted fashon desgners have been nstrumental n developng an Amercan look, n truth, there are many Amercan looks, and desgners are provdng Amercans wth qute eclectc clothng choces. Carmen webber and Carma Marshall of sstahs Harlem New york attempt to express n ther fashons the experence and hertage of New york Ctys Harlem, from the people of the streets to the upper class. whle ther style s decdedly Amercan, t s Amercan n the sense that Amerca s a fuson of cultures. one of ther collectons, for example, s called rastafaran street Punk. Tommy Hlfger, on the other hand, wants hs clothes to be fun and to be used to express ndvdualty, a treasured Amercan value. davd rodrguez, a Mexcan Amercan, opened hs own label n 1998 and quckly became known for hs sleek and sexy cocktal dresses as well as hs red carpet ensembles. He came

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out wth a fur collecton and accessores n 2005. Zac Posen made hs name by desgnng nostalgc gowns worn by move starlets to suggest ther rghtful places n Hollywood hstory. Mark Badgley and James Mschka are also brngng back classc Hollywood glamour n ther desgns. Mchael Kors has been desgnng chc, upscale, luxurous classcs for the jet set snce 1981. Kors and Posen have used ther success n womens wear to expand nto mens wear. whle Korss desgns have modern lnes, Mary Png, who launched her own label n 2001, based her desgns on the lnes of postmodern archtecture and the shapes found n nature. Her slk and velvet gowns defne chc n rch colors that are not necessarly beholden to symmetry. Luca orland of Luca Luca desgns flrtatous, very femnne dresses n bold colors that are nspred by abstract art. ralph rucc of Chado ralph rucc creates sculpted and sophstcated clothng wth prnts from hs own artwork. Hs perfecton got hm nvted to show hs haute couture n Pars. Kenneth Cole began n the shoe busness and contnues to desgn shoes n addton to mens and womens wear that clam a contemporary urban nspraton wth black jeans and crew neck sweaters. Born n Colomba and rased n Mam, esteban Cortazar entered the fashon desgn busness n 2002 at the age of 18. The brght colors of hs fabulous gowns gve away hs conscously spansh nf luences. desgner Maz Azra at BCBG combnes the sophstcaton of europe wth the sprt of Amerca n hs fashons, whch stretch to denm, footwear, and fragrances.39 Fashons, lke harstyles, are safe, nonpermanent ways for Amercans to express themselves. Take the curous Amercan nventon of blue jeans. Lev strauss began supplyng jeans to mners shortly after the Calforna Gold rush began n 1848. In the 1870s, he and hs partner had perfected the jeans known today by renforcng stress ponts wth rvets. Jeans, both pants and overalls, became and reman the unform of Amercans who work wth ther handsfarmers, steel workers, assembly lne workers, constructon workers, mners, cowboys. In the 1950s, they were approprated by some youths as a symbol of ther personal dsaffecton. Moves passed on the message. In the 1960s and 1970s, however, n one of those strange turns n Amercan poltcal hstory, jeans became the symbol of the youth culture and ts magned soldarty wth workng people, a soldarty not sought by most workng people. war protesters n blue jeans flled televson news stores, but jeans now had taken on a dfferent look. Bell-bottoms and flower and bead desgns were n, and the scruffer the pants, the more they were n. By the 1980s, fashon desgners had fgured out that blue jeans could be cool, even f stonewashed and wth holes n the knees. A par of fashon desgner branded jeans could fetch thousands of dollars, even whle most Amercans were satsfed wth a $12 par of Levs.

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Levs jeans are stll one of Amercas most popular brands. AP Photo/erc rsberg.

The 1990s saw the reappropraton of blue jeans nto urban fashon. Leadng the charge were the hp-hop artsts, the rappers. These blue jeans were not sleek desgner jeans ft to accentuate the buttocks, but to hde them n looseftted, baggy pants worn low on the hps to expose underwear pants and gathered over the ankles. wth sneakers, T-shrt, a hoode, flashy large jewelry, and a baseball cap worn sdeways or backward, or a do-rag, jeans helped to make a new fashon statement. Ths fashon, assocated wth the pmps and hos of dangerous, young, urban Afrcan Amercan and Latno gangstersm, quckly found ts way nto teenage fashon of all races n all places. Fashon s changeable as the wnd. Teenage fashon s especally fckle. The fortunes of clothng retalers lke Abercrombe & Ftch, the Gap, and Amercan eagle outftters that cater to teens rse and fall on the ablty of ts buyers to catch the wave of what s hot n that season. Large dscount retalers have sought to assocate themselves wth celebrtes and fashon desgn houses to ratchet up ther marketng campagns and ncrease ther profts and cachet. Actress Jaclyn smth, who rose to fame n the orgnal Charlies Angels televson show, has been sellng her lne of clothng at K-Mart for over 20 years. It has sales of about $300 mllon a year.40 Mary-Kate and Ashley olsen, the olsen twns, used ther celebrty for many auxlary enterprses, ncludng a lne of preteen and young teen clothng sold n wal-Mart stores. In 2003,

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Isaac Mzrah began desgnng clothng for Target. Lke many fashon desgners, Mzrah contnues to work n hgh fashon, but these cheaper desgns produce a bg bottom lne. Noted desgner Vera wang followed Mzrah nto the mass retal trade n the fall of 2007 wth a less expensve lne of sportswear, ntmate apparel, handbags, and leather accessores along wth jewelry, furnture, towels, and lnes for the moderately prced Kohls chan. J. C. Penney has flled ts clothng racks wth prvate store labels, and n 2005, wal-Mart even ntroduced Metro 7, ts own brand of urban fashon. The tremendous nflux of Hspancs nto the Unted states created a large new market of Latnas, who have proved to be qute fashon conscous. studes have shown, for example, that 57 percent of Hspanc women preferred clothng that looked better on them for an evenng out eatng and dancng than clothng that was more comfortable. whte and Afrcan Amercan women much preferred the more comfortable clothng, at the rates of 45 percent and 46 percent. Hspanc women also spent on average 135.1 mnutes n stores shoppng for clothng, beatng out whte women at 89.4 mnutes and Afrcan Amercan women at 109.27 mnutes. In addton, more Hspanc women than the other ethnc groups were lkely to use the Internet to shop for apparel.41 Put all together, ths means that Latnas are lkely to spend more on clothng. Gven $500, a 2004 study ndcated, Latnas would spend $305.33 on clothes, whereas Afrcan Amercan women would spend $297.51 and whte women only $219.58.42 Armed wth ths nformaton, retalers have gone after the Latna market. Celebrty and model dasy Fuentes teamed up wth regatta to desgn low-prced clothng wth a lttle salsa for Kohls. Mexcan-born pop musc star Thala sod sells her collecton of spcy and flrtatous clothng through K-Mart. Color, lace, beads, hoop earrngs, and tght-fttng jeans are n. sears teamed up wth Latna Meda Ventures, publsher of Latina Magazine, to ntroduce a full lne of Latna fashon, shoes, jewelry, and accessores nto ts stores. Latna fashons are provng to have a large appeal beyond ther orgnally targeted market. Move stars are famous for pluggng fashon desgners on the red carpet runways of such events as the televsed emmy and Academy Award shows. Meda representatves dutfully ask them, who are you wearng? and the stars dutfully tell them. whle they are sellng hgh fashon at hgh prces n the Hollywood glamour tradton, t s the rock bands and rappers who establsh for teenagers what s cool, and t s the teens who push new looks for ther generaton. These days, a band or group s not only a muscal ensemble, but also a marketng concept. wth a market n the Unted states alone of hundreds of bllons of dollars (and Amercan musc goes around the world quckly), a fractonal percentage of total market sales could establsh a successful brand.

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entrepreneur russell smmons, a poneer of hp-hop and cofounder of def Jam recordngs, among other thngs, started Phat (for pretty hot and temptng) Farm Fashons LLC n 1992. wth a combnaton of preppy and hp-hop clothng lnes, russell reached annual sales of $250 mllon when he sold hs clothng lne n 2004 for $140 mllon. rapper shawn Jay-Z Carter, now Ceo of def Jam recordngs, started rocawear n 1999. It eptomzes urban fashon, the look of the street, the look of the rappers wth ther baggy jeans hangng on ther hps, exposed underwear, hoodes, and loosehangng shrts. The womens wear sparkles wth sequns and rhnestones. wth more than $350 mllon n sales, rocawear has sgned deals wth Tffany & Co. for luxury accessores and has a lcensng deal wth Pro-Keds sneakers. There are lnes even for toddlers and nfants. Thngs are changng, however, for rocawear. Notng that once he ht the 30-year mark, he could not show hs underwear anymore, Carter has come out wth a Custom Ft label meant to appeal to a more mature (older) populaton. The closer-fttng jeans, shrts, and track jackets look more tradtonal and only suggest the urban fashon look of an earler era.43 desgner Marc ecko, wth hs M.e. and Cut and sew lnes, s also tryng to brdge the gap between urban and preppy wth talored but comfortable clothng.

russell smmons and hs former wfe Kmora Lee smmons pose wth ther chldren after the debut of one of ther fashon collectons. AP Photo/rchard drew.

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If any proof were needed that urban culture and clothng had become manstream Amerca, certanly sean P. dddy Combss recept of the 2004 Councl of Fashon desgners of Amerca Mens wear desgner of the year award would be enough. Combs started sean John n 1998. wth ths success, he desgned a womens lne that s both sophstcated and grounded n street culture. sean Johns retal sales exceed $450 mllon. rappers have taken to fashon. emnem has hs brand shady Ltd. that sells beanes, hs famous knt scullcap, T-shrts wth logos, sweatshrts, and baggy jeans. st. Lous rapper Cornell Nelly Haynes Jr. actually started hs mens lne, Vokal, before he ht the musc scene bg n 2000. Hs football jerseys, sweatpants, jeans, and tracksuts are meant to be clothes that speak for themselves. Hs later womens lne, Apple Bottoms, features sexy slm jeans, V-necked hoodes, flounce skrts, tanks, and tube dresses. Gwen stefans L.A.M.B. collecton has sales of around $20 mllon and ncludes fleece and leopard hoodes as well as plad jumpsuts and a lne of rock n roll clothes. Jennfer Lopez, wth partner Andy Hlfger, have turned ther sweetface Fashon busness, started n 2001, nto a $500 mllon busness wth about a dozen dfferent lnes that cover head to toe. even Justn Tmberlake, former Mouseketeer, has a clothng lne of T-shrts, jeans, and knts called wllam rast, a label he hopes to make a major brand.44 Amercan fashon, no matter the prce pont, represents the lberaton of self-expresson from old norms and mores. Amercans can dress lke modernday cowboys and cowgrls or Hollywood stars, or gangstas, f they lke. young men can show off ther underwear and young women ther mdrffs, or teenagers can demonstrate ther nevtable alenaton from everythng of ther parents generaton n grunge or goth or punkabout anythng goes fashonwse n Amerca. what most Amercans really want n ther dress, however, s comfort and flexblty, whch s what Amercan desgners have gven them. everyday dress n the workplace remans rather tradtonalmen n busness suts, women n busness suts and conservatve suts and dressesbut even there, old standards have been put nto queston wth the growth of the casual Frdays movement. At home and at lesure, however, the sweatpants and sweatshrts, the jeans, the shorts and the T-shrts come out. That s the Amercan look. n otes
1. Phllp stephen schulz, As American as Apple Pie (New york: smon and schuster, 1990). 2. U.s. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004/5, http://www.census.gov.

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3. 2006 restaurant Industry Fact sheet, http://www.restaurant.org. 4. susan spelberg, Postve sales, Growth Trends to Contnue, Analysts say: Hgh Costs Legslatve Issues stll Concern regonal operators, Nations Restaurant News, January 3, 2005, http://www.nrn.com; More Than sx out of 10 Amercans wll Have Ther Mothers day Meals at restaurants, Pizza Marketing Quarterly, May 4, 2006, http://www.pmq.com. 5. exxon Mobl Corporaton, Mobl Travel Gude Announces the 2006 Mobl Four- and Fve-star Award wnners, news release, october 26, 2005, http://www. companyboardroom.com. 6. Bruce Horowtz, NPd Group survey of 3,500 respondents to the Queston what dd I order at a restaurant Today? as Part of a year-long survey of eatng Habts n 2004, USA Today, May 12, 2005, http://www.usatoday.com. 7. Pzza Power 2005; PMQs Annual Pzza Industry Analyss, Pizza Marketing Quarterly, september/october 2005, http://www.pmq.com. 8. Pzza Industry Facts, http://pzzaware.com. 9. U.s. Census Bureau, Census Product Update: Chow Men, Caccatore, or Fajtas?, http://www.census.gov. 10. el restaurante Mexcano, Hspanc Market Profle, http://www.restmex. com; About CrN, http://englsh.c-r-n.com. 11. Frozen Food Trends, http://www.aff.com. 12. Industry at a Glance, http://www.aff.com. 13. News: 2005 Calforna wne sales Contnue Growth as wne enters Manstream U.s. Lfe, California Wine and Food Magazine, Aprl 6, 2006, http://www. calfornawneandfood.com. 14. Craft Brewng Industry statstcs: Hghlghts of 2005, http://www.beer town.org. 15. sprts: North Amercan whskey, http://www.tastngs.com. 16. Product Varety: soft drnk Facts, http://www.amerbev.org; Product Varety: what Amercas drnkng, http://www.amerbev.org. 17. Fun Facts about Peanuts, http://www.natonalpeanutboard.org. 18. Helen Mendes, The African Heritage Cookbook (New york: Macmllan, 1971). 19. Chef John Folse and Company, experence Great Cajun & Creole Food and recpes wth Chef John Folse & Company: Hstory, http://www.jfolse.com. 20. e. A. oelke, T. M. Teynor, P. r. Carter, J. A. Percch, d. M. Noetzel, P. r. Bloom, r. A. Porter, C. e. schertz, J. J. Boedcker, and e. I. Fuller, wld rce, n Alternative Field Crops Manual, http://www.hort.purdue.edu. 21. U.s. department of Agrculture, Natonal Agrculture statstcs servce, dary Products 2005 summary, Aprl 2006, http://usda.mannlb.cornell.edu. 22. Barbeque Kansas Cty style, http://www.experencekc.com. 23. see Clff Lowe, The Lfe and Tmes of Chl: Cncnnat ChlPart Two, http://www.nmamasktchen.com. 24. Upper Great Lakes Fsh Bol: A Tasty Tradton, http://www.seagrant.umn. edu.

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25. whte Castle Inc., Tmelne, http://www.whtecastle.com; About Us, http:// www.whtecastle.com. 26. Mad-rte Corporaton, Unque Loose Meat sandwch, http://www. mad-rte.com; Menu, http://www.mad-rte.com. 27. see John sedlar, wth Norman Kolpas, Modern Southwest Cuisine (New york: smon and schuster, 1986). 28. Mexcan and TexMex Food Hstory, http://www.foodtmelne.org. 29. Menus & recpes from the Bay Areas Fnest restaurants & Top Chefs, http://www.sanfrancscocusne.com. 30. wahoos Fsh Taco, wahoos story, http://www.wahoos.com; Menu, http://www.wahoos.com. 31. Fatburger, Hstory, http://www.fatburger.com; In-N-out Burger, Hstory, http://www.n-n-out.com. 32. Mchael Luo, As All-Amercan as egg Foo young, New York Times, september 22, 2004, http://www.nytmes.com. 33. All you want to Know about washngton Cusne, http://www.theworldwdegourmet.com; Brendan elason, A 6 regon exploraton: Pacfc Northwest, http://www.wnebrats.org. 34. U.s. Natonal Insttute of standards and Technology, short Hstory of readyMade Clothng: standardzaton of womens Clothng, http://museum.nst.gov. 35. Trends: Annual 2004, http://www.apparelandfootwear.org. 36. How the west was worn, http://www.autry-museum.org. 37. Fashon walk of Fame, http://www.fashoncenter.com. 38. Ibd. For bographes of desgners, see Hstory of Fashon & Costume: Fashon desgners, http://www.desgnerhstory.com. 39. Fashon shows, http://www.nymag.com. 40. Celebrty style: Comng to a department store Near you, http://abcnews. go.com. 41. Cotton Incorporated, Latna Fashon: From Vogue to K-Mart, news release, october 5, 2005, http://www.cottonnc.com. 42. Cotton Incorporated, Latna Flavor: Todays Hspanc woman Feasts on Fashon, http://www.cottonnc.com. 43. Ter Agns, Jay-Zs Fne Lne, Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2006, B1B2. 44. see Fashion Rocks: A Supplement to the New Yorker, september 2005 and september 2006 edtons.

B iBliograPhy
Bradley, susan. Pacific Northwest Palate. readng, MA: Addson-wesley, 1989. Cunnngham, Patrca A., and susan Voso Lab, eds. Dress in American Culture. Bowlng Green, oH: Bowlng Green state Unversty Popular Press, 1993. Glenn, Camlle. The Heritage of Southern Cooking. New york: workman, 1986. Hays, wlma P., and r. Vernon. Foods the Indians Gave Us. New york: Ives washburn, 1973.

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Johnson, ronald. The American Table. New york: wllam Morrow, 1984. Jones, evan. American Food: The Gastronomic Story. 2nd ed. New york: random House, 1981. Kdwell, Clauda Brush, and Margaret C. Chrstman. Suiting Everyone: The Democratization of Clothing in America. washngton, dC: smthsonan Insttuton Press, 1974. Langlos, stephen. Prairie: Cuisine from the Heartland. Chcago: Contemporary Books, 1990. Mendes, Valere, and Amy de la Haye. 20th Century Fashion. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999. Mlbank, Carolne rennolds. New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style. New york: Harry N. Abrams, 1989. root, waverley, and rchard de rochemont. Eating in America: A History. New york: ecco Press, 1976. smallzred, Kathleen Ann. The Everlasting Pleasure. New york: Appleton-CenturyCrofts, 1956. stern, Jane, and Mchael stern. Real American Food. New york: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986. stern, Jane, and Mchael stern. A Taste of America. Kansas Cty: Andrews and McMeel, 1988. welters, Lnda, and Patrca A. Cunnngham, eds. Twentieth-century American Fashion. New york: Berg, 2005.

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Lterature
William P. Toth

In the year 2006, one of the top best sellers n bookstores across the Unted states (wth over a half mllon sales) was the Far Side Boxed Calendar. The vast majorty of the sales n bookstores, however, were actually for books. The Book Industry study Group has projected 2.5 bllon books to be sold n 2006, ths despte a trend toward less tme spent readng (101 hours per person n 1995 compared to 84 hours per person projected for 2006).1 Prognostcators have also looked nto ther crystal balls and seen trends n the publshng world: more fragmentaton, rather than the current consoldaton of publshng houses. Publshng n the Unted states s stll domnated by sx publshng houses: random House, Pearson, von Holtzbrnck, Tmewarner, HarperCollns, and smon & schuster. There are small press, professonal, academc, and numerous other knds of publshers as well, but even they have been thnned out. Ths s a trend that has been ongong for about the past 30 years, but ths may be comng to an end as hgh-tech alternatves to book publshng, such as prnt-on-demand (Pod), portable document format (PdF), and other means of self-publshng, become more popular. Furthermore, thanks to newer means of dstrbuton, especally the Internet, smaller publshng companes can now afford to compete n the market. Another populst trend s the oprah wnfrey Book Club. Begnnng n september 1996, oprah wnfrey began to recommend a book a month to her audence of 20 mllon vewers. she then featured a dscusson of the book and author ntervews. It has proven to be a powerful book-sellng phenomenon. For nstance, one of the frst books she featured, Jacquelyn Mtchards
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The Deep End of the Ocean, went from a pre-oprah run of 68,000 books to a post-oprah run of 4 mllon and a spot on the New York Times bestseller lst. The success of her book club has made book clubs n general popular. whether the publshng s tradtonal or part of the new meda, t stll ncludes tradtonal poetry and drama as well as many types of tradtonal prose, both fcton and nonfcton. one of the modern, nontradtonal trends s to blur the dstncton between fcton and nonfcton as exemplfed by the movement known as creatve nonfcton. Amercan lterature and even journalsm are subject to the same creatve mpulse that has drven panters, sculptors, muscans, flm drectors and other artsts to break down the old structures and barrers, throw out the old rules, and create new ones. Ths blurrng usually leads to nterestng, lvely, and exceptonal lterature, but t also can lead to controversy when fcton creeps too strongly nto somethng that s categorzed as nonfcton. For example, several newspaper journalstsusng creatve nonfcton technquesn the last few years have been fred or resgned when ther edtors found out that artcles they had wrtten were partally fcton, not just n technque but also n content. Lterature s not always contaned n booksthere s also performance lterature, some tradtonal, lke the theater, and some nontradtonal, lke slam poetry. Both can exst n book form, but most people experence them through lve performances. That s ther natural state, and they, too, are mportant parts of the contemporary Amercan lterary scene. P oetry
the Oral tradition Goes hip-hop

Chcago can be a rowdy town. The words poetry and rowdy do not tradtonally mx, but n November 1984, poets gatherng on Monday nghts at the Get Me Hgh Jazz Club on the west sde of Chcago changed that percepton and started a natonal trend. Breakng from the tradton of polte, serous, and sedate poetry readngs, they decded to declam poetry whle walkng on bar counters and bar stools, performng and nteractng wth ther audence. remarkably, ths crazness caught on. It became so popular that the poetry gatherngs moved to larger dgs, the Green Mll Cocktal Lounge, and turned the readngs nto a competton. The Chcago Poetry ensemble, led by poet Marc Kelly smth, called t the Uptown Poetry slam. Thus began one of the popular contemporary trends n poetry: publc, compettve poetry readngs, also known as poetry slams. To be accurate, the oral tradton s as old as poetry tself. The lkes of Homer and sappho performed for audences, tellng tales of valor, fate, and

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suher Hammad, Beau sa, and Georga Me perform n the def Poetry Jam n New york. AP Photo/robert spencer.

love. The poets of ancent Greece dd not, of course, compete for Twnkes, boxes of macaron and cheese, lottery tckets, orthe bggya $10 bll. Nevertheless, these were the much coveted przes at the early poetry slams. smth and the ensemble (formed n 1985) turned ther Monday nght readngs nto a cultural phenomenon and gave slam a msson. The msson was, n part, to turn as large a part of the populaton of the country as possble nto not only lovers of poetry, but also creators of poetry. No longer was poetry lmted to the academy and to the nsular world of lterary magaznes and small presses. Now, anyone wth the guts to get on stage could be part of the poetry scene. True, they mght get booed off the stage, but then agan, they mght end up eatng a Twnke as well. so how popular and far-reachng s the poetry slam today? eghty-fouryear-old dors Gayzagan (her frst book was publshed n 2006) s a regular at the Chelmsford Publc Lbrarys poetry slam. The Natonal englsh Assocaton promotes slam poetry n hgh schools. It found a nche on televson n HBos Def Poetry Jam, whch then became a Broadway Tony Award wnnng producton, Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. There s even a Complete Idiots Guide to Slam Poetry (wrtten by Marc Kelly smth and Joe Kraynak). The poetry tself s often socally orented, often poltcal, often angry. some of t arrogantly mocks w. H. Audens lne that poetry makes nothng happen. The worst of t, lke the worst of any art form, s ephemeral: there

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s nothng there that wll be of any human mportance beyond the mmedate moment. yet some of t captureswthout dssectngtruly human moments that promse unversalty and tmelessness. whle the poetcs mght sometmes be thn, there s another dmenson to be consdered: the performance tself. Ths s poetry that s performed on Broadway stages, televson, audtorum stages, and small stages n bars and bookstores. Ths fact creates an added dmenson to the poetryt s more than just the words; t s also the delvery. on one extreme, the delvery can be graceful and pognant; on the other extreme, t can be lke a tunng fork ht wth a sledge hammer. The best performance artsts use the tools of the actor or the comedanand all are voce muscans. The star poets are most often the champons of ether the Natonal Poetry slam or the Indvdual world Poetry slam. The Natonal Poetry slam began n 1990 as part of a poetry festval held n san Francsco. The next year, t took on a lfe of ts own. It has been held every year snce at varous ctes across the country, n Ashevlle, Ann Arbor, seattle, and Chcago, among others. It s now a 16-year tradton as well as a happenng. The competton s held over four nghts and ncludes team compettongroup poems, sometmes choral, but also punctuated wth solos, much lke a jazz performanceand an ndvdual competton. The Indvdual world Poetry slam s a newer event. It began n 2004 and s an offshoot of the Natonal Poetry slam. The sprt of slam poetry s to sdestep exclusvty and celebrate democracy, whle passonately scornng the concept of the anonted few. Nevertheless, slam poetry has produced some stars and mportant fgures. one s certanly Marc Kelly smth, the orgnator of the poetry slam. Though not a compettor n any of the above poetry compettons, he s stll a compellng performance poet. He was born n 1950 n Avalon Park, a neghborhood of Chcago. Hs roots are blue collar, and hs speechpure Chcago dalectsupports ths. He frst became nterested n wrtng poetry n 1969, at age 19, because (he says) hs wfe was a poet. He took some classes n lterature and a few n wrtng, but consders hmself self-taught. Hs frst poetry readng was at the Left Bank Bookstore n oak Park, Illnos, where he clamed to have hdden hs poems n a newspaper. From ths experence and from attendng other poetry readngs, he came to the concluson that street conversatons were more nterestng than poetry readngs. whle he was learnng hs craft, he worked as a constructon worker. Then, n 1984, he qut to become a full-tme poet, and the rest s slam poetry hstory. smth s humble about hs poetc abltes (whch he consders to be a lttle above average) but forthrght about hs role n the creaton of slam poetry and ts democratzaton of poetry. He eschews the connecton (often

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made) between the beatnks and slam poetryhe consders the beatnks to have been socal dropouts. For hm, slam poetry s more akn to the socalst movement and folk artsts lke Pete seeger. stll, often, when he s performng at the Green Mll, he s accompaned by a jazz group called the Pong Unt, thus, roncally, beatng the jazzy, bongo beats at ther own game. The subject of many of smths poems s Chcago tself: ts people, ts sghts, ts sounds. The scene for hs poem Peanuts, for nstance, s outsde one of Chcagos baseball stadums. As the narrator of the poem perches hmself on a fre hydrant, and as the barkng voce of the peanut vender ntermttently calls out, he notes the characters around hm: cops, fathers and sons, and even a peroxde blond eatng a Polsh sausage. some of hs other topcs are Chcagos famous el tran, street muscans, bcycle messengers, and jazz musc. The poem he consders hs best s ttled My Fathers Coat. Ths s a movng, deceptvely complex poem that revolves around the central metaphor of hs fathers coat and deals wth relatonshps and generatons. equally good s hs poem small Boy, whch deals wth three generatons, ntermngled n memores of chldhood captured n a photo. Lke smth, Bob Holman does not compete drectly n any of the natonal compettons, but he s also a slam mpresaro of the frst magntude. Holman s the don Kng of poetry, promotng hmself as well as slam. Born n 1948 n LaFollette, Tennessee, he grew up n New rchmond, oho, just east of Cncnnat and across the rver from Kentucky. He went to college at Columba and was hghly nfluenced by Alan Gnsberg and, n turn, by walt whtman. He clams to have moved to New york Cty wth a copy of Gnsbergs Howl n hs back pocket. Holman coproduced the PBs seres United States of Poetry and has been extremely actve n the promoton of slam and of poetry n general (he dd the program Poetry Spots for wNyC-TV, was the foundng edtor of NyC Poetry Calendar, was curator for the Peoples Poetry Gatherng, was founder of the st. Marks Poetry Project, and much more). For slam poetry, he helped to reopen the Nuyorcan Poets Caf and s the propretor of the Bowery Poetry Club. Both establshments host poetry slams and are poetry hot spots n New york Cty. Most of Holmans poetc style s heavly derved from Gnsberg and whtman, and at tmes, he overuses the repetton of words. He s famous for hs poem dscClamer, whch he reads before every slam that he hosts. In t, he descrbes slam poetry as space shots nto conscousness and declares that the best poet always loses. Mghty Mke McGee s the 2003 wnner of the ndvdual ttle at the Natonal Poetry slam, the 2006 wnner of the Indvdual world Poetry slam, and a frequent guest on HBos Def Jam Poetry. Born n 1976 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he dropped out of college n 1998 and became part of

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the slam poetry scene n san Jose, Calforna. McGee has an engagng style, laced wth a strong dose of humor, and a defnte stage presence. wth hs trademark chn beard and black framed glasses, he eases up to the mcrophone, and wth a somewhat rotund mddle secton, tells the audencewth a saxophone-lke voce and a comedans sense of tmng and rhythmabout hs eatng duel wth death, as related n hs poem soul Food. McGees poetry s also capable of movng beyond dante-lke food fghts and nto the area of lyrcal love poems, lke open Letter to Nel Armstrong, n whch he plays off the clchs of the moon, love, and the stars. He calls hmself a travelng poet; he clams that snce 2003, he has toured over 170,000 mles throughout the Unted states and Canada. Ths s one of the marks of slam stars: they go on the road wth bookngs n venues all across the country (and even nto other countres). The venues mght be publc lbrares, coffeehouses, unverstes, slam events, bars (lke the Green Mll), or even prsons. Lke many of the contemporary slam poets, McGee cuts hs own Cds, laces the Internet wth MP3 fles of hs spoken word art, and even has a very charmng and wnnng pod cast. Born n shreveport, Lousana, n 1974, Buddy wakefeld was rased n Baytown, Texas, and graduated from sam Houston state Unversty n 1997. Untl 2001, he worked for a bomedcal frm. Then, lke Marc Kelly smth, he gave t all up to become a professonal performance poet. He s the 2004 and 2005 Indvdual world Poetry champon. Lke most of the really good slam poets, hs on-stage presence s unque. Most often, he stands on the stage, feet together, arms extended (or anmated), pulsng wth emoton. He has what mght be called the wakefeld growl as he roars through ndvdual words and frequently peppers hs presentaton wth Texas yalls. Hs poems, lke Convenence stores, often tell stores of lonely people brefly connectng. Gutar repar woman s a humorous paean to hs mother, where he says that he s strvng to get comfortable n the skn hs mother gave hm. And n Flockprnter, hs champonshp poem from the 2005 Indvdual world Poetry Champonshp, he traces a mans lfe searchng for love through a torrent of mages and metaphors. Ans Mjgan was born and rased n New orleans and attended the savannah College of Art and desgn n savannah, Georga. He graduated wth a bachelor of fne arts degree n sequental art, focusng n on comc book desgn, whch he says taught hm about engagng the audence and about structure. He then worked on hs masters of fne arts n meda and performng arts. He s the 2005 and 2006 Natonal Poetry slam ndvdual champon. on stage, he sometmes looks lke Alan Gnsberg on a bad har day, hands n pocket, slm and wth a drect and sncere passon. Hs poetry s nspratonal and hs poems explore how to lve and how to have fath, depth, and

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meanng n your lfe. Mjgan s dstngushed from many of hs fellow slam poets n that fath, the search for somethng beyond human pleasure, does play a sgnfcant part n hs poetry. He addresses the young, the old, the awkward, the dsenfranchsed, those who mght have doubts or who mght have gven up hope. Patrca smth s perhaps the most tradtonally lterary of the popular slam poets. Born n Chcago n 1950, smth s a four-tme ndvdual wnner of the Natonal Poetry slam (1990, 1992, 1993, and 1995). she also has four books of poetry publshed: Life According to Motown (1991), Big Towns, Big Talk (1992), Close to Death (1993), and Teahouse of the Almighty (2006). Teahouse was chosen for the Natonal Poetry seres. Her subject matter often deals wth the tragedy, the unfulflled dreams, and the lmtatons of everyday lfe, often focusng on the lfe of Afrcan Amercans, but there s unversalty about her poetry and an appeal that goes beyond race. often, there s an edgyvergng on btterhumor n her poetry. she s a powerful performer and powerful poet, steeped n tradton. In Medusa, for nstance, she takes the persona of the mythcal character Medusa, puttng a modern spn on her; n ths case, she s a cocky, streetwse Medusa who seduces Posedon. In related to the Buttercup, Blooms n sprng, smth wrtes about how she came to poetry as a chld, gvng the advce that the wrter must learn to love language, word by word. Her own language s one of vvd, precse words, rhythmc and melodous. smths own voce mght best be descrbed as one that speaks an honest, true pcture of the world around her.
Poetry in books is alive and Well

The wrtten word n poetry s not dead, despte the popularty of slam (or perhaps because of the popularty of slam). Connosseurs of wrtten word poetry (as well as academcs) clam, wth some justfcaton, that the overall qualty of wrtten poetry s hgher than slam. In any case, people contnue to purchase books of poetry, though not at the pace of best-sellng prose books. For nstance, best-sellng poet Blly Collnss combned book sales for four books (tabulated n Aprl 2005) was 400,000, whereas John Grogans nonfcton best seller Marley and Me sold 1,307,000 copes from November 2005 through december 2006. Bookseller statstcs show that the two most wdely purchased poets n the Unted states at ths tme are Mary olver and the prevously mentoned Blly Collns. Both have had multple books n the poetry top 30 lst for the entre year (2006). There are other actve poets who have domnated the top seller lst as well. These nclude donald Hall, Ted Kooser, Louse Glck, and Clauda emerson.

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In addton to these actve poets, there are a number of deceased poets who readers stll consder vtal enough to purchase, and thus they, too, have been on the best seller lst for a good porton of the year 2006. These nclude the beatnk poets Jack Kerouac and Alan Gnsberg as well as sylva Plath, elzabeth Bshop, and Charles Bukowsk. These four poets seem to suggest that there s a porton of the poetry readng publc who are attracted to the message of rebellousness, whether t be beatnk, boheman, or femnst. some of these poets see despar, some lonelness; some are angry at njustce, some see transcendent beauty n nature, some argue for socal change, and all know somethng about love and personal loss. Mary olver, born n 1935 n Maple Heghts, oho, began to wrte poetry at age 13. Immedately after graduatng from hgh school, she left oho and drove to the home of edna st. Vncent Mllay n Austerltz, New york. she ended up workng for Mllays sster as her secretary for a short whle. she then entered oho state Unversty n 1955. she spent two years there and then transferred to Vassar. she remaned there for only one year and qut to concentrate on wrtng. olver has won many awards, ncludng the Pultzer Prze for Poetry n 1984 for her thrd book, American Primitives. In 2006, she had seven books on the poetry best seller lst, ncludng a new book, Thirst. olver s typcally descrbed as a nature poet. In comparng her very early works, lke The River Styx, Ohio (1972)whch s flled wth portrats of ancestorsto her newer works, t seems that people have gradually dsappeared from her poetry. Her poetry would not be so popular, however, f t were just the roses are red, volets are blue knd of poetry. she s, as Blly Collns has noted about poetry n general, nterested n seeng lfe through the vewpont of mortalty. Ths s not a negatve vson. For her, there s a power and a magc and a beauty n nature. It s her ablty to create ths sensblty n her poems that no doubt draws readers to them. They are mysterous, phlosophcal, fary talelke observatons of the natural world, medtatons that contrast nature wth the world of ambton, greed, and selfshness. These objects n the natural world, as she has sad herself, prase the mystery. In Thirst, there s a growng connecton between ths mystery and God. In the ttle poem Thrst, she wrtes about wakng wth a thrst for a goodness she does not possess, juxtaposng love for the earth aganst love of God. In the openng poem of the book (Messenger), olver clams her work s to love the world and to learn to be astonshed by t. Her poetry conveys to the reader ths sense of astonshment. Blly Collns was born n New york Cty n 1941. He went to College of the Holy Cross and, for graduate school, the Unversty of Calforna, rversde. He has been the recpent of many awards, ncludng the Poet Laureate from 2001 untl 2003. durng 2006, he had four books on the poetry best

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seller lst, ncludng hs newest, The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems, whch was the number one seller. People lke to say that Collns wrtes humorous poetry. In truth, humor s often a vehcle for serous consderaton. Though there are poems, such as Another reason why I dont Keep a Gun n the House, whch s about the neghbors barkng dog, and whch can only be seen as humorous, other poems, lke The death of Allegory, are somethng more. There s humor there: the Vrtues are retred n Florda, but there s the realzaton (created through a humor that s slghtly acerbc) that the world s worse off wthout them. snce the ttle of Collnss new book of poetry s The Trouble with Poetry, ntervewers lke to ask hm just exactly what the trouble wth poetry s. He wll often answer that t s pretentousness, an attempt to be more dffcult than necessary; that t s poetry, as he says n the poem Introducton to Poetry, that needs to be ted to a char and tortured untl t confesses ts truth. He admts that when he frst started wrtng poetry, he wrote lke that, but n the ttle poem of The Trouble with Poetry, the trouble descrbed s more pleasant. The trouble s that the wrtng of poetry encourages the wrtng of more poetry, poetry that can brng ether joy or sorrow. It flls hm wth the urge to st down and awat the muse so that another poem can be wrtten. donald Hall, the 2006 Poet Laureate, was born n New Haven, Connectcut, n 1928. He s the most senor of the best-sellng authors. Hall s the recpent of many awards besdes Poet Laureate. He had an exceptonal educaton, attendng the famous prep school exeter Phllps, then Harvard, oxford (england), and stanford. Hall s a prolfc wrter, excellng n a number of genres. Hs newest book, White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 19462006, was a best seller most of the year n 2006. As the ttle states, ths book presents the greater part of hs entre career as a poet. wth a prolfc, long career such as hs, there are bound to be many styles of poetry n a book of hs collected poems. Hs poetry often touches on personal relatonshps and famly relatonshps n a rural New Hampshre settng, where hs grandparents owned a farm and where he came to lve after he left hs teachng job at Mchgan state n Ann Arbor. Hs topcs are vared: baseball, poetry tself, Mount Kearsarge, hs late wfe, the poet Jane Kenyon, loss, death, and the sweep of tme. Another poet who also sees the sweep of tme s Ted Kooser. A natve of Ames, Iowa, Kooser was born n 1939. Thoroughly a man of the Great Plans, Kooser attended Iowa state and the Unversty of Nebraska. For 35 years, he worked as an nsurance executve, retrng n 1998 after a bout wth throat cancer. He was named Poet Laureate n 2004. He won the Pultzer Prze for Delights and Shadows n 2005. Many of Koosers poems are medtatons on relatves (most of whom were farmers) and on everyday objects, objects that one mght fnd n a rural antque shop, at a yard sale, or at a county far. He

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has sad that he s most nterested n wrtng about the so-called ordnary. He has the ablty to take a smple object lke a pegboard or a castng reel and telescope a sense of tme and human connectedness wth t. For example, hs poem At the County Museum notces the black, horse-drawn hearse that has seen a hundred years of servce. The poets eye sees not just the object, but the generatons of people who have drven the hearse and who have been carred by the hearse. And, by extenson, the metaphor telescopes to nclude all of manknd. It has been sad that Kooser wrtes about the pont where the local and the eternal meet. Less upbeat than any of the prevous poets, Louse Glck was born n New york Cty n 1943. she attended sarah Lawrence and Columba. In 1993, she won the Pultzer Prze for Poetry, and n 2003, she was named Poet Laureate. she, lke all of these poets, s the wnner of many other lterary awards. Her new book, Averno, s what put her on the contemporary best seller lst. some commentators have sad that certan lnes from Glcks poetry could be used as the bass of a phlosophy class. Nevertheless, some readers would fnd her less accessble than most of the popular contemporary poets. she s sparse, cerebral, andsome would saygloomy. The classcal story of Persephone s the myth that loosely tes the poems of Averno together. Lke Persephone, the persona of the poems s solated and caught, seemngly, between worlds. whle the tone of the poems s bleak, the totalty of them, the artstc structure on whch they are bult, s a thng of beautyand all the more so for beng placed n an exstental desert. Clauda emerson s more accessble than Glck. Born n Chatham, Vrgna, n 1957, emerson obtaned her undergraduate degree from the Unversty of Vrgna. she then spent a number of years not wrtng poetry, but nstead dong odd jobs lke rural letter carrer and manager n a used book store. she returned to school at the Unversty of North Carolna at Greensboro to work on her masters of fne arts and began wrtng poetry. she has snce publshed three books of poetry. she receved the 2006 Pultzer Prze for her best-sellng book of poetry Late Wife, admttedly autobographcal n nature. In smplstc terms, t s about her dvorce, her psychologcal healng, and her new marrage. The formal ttles of the sectons are dvorce epstles, Breakng Up the House, and Late wfe: Letters to Kent. The settng for the poems s often rural Vrgna, where she spent most of her lfe. The poetry n the book s a study of the trumphs and falures of love and of the meanng of loss. It s a book of poetry explorng many small, often domestc experences, all the whle coalescng panful experences nto poetry. Another personal poet and an con of the femnst movement, sylva Plath was born n Boston, Massachusetts, n 1932 and ded n London n 1963. she attended smth College and Cambrdge Unversty. one of the thngs

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about her 2006 best seller that attracts readers s the fact that t s a so-called restored edton of her fnal book of poems, Ariel, and that t has been restored by her daughter, Freda Hughes. Hughes argues that her mothers poetry should be seen n the wdest sense possbleas works of artand not solely n a narrow way (.e., as a battle cry for the womens movement). At the same tme, she honors her mothers ntegrty and aesthetc sensblty by presentng Ariel exactly as her mother had nstructed. For some, ths focus on the aesthetc, rather than on the poltcs, of her poetry s a controversal stance. Hughes had been attacked by some of the Brtsh publc and much of the press for not allowng a plaque to be placed n the house where Plath commtted sucdewhch for some people represents a fnal defant act, an ultmate poltcal statement. Instead, Hughes wanted t placed n the house where her mother was the most productve and happest. Plaths poetry n Ariel s strong, even vscous. It s certanly easy to see why some mght connect t to a rebellon aganst male oppresson. she descrbes her relatonshp wth her husband, the Brtsh poet Ted Hughes, as equvalent to beng flled by the constrcton. Most dramatcally, there s the famous poem, daddy, that compares her German father to the Nazs. Hughes hnts n her ntroducton that the orgn of her mothers anger s more complex than male oppresson alone and certanly closely related to Plaths lfelong battle wth severe depresson. In any case, the poetry s stll powerful and arrestng. A Pultzer Prze wnner for poetry, elzabeth Bshop was the consummate artst and perfectonst. Born n 1911 n worcester, Massachusetts, she ded n 1979. often, she would work on a poem for years (even decades) before she would publsh t. The 2006 best-sellng book Edgar Allan Poe and the Juke-Box s a complaton (often wth photographs of varous drafts of poems) of her unpublshed works. Bshop lved n many parts of the world and traveled extensvely when she was young, vstng europe, North Afrca, and Mexco. Much of her poetry deals wth ths travel and often creates strong vgnettes of place and sensblty. The two places where she lved that provded some of her best subject matter were Key west and Brazl. The ttle poem of the book s a good example of one of her Key west poems. In edgar Allan Poe and the Juke-Box, Bshop pants a pcture of mdcentury Key west, sometmes seedy and certanly decadent. The settng s a honky-tonk, and the poem s a downward moton on many levels; Poe-lke, t descends nto the psyche. Almost all of works n the book are tone poems of place. In the books publshed whle she was alve, she managed to refne out her own personal angst, leavng nothng but pure poetry. In many of these poems, the angst shows through. despte the fact that she dd not feel that

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the poems were good enough (refned enough) for publcaton, many of the poems n Edgar Allan Poe and the Juke-Box are of hgh qualty. Jack Kerouac, along wth Alan Gnsberg, represents the current cultures fascnaton wth the beatnk and hppe generaton. Kerouac was born n Lowell, Massachusetts, n 1922 and ded n 1969. He began college at Columba Unversty on a football scholarshp but dropped out after a dspute wth hs coach. whle at Columba, he made frends wth some of the future elte of the beatnk and hppe generaton: Alan Gnsberg, wllam s. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady. Hs educaton then truly began as he started hs lfe on the road. Frst, he joned the Merchant Marnes and traveled to Greenland. Afterward, he traveled the road crsscrossng Amerca, often wth Neal Cassady. Kerouac s famous for hs novels, especally On the Road, and hs poetry, as n Mexico City Blues. Though not qute as unfltered and spontaneous as legend would have t, hs wrtng technque was to wrte hs fnal drafteven of some of hs novelsn a sngle burst. He was just the opposte of elzabeth Bshop. The wrtng was always based on years of notebook entres. Ths s the case wth hs recent best seller, Book of Sketches. Ths book s made up of 15 of hs notebooks that he wrote between 1952 and 1954. In 1957, he typed up the pages but never publshed them. Just as the ttle mples, they are poetc word sketches of people and sghts from hs cross-country travels. To paraphrase panter George Condo (who wrote the ntroducton), Kerouac s the Charle Parker of words, great at spur of the moment mprovsatons. There s a dfference n these poems and hs later works. Unlke the other beatnks, Kerouac was poltcally conservatve durng the 1960s; n fact, he supported the Vetnam war. In these poems, on the other hand, there s more of the typcal beatnk crtcsm of Amercan culture. Alan Gnsberg, whom the New York Times called the poet laureate of the Beat Generaton, was born n 1926 n Newark, New Jersey. He ded n 1997. Gnsberg attended Columba Unversty and, lke Jack Kerouac, spent tme n the Merchant Marnes travelng to the Atlantc and Gulf coasts and to Afrca. He s known for hs book Howl, whch became the object of a major twenteth-century freedom of speech battle. He became an con for the hppe generaton and a major protestor aganst the Vetnam war. readers are now drawn to hs book Collected Poems 19471997. It s chronologcally arranged by each of hs publshed books and, of course, ncludes the famous book (and poem) Howl, whch, n many ways, became the emotonal manfesto for the entre beatnk generaton. of the deceased poets, Charles Bukowsk s perhaps the most popular wth contemporary readers. The fact that he had four books n the top 50 lst for a sngle year (2006), Slouching toward Nirvana: New Poems; Come On In;

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Sifting through the Madness for the World, the Line, the Way; and The Flash of Lightning behind the Mountain, says somethng for hs stayng power and for hs fascnaton for the contemporary readng publc. He was born n 1920 n Andernach, Germany, to an Amercan servceman and a German mother, and he ded n 1994. some people lke to lump Bukowsk n wth the beatnk poetsmostly because he was wrtng at about the same tme they werebut he s really a thng unto hmself. He attended Los Angeles Cty College for two years, but never graduated. He suffered psychologcally from an acute case of acne that dsfgured hs face and worked a seres of often menal jobs: factory worker, warehouse worker, store clerk, and postal worker. Gradually, Bukowsk became a prolfc poet, short story wrter, journalst, novelst, playwrght, and screen wrter. Hs poetry s edgy, raw, and often brutally honest. There s sex, drnkng, bellgerence, fghtng, and escapes from landlords who want ther money. There s, at the same tme, often a senstvty and sadness. There are many other poets of note who are wdely read and currently popular. These nclude Bran Turner, Jane Hrshfeld, Mary Karr, wendell Berry, Galway Knnell, Jm Harrson, Jack Glbert, Jane Kenyon, Franz wrght, stanley J. Kuntz, Naom shhab Nye, Kay ryan, davd Tucker, w. s. Merwn, sharon olds, rchard wlbur, rchard sken, Mark strand, and Charles smc. In addton, there are classc poets who contnue to be anthologzed and to nfluence contemporary poets. For example, walt whtman (18191872) s a knd of grandfather for Amercan poetry. Hs free verse style nfused poetry wth raw power and natural speech. emly dcknson (18301886) s also consdered one of Amercas frst true poets, but unlke whtman she was quet and nonostentatous and used tradtonal forms nstead of free verse. ezra Pound (who was poltcally controversal) was not only a great poet but also an nnovator and mentor to many of Amercas fnest poets. He was born n 1885 and ded n 1972. T. s. elot (18851965) wrote one of the most famous and dffcult modernst poems, The waste Land, n 1922. robert Frost (18741963) s stll one of the most popular poets n Amerca and s consdered by some to be the frst poetry super star. And fnally, Langston Hughes (19021967) brought the jazz beat to poetry and was part of the Harlem renassance. d rama It was not untl the twenteth century that Amerca had any sgnfcant playwrghts. Ths past century (as well as the current one) has seen a number of wrters who are often read and studed, ncludng eugene oNell,

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Tennessee wllams, Arthur Mller, edward Albee, August wlson, and wendy wassersten. Ther plays are ncluded n many drama anthologes and often appear n prnt as sngle plays. The themes reflected n these dramas are n large part a hstory of the breakdown of tradtonal, nherted values. receved deas about relgon, the tradtonal famly, sexualty, gender, captalsm, and patrotsm, among others, come under sharp, crtcal attack or analyss n many of these plays. New york Cty natve eugene oNell (18881953) was really the frst of the Amercan dramatsts who contemporary readers fnd mportant. He won four Pultzer Przes for drama and s the only Amercan dramatst to wn the Nobel Prze n drama. whle oNell often wrote realstc plays, he also realzed that the melodrama and farce (those forms used up to ths pont) were nsuffcent to create great drama. He frequently turned, nstead, to Greek tragedy for structure and sometmes plotlne (as n Mourning Becomes Electra n 1931). He also ntroduced expermental technques lke expressonsm that helped to artculate psychologcal truths. As wth many wrters, he was nfluenced by the deas of sgmund Freud, Carl Jung, andn hs caseFredrch Netzsche. Desire under the Elms (1924) s another of hs plays based on Greek tragedy and tells a story laced wth oedpal complex tensons. The mpled sexual taboos landed t n trouble wth the polce n New york Cty for ts so-called mmoralty. Hs most famous play s A Long Days Journey into Night (1956). It was not only a study of a dysfunctonal famly, but at the same tme, t was also consdered by many to be the best tragedy ever wrtten by an Amercan. It, too, dealt n part wth the conflcts between fathers and sons. Tennessee wllams (19111983), born n Columbus, Msssspp, also broke wth many of the conventons of nneteenth-century theater, both stylstcally and thematcally. some of hs more promnent themes ncluded the destructve tensons of famly lfe and sexualty. He also broached many then taboo subjects lke homosexualty and venereal dsease. The Glass Menagerie (1945) was about the destructve nature of lvng accordng to false llusons. only the plays narrator, Tom, can break free of the shackles of hs repressve famly stuaton. A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) was a much more sexually charged drama. Its three man characters, stanley, stella, and Blanche, have become part of Amercan pop culture, and ther nteracton n the play dsplays the dynamcs of raw sexual power. Arthur Mller (19152005) was another New york Cty natve. He graduated from the Unversty of Mchgan. Though he was a lberal socalst, and though hs plays generally reflected hs deology, they nevertheless dd not suffer from the ddactcsm of many socalst plays wrtten n Communst countres. They stand as works of art on ther own. For example, Death of a

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Salesman (1949) can be seen as an ndctment of captalsm, but t s also a tragedy of the average man dsllusoned by the amoral forces of hs world. Another mportant contemporary Amercan dramatst, August wlson (19452005), was born n Pttsburgh, Pennsylvana. He won the Pultzer Prze twce, n 1987 for Fences and n 1990 for The Piano Lesson. wlson was most famous for a cycle of 10 loosely nterrelated plays, one for each decade of the twenteth century. The settng for most of the plays was Pttsburghs Hll dstrct, where he grew up. The plays dealt wth the dffcultes of lvng n a world where racsm exsts. The lead characters often had ther ambtons and talents thwarted by racsm. The fnal play n hs seres was Radio Golf n 2005. In ths play, whch takes place n 1997, wlson explored the perls of losng ones ethnc dentty. Born n Brooklyn, New york, wendy wassersten (19502006) was possbly Amercas best known woman playwrght n a feld often domnated, on the commercal sde (meanng Broadway), by men. she attended Mount Holyoke College, Cty College of New york, and yale Unversty. she s consdered a poneer n the portrayal of contemporary womenthose strugglng wth ndependence, ambton, and tradtonal values of romance and famly. Ths s especally evdent n her most famous play, The Heidi Chronicles. Ths play won the Pultzer Prze, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the New york drama Crtcs Crcle Award for Best Play. In ths work, the lfe of the lead character, Hed Holland, was traced from the 1960s to the 1980s. she saw her frends go from the radcalsm of the 1960s, to the femnst movement of the 1970s, and back to the tradtons they clamed to have rejected. wasserstens frst produced play, Uncommon Women and Others, appeared off Broadway at the Phoenx Theatre n 1977. That play had one of the characterstcs of all of her playsa comedc underpnnng that featured a pepperng of funny, satrcal barbs. The dean of current Amercan playwrghts, edward Albee was born n 1928 n washngton, d.C. He was expelled from two prvate schools as a youth and then dropped out of Trnty College n Hartford, Connectcut. He s the only dramatst to have won the vote for the Pultzer Prze, only to have t taken away before the award was gven outon the grounds that the 1962 play Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?, now a classc of the Amercan theater, gave an unwholesome pcture of Amerca. durng hs long career, Albee has, among other thngs, helped to ntroduce absurdst theater to the Unted states. Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf ?, for example, presents the exstental dlemma of lvng a lfe trapped n enervatng llusons that keep the ndvdual from authentc lvng. The two man characters, George and Martha, have gone to the absurd extreme of even pretendng that they have

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a chld. Ths they do to fll ther lves wth meanng, untl they realze that the magnary chld, now wth them for 21 years, must be let go. P rose It s prose that sells the most books n the Unted states. It s hghly dverse, made up of both fcton and nonfcton, and ts most popular sellers are not always what most people would call lterary. There are two major ways to look at what s gong on n fcton lterature n contemporary Amerca. Frst, there are anthologes and requred readngs: readngs that are assgned n colleges and hgh schools across Amerca. These are often not readngs of choce, but nstead readngs that are requred for a grade. Ths lterature comes under what s known as the canon: the proscrbed lst of those works of hgh qualty and an endurng value. These books would, n most peoples mnds, be consdered classc or academcally mportant oras they may be n the most recent canonspoltcally and morally correct. related to ths, there s also a group of novels that are farly current and that are consdered lterary by a number of serous crtcs. These novels have won prestgous lterary awards but are not always popular wth the general publc. Then there are the books that are made mportant by the general publc: the works that are read by choce. These are gauged by popularty, that s, by book sales. Many of them may be forgotten n a few years, but they are, nevertheless, a measure of what contemporary Amerca fnds mportant, n knd f not n qualty. The fact s, Amercans love to read romance novels, scence fcton, fantasy, horror, and mystery novels. often, these subgenres (as wth scence fcton, fantasy, and mystery novels) are even taught n colleges and unverstes.
the Canon

so what s appearng n the anthologes? To a large extent, t s not what used to appear pror (roughly) to the 1990s. Begnnng n the 1960s, lterary scholars (those who make up the canon) began to attack the tradtonal canon as overly represented by dead whte men. The socal forces of femnsm and multculturalsm (related to both ethnc background and sexual preference) began to attack the older canon and gradually to substtute and expand the requred readng lst. of course, ths s not the frst tme that the canon has been altered, nor wll t be the last. Lterary reputatons come and go as each generaton or two searches for what t needs. even many of the most hstorcally famous of wrters have wavered n mportance over the yearsHerman Melvlle, for one.

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Today, there are two major anthologes that represent the canon and that are often the source for requred readngs n colleges: the Norton Anthology and the Heath Anthology. Both have a seres of books, each representng a partcular tme perod. For Norton (the more conservatve of the two), there are stll some wrters from the older canon. In the contemporary edton, wrters lke eudora welty, John Updke, and Bernard Malumud are stll represented, but there are also more Afrcan Amercan wrters, Natve Amercan wrters, women wrters, Asan Amercan wrters, and Hspanc Amercan wrters. In Heaths contemporary edton, there are perhaps fewer male wrters from the older canon than Nortons, but as n Nortons, multculturalsm and women wrters are extensvely represented. In addton, Heaths has a secton on prson lterature, a secton called Cold war Culture and Its dscontents, and a secton called A sheaf of Vetnam Conflct Poetry and Prose. There are also requred books, especally n hgh schools. These are usually books that have become part the socal and cultural dentty of the country. These nclude such wrters as Nathanel Hawthorne, Mark Twan, John stenbeck, Harper Lee, J. d. salnger, Alce walker, and Ton Morrson. All of these wrters are part of the contemporary Amercans lterary experence. They can be seenapart from ther artas reflectons of a maturng natonal character, and possbly, they may have helped to shape that character. An often assgned novel s Nathanel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne, who was born n 1804 n salem, Massachusetts, and who ded n 1864, s consdered one of the frst truly Amercan wrters, not just a wrter mtatng the englsh and european style, though as wth any great artst, hs works have unversal dmensons. The Scarlet Letter (frst publshed n 1850) s consdered a psychologcal allegory. Among other thngs, t contrasts the european nfluence of a strct, communty-centered socetyPurtansm wth the developng Amercan ethos of ndvdualty and freedom. Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl are used by socety as moral objects, warnngs to the rest of the ctzens to stay wthn the bounds dctated by the Purtan code. Hesters dgnty and good works defy the Purtan socetys attempts to take her humanty away, and even when the elders decde to allow her to remove the scarlet letter, the symbol of her adultery, she refuses to allow them to dctate her actons and keeps the scarlet letter. The book also has profound thngs to say about sn and gult and ther psychologcal effects on a person. Perhaps most sgnfcantly, however, The Scarlet Letter also functoned, a mere 74 years after the declaraton of Independence, as an aesthetc declaraton to the world that Amercas wrters were ndependent, free, and capable of creatng art that reflected the Amercan experence. Mssour-born Mark Twan (samuel Clemens; 18351910) wrote a number of classcs, but hs most read book today s Huckleberry Finn (publshed

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n 1884). It was publshed after the Cvl war and durng the corrupton of reconstructon and the Jm Crow laws. As anyone who has read t knows, ths book s not about the sophstcated or Purtan culture of the east; t s a rollckng western-set comedy wth a serous message. whle the socety of Huckleberry Finn s not as extreme as the Purtansm of The Scarlet Letter, t s stll one that tres to control and dehumanze. one of the major aspects of the novel s that Huck defes all svlzng attempts, and n so dong defnes an even better moral order, one that rejects racsm and romantc, unrealstc, and debltatng deals (such as southern arstocracy). Twans deal Amerca, seen n the guse of Huck, s one of ndvdualsm, farness, and equalty. It s an Amerca where the ndvdual thnks for hmself and s suspcous of the boundares of the so-called socal norm. Ths s not to say that Twan saw Amerca as actually lvng accordng to these standards, but hs humor chastses and shows the way. Another wrter who s stll read by contemporary readers s John stenbeck, especally hs book Of Mice and Men, frst publshed n 1937, durng the hard economc tmes of the Great depresson. stenbeck was born n 1902. He won the Nobel Prze n Lterature n 1962 and the Pultzer Prze n 1940 (for Grapes of Wrath). He ded n 1968. At the end of Huckleberry Finn, Huck sets out for the terrtores, where possblty and hope le, but ths dea of the Amercan dream s cruelly dashed n Of Mice and Men. The Great depresson had made a mockery of t. Captalsm, human nature, and perhaps the unverse tself have the power to nevtably crush anyones dream. For the books characters, for gentle gant Lenny, for George, Candy, and Crooks, lfe s not far. dened the dgnty they deserve as human bengs, they are nevtably dragged down a road toward a tragc, ronc fatalty, where the best that can be affected s a rough kndness, a brutal, unsentmental kndness. The books pathos serves as a powerful, emotonal argument for human dgnty. The reader s left to hope that ordnary people can have a lfe beyond the tragedy stenbeck depcts. Provng that Twans antracst message was lttle heeded, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was frst publshed n 1960 n the mdst of the countrys most serous and effectve attempt at nsttutng cvl rghts. Lee was born n 1926 n Monroevlle, Alabama. she studed law (her father was a lawyer, a newspaperman, and a member of the state legslature) at the Unversty of Alabama and then studed for a year at oxford. After ths, she took tme to wrte her only novel. Ths book, whch won the Pultzer Prze n 1961, s wdely read by hgh school students across the country. Though certanly more postve than stenbeck, Lees story clearly delneates the evl of racal prejudce and the destructon of nnocence by evl (thus the central mage of kllng a mockngbrd, an nnocent creature of nature

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that sngs wth beauty). yet, lke Twan, Lee has sketched a moral way out of hatred and gnorance. It s Attcus Fnch (also a song brd) and hs young daughter, scout, who represent ths way out. The book s, n large part, about moral educaton, as Attcus, a lawyer lvng n a small Alabama town, defends the falsely accused Tom robnson and teaches hs own chldren (especally scout) and the town tself the way to justce and human dgnty. Another book often read by Amercas youth s J. d. salngers Catcher in the Rye (frst publshed n 1951). salnger was born n 1919 n New york Cty. whle hs book was a best seller when t was frst publshed, t actually ganed popularty over tme, becomng a cult classc for the 1960s generaton and nfluencng ts sensbltes. There s both a psychologcal, moral attracton to ths book as well as an admred socal crtcsm. wth humor and pognancy, t portrays the pans of growng up n a modern Amerca. Holden Caulfeld, the 17-year-old man character and narrator, longs to be a catcher n the rye, savng chldren before they fall to ther death. The only queston s whether Holden can save hmself. Holden s also crtcal of superfcal people, adults n general, the establshment, and phony, sell-out artsts. These are all crtcsms that the 1960s generaton made famous. And then there s Alce walkers classc Amercan novel The Color Purple (1982), whch addresses the twn evls of racsm and sexsm. Born n 1944 n eatonton, Georga, the daughter of sharecroppers, walker attended spelman College and sarah Lawrence College. she worked brefly as a socal worker and then began wrtng, lvng for a whle n Msssspp durng the cvl rghts movement of the 1960s. There she experenced many of the ndgntes of racsm, ncludng havng her marrage declared null by Msssspp law (where t was llegal to have a mxed race marrage). The book s more dffcult than many read by students; t s n epstolary format (wrtten as a seres of letters) and touches on dffcult and controversal topcs. It obvously argues aganst racsm and sexsm, but also aganst submsson of any human beng to another, partcularly women to men, and especally submsson through volence. It also has the mportant message that love can redeem. A fnal wrter to be consdered n ths category s Ton Morrson, who was born n 1931 n Loran, oho. she s the frst Afrcan Amercan woman to receve the Nobel Prze n Lterature. she attended Howard Unversty and Cornell. Beloved (1987), for whch she won the Pultzer Prze, s perhaps Morrsons most powerful book. wth great emotonal force, t remnds the reader of the destructve, dehumanzng effects of slavery on all people and s based on the true story of a runaway slave who murdered her own chld (named Beloved n the book), rather than allowng her to be returned to slavery. There are other classc fcton wrters, n addton to those mentoned above, who stll have an mpact upon the contemporary reader. James Fenmore

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Cooper (17891851) s today famous for hs Leatherstockng Tales, especally The Last of the Mohicans (1826), whch explores the mportance of the fronter and new begnnngs to Amercans. Moby Dick (1851), by Herman Melvlle (18191891), s outwardly an adventure tale, but n truth t s a dffcult and long phlosophcal allegory. F. scott Ftzgerald (18961940) explored the Jazz Age and all of ts moral mplcatons, especally n The Great Gatsby (1925). rchard wrght (19081960) provoked controversy wth hs now classc look at racsm, Native Son (1940). Joseph Heller (19231999) fueled antwar sentments and ntroduced a phrase nto the Amercan vocabulary wth hs classc novel, Catch 22 (1961).
Literary Fiction

An mportant queston (one that would no doubt make for a good plotlne n lterary fcton) s what makes a book lterary fcton, as opposed to popular fcton. The glb answer (and perhaps one not too far from the truth) s because the crtcs say so. Certanly these books are often dffcult, they often eschew normal plotlnes, they often put a premum on verbal freworks, they are sometmes based on some obscure, dffcult phlosophy (preferably French), and they are often playful, especally wth the concepts of realty. Unfortunately, they do not always gve a very comfortable answer to the queston, what does t mean to be a human beng? one of the better known wrters of lterary fcton (and more accessble to the average reader) s Phlp roth. In the publcs mnd, he s probably best known for Goodbye Columbus (1959) and, especally, Portnoys Complaint (1969). Born n Newark, New Jersey, n 1933, roths latest book, Everyman (2006), presents a medcal bography, tracng the nevtable deteroraton of a mans body, hs struggles wth sexual desre n old age, and hs deathall seen from the bleak aspect of an athest. Portnoys Complaintconsdered by many as scandalous n ts days the confessons from a psychatrc couch of a man who s obsessed wth the subject of masturbaton. The Breast (1972) s a Kafka-lke novel about a man who wakes up as a gant breast. roth has also placed hmself nto one of hs novels, Operation Shylock (1993). Many of hs books are about topcal Amercan subjects and about the modern Amercan Jew. roth has won many awards for wrtng, ncludng several Natonal Book Awards and the Pultzer Prze. Perhaps the most prvate of lterary authors (more prvate even than the reclusve J. d. salnger) s Thomas Pynchon. He does not gve ntervews, let alone an address, and s rumored (and no one really knows) to be constantly on the move to avod detecton. Pynchon was born n 1937 n Long Island, New york. extremely brght and precocous, he graduated wth top honors from hs hgh school at age 16. Pynchon was (and probably stll s) a voracous reader. He has a background n engneerng and n techncal wrtng. All of

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these thngs play a part n hs novels. Most of hs novels are long and labyrnthne n plot structure. The only excepton to ths s the hghly comedc, but paranod, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966). Ths book s short and tghtly plotted. Hs most famous book to date s Gravitys Rainbow (1973). often compared to Melvlles Moby Dick because of ts complexty, length, and demonstraton of encyclopedc knowledge, Gravitys Rainbow tells multple stores centered on Naz Germany and the buldng of the V-2 rocket. It satrzes contemporary culture and explores the relatonshp between death and sex. The book won a number of prestgous awards, ncludng the Natonal Book Award. The Pultzer Prze advsory commttee, on the other hand, turned t down, descrbng t wth a seres of adjectves: turgd, overwrtten, obscene, and unreadable. Also a satrst, don deLllo was born New york Cty n 1936. Many of hs novels are crtques of Amercan meda and current culture. Hs tour de forcethe one for whch he won the Natonal Book Awards White Noise (1985). White Noise s based on the phlosophy of Jean Baudrllard. deLllos reoccurrng thess s that Amercans hde from the realty of death by creatng smulated realtes through the meda, consumersm, and other personal evasons of what really s. Accordng to deLllo, Amercans are awash n data for a reason. The novel s hghly satrc, yet menacng. runnng a close second wth Thomas Pynchon for prvacy s novelst Cormac McCarthy. Hs fcton could hardly be called playful, unlke some of the other wrters n ths category. McCarthys works, on the contrary, are often volent and graphc. Born n Provdence, rhode Island, n 1933, he attended the Unversty of Tennessee but left to begn hs wrtng career. whle McCarthy has gven at least two ntervews (unlke Pynchon), and whle there are numerous photographs of hm, he prefers a spartan lfe, one that best puts hm n contact wth the harsh realtes lurkng beneath cvlzed lfestyles. He refuses lucratve speakng engagements and has lved n motels and n a dary barn. He uses Laundromats and has been known to cut hs own hareven after some fnancal success. Two of McCarthys best known works are Blood Meridian (1985) and All the Pretty Horses (1992). Lke Greek tragedy, hs works take the reader to the very edge of cvlzaton (mostly the Amercan west, n hs case) and nto an uncomfortable moral zone that suggests the most prmtve dmensons of the human psyche. Hs style, when the narrator s speakng, can have a dffcult Faulkner-lke complexty, whle hs characters often speak n sparse, smple language.
Popular Fiction

There s no set canon for most popular fcton. People have ther own favorte authors n each subgenre. The followng s a representatve samplng of some of the best n each of the major fcton categores: romance, mystery, scence fcton, fantasy, and horror.

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It s estmated that over one-half of all of the paperbacks sold n the Unted states are romance novels and that they account for 39.3 percent of all fcton sold n the country. despte the charges by lterary crtcs that romance novels are formulac or trte, they are mmensely popular, generatng over $1.5 bllon n sales yearly. They are, smply put, what many readers are readng, and n fact, they are part of a long lterary tradton. some people trace romance novels back to the renassance, though most scholars would place the begnnngs n the nneteenth century wth Jane Austn. Nora roberts, one of the most popular of the contemporary romance wrters, was born n 1950 n slver sprng, Maryland. she has a hgh school educaton and worked brefly as a legal secretary. As she tells t, she began her wrtng career n 1979 whle trapped at home durng a blzzard wth two small chldren and runnng out of chocolate. snce then, she has been mmensely successful. To date, roberts has publshed over 140 romance and mystery novels. (she sometmes publshes the mysteres under the name J. d. robb.) she has over 127 mllon copes of her books currently n prnt. roberts has won the rta Award, gven by the romance wrters of Amerca, n varous categores

Nora roberts has wrtten close to 200 novels, remanng one of Amercas favorte authors. AP Photo/Chrs Gardner.

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19 tmes snce 1982. A typcal novel of hers, such as the 2004 rta Award wnner Carolina Moon, s best descrbed as romantc suspense. Her herone s vulnerable, searchng for answersanswers that put her n mortal danger. In ths case (Carolina Moon), she s tryng to solve the mystery of who murdered her chldhood frend, and then, as befttng a romance, she s befrended by a male character wth whch she develops a romantc relatonshp. Her novels are generally typfed by excellent character development and taut plottng. There are scores of other successful romance wrters and almost as many subgenres, from the naked prate romances to vampre romances. Two other standout authors are danelle steel and Catherne Coulter. steel, born n 1947 n New york Cty, has been known to wrte two and three books a year (she has sold over 530 mllon copes of her books). often made nto televson moves, her books feature a female protagonst whose romance may or may not work out, but who always becomes a stronger, more successful, and better woman by overcomng adversty. Catherne Coulter was born n Cameron County, Texas, n 1949. Her books frequently appear on the New York Times best seller lst. Generally, she wrtes two books a year and s known for havng popularzed romance trloges. she has a masters degree n nneteenth-century european hstory, whch helps to explan why she has successfully wrtten many hstorcal romances. Lke Nora roberts, she has also branched nto contemporary suspense novels. whle romance s stll mportant n these books (as the genre ttle ndcates), these novels have also brought a belef to several generatons of women that strong women are to be admred and that women do not need to accept the dctates of a prudsh, Vctoran sensblty. women, as reflected n these books, have come a long way snce Hester Prynne, though she certanly ponted the way. Mystery fcton (whch ncludes the spy novel, crme novel, varous forms of the detectve novel, and the thrller) s also very popular. Ths genre began wth the Amercan wrter edgar Allan Poe, who, n 1841, ntroduced Inspector dupn n hs short story The Murders n the rue Morgue. Ths short story, along wth The Purloned Letter, also often appears n contemporary college and hgh school anthologes. The pattern Poe created of the genus detectve wth the less than genus sdekck contnues to nfluence many wrters, wth the best and most popular duo beng that created by the englsh wrter Conan doyle: sherlock Holmes and watson. durng the 1930s, however, another major stran of detectve fcton was created: the hard-boled detectve story (often assocated wth flm nor). snce then, the genre has dvded nto many subgenres (the procedural novel, the seral kller novel, etc.).

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A classc Amercan wrter of mystery and detectve fcton, one who s stll read and studed, and one who often wrote n the nor, hard-boled style, s dashell Hammett. Hammett was born n 1894 n st. Marys County, Maryland. He ded n 1961. Hs own lfe was as colorful as one of hs characters: a dropout from school at age 13, he went to work helpng out hs famly, joned the armytwce (once for the Frst world war then, at age 48, for the second world war), worked for the Pnkerton detectve agency, drank a lot, and smoked a lot. Hammetts most famous character s probably sam spade, and hs most famous novel s probably The Maltese Falcon (1930). In Hammetts fctve world, socety s corrupt, greedy, and capable of brutalty and senseless, shallow graspng after monetary gan. Hs heroes, lke spade, expose evl and brng moral balance nto the world. He has been much mtated. wrters wth smlar hard-boled styles who are stll read nclude raymond Chandler, Mckey spllane, and ross Macdonald. detrot resdent elmore Leonard s one of the most popular and prolfc of Amercas contemporary mystery novelsts. Born n 1925 n New orleans, Lousana, he attended the Unversty of detrot and worked for a whle n advertsng, all the tme moonlghtng as a novelst. At frst, he wrote westerns; the most popular was Hombre (1961), whch was made nto a move starrng Paul Newman. Hs frst mystery was The Big Bounce (1969). Leonards sgnature protagonst s someone who s not qute straght, someone who often has a streak of larceny n hm (or her). For nstance, Get Shorty, one of hs better known mystery novels, features Chl Palmer, an almost comc gangster who decdes to nvade Hollywood and make a move. Leonard hmself lkes to say that the man attrbute of hs novels s character, rather than plot, and he enjoys explorng moral pathology. Leonard s also the prototypcal wrter who mmerses hmself n the mleu of hs novels. To get thngs authentc, he wll do such thngs as spend days n a courtroom watchng arragnments and ntervewng cops. He s especally good at capturng the dalogue of theves and cops and at descrbng the mnuta of ther dress. At age 82, he has just publshed hs latest novel, Up in Honeys Room (2007). walter Mosley, born n Los Angeles, Calforna, n 1952, wrtes prmarly n the hard-boled school of mystery fcton. The settngs of hs novels are often the tough postworld war II Afrcan Amercan neghborhoods of Los Angeles, teemng wth bg-cty prejudces. In hs famous easy rawlns seres of novels, he also has hs own twst on the detectve sdekck: raymond Alexander, ncknamed Mouse, whose job t s to meet volence wth volence. As wth Hammett, Mosleys mystery fcton also deals wth moral balance, but agan, t s wth a twst. In Mosleys case, t deals wth racal prejudce. Hs protagonsts may have to skrt the law at tmesthey are forced to do so because of the prejudces around thembut justce, both racal and legal, s

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eventually served, and the protagonsts are better off. one of Mosleys stated goals s to create black male heroes. He does ths wthn the easy rawlns seres, the socrates Fortlow seres, and the Fearless Jones seres. The mportant features of a Mosley hero are that he works hard, whle demandng and ganng respectby force, f necessary. Consstently on the best seller lst snce 1982, sue Grafton has created a popular woman detectve n Knsey Mllhone, a character who s a former polcewoman turned prvate detectve. Grafton was born n 1944 n Lousvlle, Kentucky. she s best known for her alphabet mysteres, startng wth A Is for Alibi (1982). whle not exactly n the hard-boled school of Amercan mystery wrters, Grafton does follow Hammett n brngng moral order to the world. Her man character, Knsey Mllhone, s eccentrc (and a lttle on the seedy sde), smart, caustc, and ndependent: a role model that clearly knocks the ruffled, slky edges off the woman on a pedestal archetype. scence fcton, a thrd popular subgenre, begns n the nneteenth century n england (H. G. wells) and France (Jules Verne). There was no sgnfcant wrter of scence fcton n the Unted states untl edgar rce Burroughs, who wrote hs frst scence fcton n 1912. Then began the age of pulp fcton, wth such magaznes as Amazing Stories, launched by Hugo Gernsback n 1926. Also known as speculatve fcton, t extrapolates nto the future (occasonally nto the past) some scentfc dea: robots, computers, space travel, and so on. sometmes (though rarely n contemporary wrters) ths extrapolaton wll lead to a postve fctonal world (utopa), but more often, t leads to a dystopa (a world flled wth problems). It reflects the Amercan fascnaton wth, as well as suspcons about, scence and technology. There are possbly more personal favortes among scence fcton readers than there are among romance readers. one standout s Ursula K. Le Gun, who s also known for her earth sea fantasy seres. Born n 1921 n Berkeley, Calforna, her mother was a wrter, and her father was a dstngushed anthropologst. Le Guns most famous scence fcton book s probably The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), n whch she extrapolates genetcs nto the future and explores ts consequences. Ths s a book that begns to look at the femnst dea of androgyny by creatng a planet, Gethen, where most of the tme, ts nhabtants are ndeed now androgynous. Le Gun wrote two later essays, the ttles of whch ask, Is gender necessary? whle she herself feels that The Left Hand of Darkness dd not go far enough, t s stll seen as a frst of ts knd: femnst scence fcton. The extraordnarly prolfc Isaac Asmov was born n Petrovch, russa. He ded n 1992. Asmov attended Columba Unversty for hs undergraduate and graduate schoolng and ended wth a Phd n bochemstry. Lke fantasy wrters, he often created fctonal worlds that were presented n a seres

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of books. Hs two most famous are the Foundaton seres and hs robot seres. The robot seres s famous for delvng nto the moral quandares assocated wth artfcal ntellgence. Asmov created the famous three laws of robotcs to deal wth the problem. Ths s a good place to dscuss a wrter who was more than just a scence fcton wrter and whose work s often requred readng n hgh schools and colleges. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was born n 1922 n Indanapols, Indana, and ded n 2007. He studed at Cornell and the Unversty of Chcago, ganng a background n chemstry, bology, and anthropology. one of hs best known scence fcton works was Cats Cradle (1963), whch tells the story of the potental destructveness of technology n the form of ce-nne, an nventon that can freeze all water on the planet. even more crtcally acclamed was hs 1969 book Slaughterhouse-Five; or, The Childrens Crusade. Vonnegut s often compared to Mark Twan, especally the later Twan, who became pessmstc about humanknd, and ths comes across n ths novel. In ths book, a world war II prsoner n dresden (Vonnegut hmself was a prsoner there and wtnessed the effects of the fre bombng) s abducted by alens, who place hm n a zoo on ther planet and mate hm wth a move star. As wth most of hs works, there s humor, but t s a dsturbng, crtcal, dark humor. Fantasy lterature can be seen as the flp sde of the con from scence fcton. whle scence fcton puts a premum on scence and ratonalty, fantasy focuses n on magc and the rratonal. It, of course, has connectons to fary tales and began to become somewhat popular for adults durng the nneteenth century, but t really was not untl the englsh wrter J.r.r. Tolken ntroduced the world to The Lord of the Rings n the md-twenteth century that t really became popular wth adult readers. one of the attractons of fantasy s that there s usually a clear demarcaton between good and evl. It s consolng to see good trumph over evl, and t s equally comfortng to enter a world of wonder and magc. The Sword of Shannara (1971) was Terry Brookss frst book of fantasy, and t was the frst Amercan fantasy novel to make t to the New York Times best seller lst. Brooks was born n sterlng, Illnos, n 1944. Hs frst seres, the shannara seres, has sometmes been crtczed for beng too close to Tolken, but snce then, he has gone on to create numerous orgnal fantasy worlds. He s a good example of the trend n fantasy wrtng to create a seres of books based n a sngle secondary world. robert Jordan (pen name for James olver rgney Jr.) was born n 1948. Hs hometown s Charleston, south Carolna. A Vetnam war veteran, he attended the Ctadel and graduated wth a degree n physcs. Hs most famous seres s the wheel of Tme seres. There are currently 11 books n

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the seres, a seres that has been wrtten over a 16-year span. Lke most fantasy, t s a quest, a journey of dscovery of epc proportons. Lke all good fantasy wrters, Jordan has created an entre mythology, and even a language (as Tolken dd). The seres s scheduled to be fnshed wth the next book, but Jordan was recently dagnosed wth a rare cancer. The horror genre s also popular n the contemporary Unted states. Agan, just as wth mystery fcton, the Amercan stran of horror and gothc fcton can be traced to edgar Allan Poe (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell Tale Heart). In most cases, what horror fcton suggests s a metaphyscal or sprtual sde to realty, even when that metaphyscal sde s of the evl typeths n the mdst of an ncreasngly secular socetyand, accordng to stephen Kng, t also works as a catharss for the darker sde of human nature lurkng n all of us. The superstar of contemporary horror s ndeed stephen Kng. Born n Portland, Mane, n 1947, hs frst novel, Carrie (1974), began a long lne of successes, ncludng two outstandng nonhorror novellas, The Body and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, both appearng n 1982. Kng wrtes wth realstc detal, whch helps to ntensfy the horrors. Vampres, ghosts, and other examples of the supernatural are often part of the story fabrc, but so s the exploraton of the potental horrors n contemporary socety as well as the potental for volence and evl n ordnary people. He s also known for hs expermentaton wth seralzaton and dstrbuton of books on the Internet. Kngs The Green Mile (1996) s a perfect example. The book was orgnally wrtten and publshed n sx volumes, ala Charles dckens. The real horror and evl n the book s the murderous capabltes of wllam wharton, a vcous chld kller, as well as the realtes of captal punshment. Anne rce, who was born n New orleans, Lousana, n 1941, began her wrtng career blendng horror (vampres and wtches) wth the sensual and erotc. Her frst horror novel was Interview with a Vampire (1976). Her unusual take on a tradtonal tale was to see the story from the vampres pont of vew, and, as she herself has ponted out, the vampre becomes a metaphor for her. To read one of her vampre books s to partake of an exstental exploraton of lvng n a world where God does not exst and where the vampre must commt evl just to be. Her delvng nto the phlosophy, psychology, and angst of ths stuaton s what draws many people to her novels. snce 2005, wth the publcaton of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, rce has vowed to approach the metaphyscal from a tradtonal perspectve. she plans on wrtng the bography of Jesus Chrst and to never wrte a vampre book agan. A totally dfferent take from rce on the dracula tale s elzabeth Kostovas The Historian (2005). Kostova was born n 1964 n New London, Connectcut. she attended yale and then receved an masters of fne arts from

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the Unversty of Mchgan. Her frst and only book, The Historian (2005), took 10 years to wrte. It has remaned on the best seller lst and has every sgn of becomng a horror classc. Much more n the sprt of the tradtonal story, t s told from the perspectve of the vctms, and Vlad Tepes (dracula) has no redeemng values and no phlosophcal angst. The story s told n an nterestng and effectve way, smultaneously on three tmelnes (sometmes more when there s a story wthn a story) and prmarly through narratve letters.
Popular nonfiction

It s estmated that nearly 80 percent of the 50,000 or so new books publshed every year are nonfcton. These are often self-help books, cookbooks, poltcal datrbes, and the lke. These are not consdered lterature; they are more related to journalsm and ts factual, sometmes ephemeral and tmesenstve nature. yet there are a number of subgenres of nonfcton that have the potental to be called lterature and to endure. All these mportant subgenres of nonfcton have been affected by creatve nonfcton. whle there are stll many academc, purely factual and thessdrven nonfcton works, the works that have the greatest potental to be endurng classcs as well as popular wth the publc merge narratve technques wth fact, hstory, nformaton, and socal commentary. Most affected by the trend of creatve nonfcton have been hstory works, bographes and autobographes, and travel books. At tmes, academc hstorans are at odds wth the frst category: popular hstory. The academcs argue, accurately, that they have often already wrtten the same observatons, facts, and nsghts as popular hstorans have. They have been there and done that, but wth lttle publc acclam. And they clam, often agan wth justfcaton, that popular hstorans can be sloppy wth ther documentaton. Generally, though, they wrte n a dfferent style from popular hstorans: they debunk and theorze, often n excrucatngly ponderous prose and dry, ntellectual analyss. Popular hstorans, on the other hand, make hstory come alve by mposng on t a narratve structure and an arrestng prose style; thus ther works are sometmes called narrative history. smply put, popular hstorans tell a story, and that s what makes them well-lked and ther works canddates for endurng lterature. The dean of contemporary popular hstorans, davd McCullough, s from Pttsburgh, Pennsylvana. He was born n 1933 and s a graduate of yale Unversty. He began hs career wrtng for magaznesTime, Life, and American Heritageand swtched to wrtng popular hstory books n 1968 wth The Johnstown Flood. He also wrtes popular bography. The central research technque n all creatve nonfcton s mmerson. McCullough s a prme

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example. He s a metculous researcher. Hs research focuses not just on the facts, but also on the words, thoughts, and deas of a tme perod, ncludng ts art and culture. He reads what hs characters read; he embraces ther phlosophes, ther art, ther lterature, and ther values. He tracks down personal and offcal letters, not only of the famous, but also of the mnor characters n the narratve. He physcally traces the steps of hs characters makng ther settngs hs settngs. He puts hmself there and, by dong so, puts hs readers there as well. Lke most of the popular hstorans, McCullough focuses n on dramatc, pvotal moments, especally those that llumnate the natonal character. 1776 (2005), for nstance, focuses on the crucal year n the Amercan revoluton when t seemed that the Amercans had no chance at all. It llumnates the character of George washngton and of the men who served under hm. McCullough has won the Pultzer Prze for two of hs bographes, John Adams (2002) and Truman (1993), as well as the Natonal Book Award for several of hs hstores. one of the topcs of fascnaton for Amercan readers of hstory s the Amercan Cvl war. It, too, s a pvotal moment n Amercan dentty, wth many human dmensons. one of the most popular wrters on ths subject s Greenvlle, Msssspp, born shelby Foote (19162005). Foote dropped out of college at the Unversty of North Carolna, joned the army as a captan of artllery, was court-marshaled and dsmssed for gong out of bounds to vst hs grlfrend (later hs wfe), and then promptly enlsted n the Marne Corps as an nfantryman. Foote began as a novelst (thus ganng a good nsght nto narratve structure) and then spent 20 years wrtng a three-volume hstory of the Cvl war ttled The Civil War: A Narrative, fnally completed n 1974. He s often remembered as one of the prmary narrators of Ken Burnss documentary The Civil War. Another war hstoran, though certanly more controversal, s stephen Ambrose. He was born n 1936 n decatur, Illnos, and ded n 2002. He receved a Phd from the Unversty of wsconsn and began hs career as an academc hstoran; n fact, he was the offcal bographer of dwght esenhower. In the 1990s, Ambrose began wrtng popular hstory, focusng especally on world war II, begnnng wth Band of Brothers n 1993. Hs books soon became best sellers. Ths frequently made hm unpopular wth academc hstorans for not beng rgorous enough, and hs 2000 book, The Wild Blue, brought charges of plagarsm for not puttng quotaton marks around borrowed materal (though he dd footnote t). The autobography and bography subgenre s peppered wth transtory works about, and by, recordng artsts, actors, sports fgures, and people generally n the publc eye. Much of t s ghost wrtten and more ttllatng than sgnfcant. Keepng n mnd that some of the earler dscussed hstorans

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(McCullough, especally) are also sgnfcant bographers, the followng are a few of the others who are contemporary and popular. Mtch Albom and John Grogan are defntely not n the school of rgorous academcs, but ther books are classfed as bography, and they are both often assgned for hgh school students to read, probably because they are upbeat and have sold lfe lessons to teach. Mtch Albom was born n 1958 n Passac, New Jersey, and s well known for hs book Tuesdays with Morrie (1997), about teacher and socologst Morre schwartz, hs former socology professor at Brandes Unversty. Though classfed as bography, t s not a rgorous study of schwartzs entre lfe. It focuses on the last days of hs lfe14 Tuesdays, to be exact. It s based on the conversatons that Albom had wth hm and on the wsdom, nsghts, and lessons that Albom recorded. often crtczed by ntellectual revewers, t nevertheless remaned on the best seller lst for sx years. Albom has snce wrtten books that could best be descrbed as fantasy lterature, but wth the same result: mmense popularty and often assgned to hgh school students to read (these nclude The Five People You Meet in Heaven [2005] and For One More Day [2006]). John Grogan has wrtten one of the most unusualbut very popularof books, Marley and Me (2005). But s t an autobography? or s t a bography, perhaps? Grogan was born n detrot, Mchgan, n 1957. He attended Central Mchgan Unversty and oho state and has worked as a journalst and edtor. Curously, Marley s a dog, so whle techncally, t s the bography of a Labrador retrever, the book s really the autobography of a famly wrtten wth great humor. Another popular hstoran, walter Isaacson, was born n 1952 n New orleans, Lousana. He s a graduate of Harvard and a rhodes scholar at oxford and has been a journalst, an edtor, and the Ceo of the Aspen Insttute. Hs latest bography s of an con of the twenteth century, Albert ensten, who has had a profound effect on the way we conceve realty. In Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), Isaacson focuses on both life and universe as hs narratve presents the human sde of ensten as well as an attempt at explanng hs theores to mere mortals. dors Kearns Goodwn, the last of the bographers to be dscussed, s also an example of the strengths and weaknesses of creatve nonfcton. she was born n 1943 n Brooklyn, New york. she attended Colby College and receved her Phd from Harvard. Her books often make the best seller lststhe Pultzer Przewnnng No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II (1995), for example. Lke McCullough, she mmerses herself n her subject, but lke Ambrose, she has been embroled n a controversy over plagarsm. The general crtcsm of creatve nonfcton s that n a rush to have the next best seller, wrters some-

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tmes get sloppy, or they nvent. In her case, t seems to have been a case of sloppness. Her latest book looks at one of the most mportant of Amercan leaders, Abraham Lncoln, n Team of Rival: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (2005). And fnally n the bography/autobography category s Maya Angelou, born n 1928 n st. Lous, Mssour. Born nto poverty and a broken famly, Angelou s consdered by many to be a modern renassance woman, successfully dabblng n poetry, actng, sngng, wrtng plays, and drectng. In addton, she s a hstoran and an educator. she has lved n many parts of the world and held many jobs. whle she never attended college, she has receved a number of honorary degrees. But she s probably best known for her seres of autobographes, especally the frst one, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). The latest n the seres s A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002), whch relates her lfe up to 1968 and the turbulent years of the Cvl rghts Movement. Travel lterature n the Unted states goes back to Mark Twan and hs Innocents Abroad (1869), but worldwde, t can be traced back much further. In any case, t s and always has been a natural for creatve nonfcton. Good travel lterature (unlke gudebooks, whch are a knd of journalsm and easly dated) has the unversalty and agelessness of any good lterature. The technque of mmerson used n travel lterature, as n autobography, s based on personal experence, but t nevtably also ncludes tradtonal research. It nvtes commentary from the wrter n many areas: poltcs, hstory, economcs, socology, psychology, art, conservaton, and so on. Travel lterature s also, obvously, about place. At ts best, t s a journey through physcal, psychologcal, ntellectual, and moral space. Bll Bryson s one of Amercas premer travel wrters. Born n 1951 n des Mones, Iowa, Bryson dropped out of college (he would later fnsh school) to begn a lfe as a traveler. He began by hkng through europe, frst on hs own, then wth hs frend stephen Katz (a pseudonym for a reoccurrng character n several of Brysons books). snce then, Brysons travels have been source materal for books on the Unted states, england, Australa, and Afrca. Hs perennal best seller A Walk in the Woods (1998) s a good example of hs style. Ths book takes the reader onto the great Appalachan Tral, whch runs from Georga to Mane. It blends an ronc, often deadpan humor wth encyclopedc nformaton and a crtcal eye for Amercan fobles. Though he s obvously a conservatonst, he stll takes a realstc vew of nature: t s bg, sometmes scary, and sometmes just borng. Tony Horwtz, a Pultzer Przewnnng reporter, has mmersed hmself n both travel and hstory, whether t s n the Cvl war south, the Pacfc of Captan Cook, or the Mddle east. Born n washngton, d.C., n 1958, he

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studed hstory at Brown Unversty and journalsm at Columba. Hs travel books often blend hs own journeys wth those of hstorcal fgures, as n Blue Latitudes (2002). The book has a dual structure: the tellng of the journey of Captan James Cook and the tellng of Horwtzs own journey as he retraces Cooks exploratons, even subjectng hmself to salng on a replca of Cooks shp, the Endeavor. The reader not only learns the hstory and bography, but also gans an understandng of the socologcal mpact of eghteenth-century exploraton. Paul Theroux s a prme example of the dfference between a traveler and a tourst. Both a novelst and travel wrter, he was born n 1941 n Medford, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Unversty of Massachusetts and joned the Peace Corps and thus began a lfe of travel that has led to 12 hghly respected travel books. Theroux does not seek out the planned and the well organzed. In hs opnon, one cannot really know a country or a place by vstng t n the cocoon of the travel agents agenda; strkng out on ones own, perlously f necessary, s a requrement. A traveler must see the place as t really s, not as others want hm or her to see t. For example, n hs frst travel book, The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), Theroux travels alone, wthout outsde help, gong mostly by tran from London to Vetnam and back. Less encyclopedc than some other travel wrters, he s nstead more novelstc, and he has an eye for the absurd and eccentrc. Characters are fnely developed, and hs descrptons of place have the astute economy of a poet. Fnally, John Berendt takes the technque of mmerson to an even more extreme degree than any of the prevously mentoned travel wrters, wth the excepton perhaps of Paul Theroux. He has lved for years n the two places he has wrtten about: savannah, Georga, and Vence, Italy. Berendt was born n 1939 n syracuse, New york. He graduated from Harvard and has wrtten for New York magazne and Esquire. Hs focus s often on characterespecally the upper classeson artsans, and on the eccentrc. He also has a way of makng the ctes he wrtes about become characters n themselves. In both of hs travel books, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994) and City of Falling Angels (2005), Berendt fnds a dramatc moment to wrap hs narratve around. In Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, t s a murder tral, and n City of Fallen Angels, t s the tragc and mysterous burnng of the hstorc La Fence opera house. In ths regard, he s lke the popular hstoran who fnds a dramatc, pvotal moment on whch to reveal the essence of the cty. C onClusion Paraphrasng Blly Collns agan, to look at the world of contemporary Amercan lterature s to look at the hstory of the natons heartand

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conscence and mnd. Lterary works are sometmes crtcal of the culture (especally when deals are not met). Amercans are even wllng to be chastsed, especally f t s done wth humor, as by Mark Twan, or wth powerful emotonal resonance, as by Ton Morrson or Harper Lee. Amercan drama and lterary fcton are purveyors of the currents of world ntellectual thought, though even horror novels can sometmes be phlosophcal, and romances can sometmes teach about femnst deals. Amercans fnd solace and beauty n ther poets as well as wsdom. Amercans celebrate vrtues and successes (and sometmes mourn falures) n bographes and hstores. Amercans dream and learn wth the fantasy wrters, the travel wrters, and the romance wrters. Crtcs sometmes accuse Amercan popular prose of havng a Pollyanna mnd-set, but that s only true f beng postve s unrealstc. In truth, Amercans both embrace and worry about the effects of scence, bg busness, and ndustralzaton, especally n scence fcton, and Amercans love to brng moral order n mystery fcton because the world can be evl and greedy. The sum total equals a love for the rchness of language and the emotonal power of a story, even the scary stores of good horror novels. n ote
1. The ndustry statstcs for ths chapter come from several sources. The Book study Industry Group provded many of the raw numbers, especally as they are dstlled n Albert N. Greco, The economcs of Books and Magaznes, n Media Economics: Theory and Practice, ed. Alson Alexander et al. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence erlbaum Assocates, 2004), 12748. some of the nformaton also comes from the U.s. Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov). The statstcs for poetry sales were provded by the Poetry Foundaton (http://www.poetryfoundaton.org). General prose book sales were calculated by the Nelsen Bookscan servce. romance book sales were provded by the romance wrters of Amerca (https://www.rwanatonal.org). statstcs on nonfcton book sales were provded by Lee Gutknd, Creative Nonfiction (Chcago: Chcago revew Press, 1996), 7. whle some of the texts for the slam poets can be found on ther web stes and n books, many of ther works have to be experenced through Googles vdeo search engne, ether under the poets name or smply under slam poetry. Bographcal nformaton comes from author and publsher web stes and from onlne ntervews.

B iBliograPhy
Algarn, Mguel, and Bob Holman, eds. Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. New york: Holt, 1994. Bloom, Harold. Novelists and Novels. Phladelpha: Chelsea House, 2005.

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ellot, emory, ed. Columbia Literary History of the United States. New york: Columba Unversty Press, 1988. Fussell, Paul, ed. The Norton Book of Travel. New york: w. w. Norton, 1987. Goa, dana. Disappearing Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture. sant Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 2004. Gunn, James, ed. The Road to Science Fiction. Vol. 3, From Heinlein to Here. Lanham, Md: scarecrow Press, 2002. Gutknd, Lee. Creative Nonfiction. Chcago: Chcago revew Press, 1996. Hart, James davd. The Oxford Companion to American Literature. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1995. Klnkowtz, Jerome. Literary Subversions: New American Fiction and the Practice of Criticism. Carbondale: southern Illnos Unversty Press, 1985. Mass, wendy, and stuart P. Levne, eds. Fantasy. san dego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Newbery, Vctor e. The Popular Press Companion to Popular Literature. Bowlng Green, oH: Bowlng Green state Unversty Popular Press, 1983. regs, Pamela. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Phladelpha: Unversty of Pennsylvana Press, 2003. smth, Marc Kelly. The Complete Idiots Guide to Slam Poetry. Indanapols, IN: Alpha Books, 2004. sternlcht, sanford. A Readers Guide to Modern American Drama. syracuse, Ny: syracuse Unversty Press, 2002. Tanner, Tony. City of Words: American Fiction, 19501970. London: Cape, 1971. Tanner, Tony. The American Mystery: American Literature from Emerson to De Lillo. New york: Cambrdge Unversty Press, 2000.

7
Meda and Cnema
Agnes Hooper Gottlieb

Today we are begnnng to notce that the new meda are not just mechancal gmmcks for creatng worlds of lluson, but new languages wth new and unque powers of expresson. Marshall McLuhan

a meriCa

and

i ts m edia

Assessing the status of the meda n the Unted states n the early twentyfrst century s a lttle lke predctng the outcome of a brd flu pandemc: anythng could happen. Meda convergence has become a popular topc at academc conferences, but just how the meda wll converge and what wll capture the nterest of the Amercan people s an educated guess. For years, pundts predcted the lkes of vdeo telephones and electronc supermarkets, but no one could have magned the prolferaton of the Internet and ts correspondng transformaton of the ways Amercans lve, work, and relax. Personal computers started off n the 1980s as lttle more than fancy typewrters; the evoluton was slow. By the tme the century ended, however, the Internet and the world wde web had reshaped daly actvtes, created a new branch of meda and consumersm, and profoundly changed Amercan culture. It provded new avenues of entertanment, whle at the same tme forcng newspapers, magaznes, televson, rado, and cnema to rethnk ther markets and audences. How well the ndvdual meda adapt to the new kd on the block wll determne just who survves durng ths second communcaton revoluton (the frst beng n the ffteenth century, wth the nventon of moveable type).
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Apples new Phone ht U.s. shelves n late June 2007. Ths gadget does t all: wth the touch of a button users can access ther musc, text messages, phone calls, photos, e-mal, and Internet. AP Photo/Jason deCrow, fle.

ABC News, for example, has created an nteractve web ste that encourages vewers to engage wth the news and to be seen and be heard by provdng news stores, photos, and vdeos. Cell phone cameras that can capture news as t occurs allows the everyperson to be nvolved n news gatherng and reportng. Vdeo footage of brush fres, floods, and other natural dsasters fnd ther way onto the web ste. In 2005, youTube, a vdeo-sharng technology, premered and gave asprng flmmakers an nstant massve audence. whle meda changes lke these occur rapdly and constantly n todays socety, the meda evolved slowly up untl 1900. From that moment on, however, the meda have been evolvng, morphng, and recreatng nto new and ever-changng formats. where newspapers once stood alone, rado, cnema, televson, and the Internet have crowded n to demand consumers tme and attenton. whle the twenteth century was transformatonal for meda, the evoluton dd not end wth the dawn of the year 2000. Perhaps the hardest thng to get ones arms around wth a broad topc lke the Amercan meda s just what consttutes the meda n ths new mllennum. whle t s easy to categorze newspapers, magaznes, and oldfashoned televson, meda convergence means that manstream meda outlets morph nto new and dfferent meda. The New York Times newspaper

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stll welds ncredble authorty as a preemnent and elte newspaper, but no one wats to read about breakng news stores lke the 9/11 terrorst attacks n a newspaper. A newspaper lke the Times mght help readers put cataclysmc events n context, but t no longer bears the burden of nformng readers that an event has taken place. The Amercan people turn on ther televsons and, to a lesser extent, go onlne to learn about breakng news events. In the space of 100 years, the roles and responsbltes of newspapersntally the only game n townwere transformed by competton that came from many venues. n ewsPaPers The last century n the story of newspapers n the Unted states could be blled as the meda verson of the Hundred years war. Newspapers hunkered down wth the advent of rado and fought off compettve threats (both perceved and real), outlvng the predctons of doomsayers who regularly forecast the demse of daly newspapers when ther domnance was challenged, frst by rado, then by televson, and fnally by the Internet. Newspaper publshers grew fond of quotng Mark Twans clever qup, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. By the end of the century, most newspapers were stll thrvng, though proft margns and readershp had shrunk and changed. Newspapers, slow to take hold n the Amercas, had long been the domnant medum n Amerca once they establshed ther presence. There were two prntng presses on the Mayflower when t docked at Plymouth rock n december 1620, but 70 years went by before the frst newspaper was attempted. That product, Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick, appeared only once, on september 25, 1690. Publsher Benjamn Harrs stated hs ntenton to publsh once a month, or more frequently f news events occurred, but the newspaper was banned four days after t appeared by the Massachusetts governor, rled because t had been publshed wthout permsson. Publick Occurrences proves an nterestng artfact, however, because t demonstrates that what we would defne as news today can trace ts roots back all the way to the begnnng of the Amercan press. The four-page newspaper contaned 20 paragraphs of news, mostly domestc, although there were two foregn tems. The publcaton had three pages of news, wth the back page left blank so that readers could add ther own tems as the newspaper was crculated. The stores ncluded nformaton about the kdnappng of two chldren by Indans, a sucde, a fre n Boston, an epdemc of small pox, and skrmshes between the englsh and the French and Indans. whle lttle s wrtten n U.s. newspapers today about small pox epdemcs, the scourge that

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s AIds contnues to take headlne space, and whle the wars have changed wth the decades, the U.s. nvolvement n Iraq was the leadng story n Amercan newspapers n 2007. After Publick Occurrences short-lved appearance, 14 years passed before another newspaper was undertaken. on Aprl 24, 1704, John Campbell, the postmaster of Boston, edted and publshed (wth permsson) the Boston News-Letter. Campbell had been sendng handwrtten letters to the governors of all the New england colones for at least a year before he had hs mssves typeset. The journal had no advertsements at frst, and Campbell charged two pence a copy (or 12 shllngs a year). Campbell gathered together foregn news from four-month-old London newspapers that passed through hs post offce and added local news. Campbell, a postmaster, not a prnter, worked wth prnter Bartholomew Green, establshng early n Amercan prntng hstory the dual roles of edtor and prnter. The Boston News-Letter contnued under varous edtors for 72 years before foldng durng the Amercan revoluton. Foundng father Benjamn Frankln looms large n the story of Amercan newspapers. Frankln began as a prnters apprentce to hs older brother James, who was prntng the Boston Gazette. In August 1721, James Frankln began publshng the New-England Courant wth the backng of a group of nvestors opposed to the Massachusetts governor. Frankln flaunted hs poston that he was publshng wthout permsson. The New-England Courant, the thrd newspaper n Boston and the fourth n all the colones, provded the platform for the slence dogood essays that young Ben Frankln penned when he was 16. The Courants contrbuton to journalsm hstory s twofold: ts publcaton of essays, letters, and verse expanded the purvew of newspapers n the eghteenth century and provded readers wth what they lked, not just what they needed to know; and ts publcaton wthout permsson sounded the death knell for that form of pror restrant n the colones. Ben Frankln ran away from hs domneerng brothers nfluence to Phladelpha, where he became edtor and publsher of the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklns competton n Phladelpha was Andrew Bradford, whose father, wllam, was one of the poneer prnters n the colones. Most memorable from the prerevolutonary war perod of Amercan hstory was the ongong struggle between press and government, the outcome of whch establshed the parameters that helped create a tradton of press freedom that was formalzed n the Frst Amendment to the U.s. Consttuton. In 1733, John Peter Zenger, a semlterate German mmgrant who prnted the New York Weekly Journal for a group of backers, clashed wth offcals n power n New york colony. Zenger, who barely spoke englsh, was merely the condut for ther antadmnstraton vews, but t was he who bore the brunt of Governor wllam Cosbys wrath. Cosby hand-pcked

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a justce and ordered hm to obtan an ndctment. when the grand jury declned to ndct, a group of the governors councl came forward wth an acton aganst Zenger, who was arrested n November 1734 and charged wth sedton. Zenger was jaled for nne months before hs tral (hs weekly newspaper contnued to be prnted by Zengers wfe, Anna). Lawyer James Alexander, one of the newspapers wrters and backers, was dsbarred when he challenged the valdty of the charges. Zengers cause was champoned by revered Phladelpha attorney Andrew Hamlton, 80 years old at the tme. An admsson that the prnter had actually been responsble for prntng such materal was n essence an admsson of gult, but Hamlton argued that although Zenger was ndeed the prnter, he had done nothng wrong because what he had prnted was true. Hamlton argued that for a statement to be lbelous, t had to be false, malcous, and sedtous. Hamltons eloquent argument carred the day, and Zenger was found not gulty. Although the verdct had no effect on lbel law of the day, t was the frst case to establsh the concept that truth was the best defense of lbel, a prncple that was fnally recognzed n the 1790 state consttuton of Pennsylvana. Newspapers played a major role n the Amercan revoluton, frst as a propaganda tool that fueled colonsts fervor for war. Foolshly, the Brtsh government alenated the press as early as 1765, when t passed the stamp Act, whch requred all legal documents, offcal papers, books, and newspapers to be prnted on stamped (or taxed) paper. For newspapers, ths would have amounted to about a penny for a standard four-page tome. The act passed n March but was not to be effectve untl November, whch gave angry colonsts tme to work up opposton to the law. The opposton ncluded the very people who had the wherewthal to fght t: the prnters. Newspapers ralled around the charge of taxaton wthout representaton leveled aganst the Brtsh Parlament, whch was makng laws governng the colones, although the colones had no voce there. The summer of 1765 was a hot one n the colones. Newspapers prnted the names of tax collectors, whle colonsts burned them n effgy durng organzed protests. some newspapers flaunted the law by prntng wthout ther mastheads so that they were techncally no longer newspapers. some brefly suspended publcaton. None of the approxmately 35 newspapers n the colones publshed wth the stamp. reactng to the furor, the Parlament rescnded the stamp Act n March 1766, but communcaton was such that the colones dd not learn of the repeal untl md-May. Patrot samuel Adams, consdered one of the drvng forces behnd the colonal ndependence, wrote for the pre-revolutonary newspapers usng about 25 dfferent pen names. And although newspapers had no formal edtoral pages, they were mportant n fuelng publc opnon aganst the Brtsh.

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The success of the stamp Act protest taught colonsts the effectveness of organzed protest. Adams realzed that to lure the masses to hs cause, he needed to present the colonsts wth reasoned arguments aganst the Brtsh. And snce the men who would be the foot solders for the cause were not hghly lterate, the campagn had to be waged n smple terms. Thus began what some hstorans have called Amercas frst organzed publc relatons campagn, mastermnded by Adams and hs compatrots. when Brtsh troops fred nto a mob of protestors n Boston n 1770, Adams labeled t a massacre n prnt. when the Brtsh government taxed tea, Adams led a group of colonsts n a staged meda event to dump tea n Boston Harbor. If Adams can be consdered the publc relatons man of the revoluton, Thomas Pane s ts poet. Panes 1776 essay Common Sense s credted wth speakng plan language that could be understood by the common (and often uneducated) patrot. It lad out a clear argument for a break wth Brtan and argued n favor of ndependence. After the revoluton, newspapers served as the soundng boards for the two major poltcal platforms, the Federalsts and the republcans. The press of the perod was a partsan one, wth major newspapers argung about the ratfcaton of the U.s. Consttuton and the legalty of the Alen and sedton Act and reportng the sordd and sensatonal rvalry between two of Amercas Foundng Fathers. The Federalist Papers, a seres of essays publshed n newspapers and pamphlet form, set out a methodcal argument n favor of passage of the U.s. Consttuton. wrtten n part by James Madson, Alexander Hamlton, and others, the essays argued pont by pont n favor of the Consttuton. They also set out an argument for press freedom, a prncple that was soldfed n a few words as part of the Frst Amendment n the Bll of rghts. Hamlton, frst publsher of the New York Post (1801), was consdered the leader of the Federalsts, whle Thomas Jefferson, champon of the common man, was hs counterpart among the republcans. Hamlton, who served as George washngtons secretary of the treasury, met hs fate n a now legendary duel wth Aaron Burr n 1804. By 1800, journalsm was thrvng n the young Unted states. Phladelpha had sx daly newspapers, New york had fve, and Boston, whch had been the brthplace of Amercan journalsm and the hotbed of the Amercan revoluton, had none. Journalsm contnued to grow n the early decades of the 1800s and expanded nto new regons as the Unted states outgrew ts borders. The cost of a daly newspaper, however, was out of reach for most of Amerca, flled as t was wth rural farmers and modest merchants. Newspapers cost about sx cents (about the same prce as a pnt of whsky). slow and tedous handpresses that physcally lmted the crculaton of newspapers gave way n 1830 to the frst steam press, whch overnght trpled

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the speed of prntng. Producton capabltes grew at the same tme as the readng publc swelled. Thus began one of the golden ages of Amercan journalsm, the penny press, begnnng n 1833 wth the four-page New York Sun. The Sun, founded by Benjamn day, ntroduced a breezy reportng style that appealed to a new class of readers. wth lttle emphass on poltcs, the penny press moved away from partsan reportng and focused nstead on local news, entertanng nformaton. sensatonalsm, stll wth us today, reared ts ugly head. The shft to cheap newspapers made them accessble to Amercas uneducated or poorly educated workers, but a newspaper that appealed to workers was fundamentally dfferent from one that appealed to Amercas upper crust. Human nterest news and local stores became more mportant; news shfted away from partsan poltcs and changed the defnton of what news was. At the same tme, penny papers were accused of overemphaszng crme and sex and panderng to bad taste, a recurrng theme n Amercan culture. whle the papers actually sold for a penny for only a short tme, the drastc reducton n prce and the shft n readershp sgnaled a socetal change that never turned back. wth the help of the fruts of the Industral revoluton, whch enabled and enhanced the prntng of many newspapers, journalsm became mass communcaton for the frst tme. Leaders n the penny press era of journalsm ncluded James Gordon Bennett sr., who founded the New York Herald, and Horace Greeley, publsher of the rval New York Tribune. New york became the center of publshng n the Unted states, and ts newspapers flourshed throughout the nneteenth century. Technology and technque were two majors themes for newspapers durng the nneteenth century. Technology furthered the way newspapers were prnted, openng the possblty of mass crculaton. The telegraph, nvented by samuel Morse n 1840, transformed how nformaton was gathered, allowng tmelness to creep nto the equaton of what made a newspaper stand out. Modern modes of transportaton extended crculaton areas and fueled the desre to get the news to the publc frst. whle news of the battle of Lexngton and Concord that started the revolutonary war took sx weeks to make ts way from Boston to a savannah newspaper n 1775, the telegraph allowed daly reports of the Cvl war to appear n modern New york newspapers. The telegraph s also credted wth trggerng the use of reporters bylnes, whch began to appear n the 1860s under the taglne by telegraph. The telegraph also has been credted wth changng how journalsts reported ther stores. Amercan journalsm ntally adhered more closely to the rules of fcton, featurng a begnnng, a mddle, and an end. when Aaron

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Burr and Alexander Hamlton faced off n a duel, for example, the New York Morning Chronicle descrbed how the two men arrved at the scene, how they counted out 10 paces and loaded ther pstols. In the storys last paragraph, the author wrote, The fre of Colonel Burr took effect, and General Hamlton almost nstantly fell.1 The development of the telegraph, however, coupled wth the unrelablty and hgh cost of the new technology spurred the development of what s known today as the nverted pyramd style of wrtng. The reporters frst paragraph, called a lead, focuses, nstead of settng the scene, on explanng the most mportant thng that happened. The reporter s charged wth answerng the fve Ws and H: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Correspondents durng the Cvl war were uncertan that ther transmsson would go through n ts entrety, so t became mperatve to put the most mportant nformaton frst. In addton, these correspondents n the feld had to fnd a telegraph offce and pay for the transmsson themselves. A poorly pad group n the frst place, that fnancal burden n tself was enough reason to keep the transmssons terse. Photography also came of age durng the Cvl war, although the newspaper technology lagged. whle t was stll too dffcult to reproduce photographs n a daly newspaper, the Cvl war was notably the frst Amercan war to be recorded n photographs. Mathew Brady and about 20 of hs photographers trekked the wars battlefelds and created a record of about 3,500 pctures that survve n the Natonal Archves. snce photography was unavalable to newspapers and perodcals, war artsts prolferated. In theory, the artsts renderngs of battles could provde nsght nto the mltary technques of the day, but n practce, not all artsts thought t necessary to wtness the battles. some of the drawngs that were publshed were based on what the artst, safely ensconced n a newsroom far from the acton, thought the battle mght have looked lke. other common journalstc technques emerged at md-century. Horace Greeleys ntervew of Brgham young, publshed n the New York Tribune n 1859, was hghly crtczed at the tme because, the crtcs clamed, t was contrved to make news. It sgnaled the begnnng of journalstc ntervews desgned to llumnate the prvate detals of a celebrtys lfe. Greeley, a moralstc and opnonated publsher, ntervewed young, leader of the Mormon church and husband to 15 wves, n Utah and prnted the verbatm ntervew n hs Tribune. The descrpton of polygamy prompted a natonal debate that ended n ts prohbton by Congress three years later. The exploson n technology also transformed the speed n whch readers receved nformaton. James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, then the largest paper n the Unted states, kept a fleet of small boats crusng off

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the coast of New Jersey to ntercept ncomng steamers from europe to get the news from that contnent to ts readers frst. Carrer pgeons also were used by enterprsng edtors to send stores back to the newsroom swftly. The expanson of the ralroad westward, the ever-ncreasng mles of rals and telegraph wres, played ther part n the exploson of mass communcaton n the Unted states. Later n the century, the glow of gas lamps and, later, electrc lght ncreased the usefulness of the newspaper by expandng the readng day. Ths nnovaton, coupled wth technology that allowed for swft gatherng and prntng of news, ushered n the heyday of the afternoon newspaper. sellng tself as the most up-to-date nformaton avalable, the afternoon newspaper appealed to commuters returnng from ther jobs n the cty and to women who were able to fnd the tme to read after they had completed ther daly chores. The evenng papers ncluded closng stock prces, the days sports scores, news of the day, and the department store advertsng amed at women readers. By the 1870s, journalsm n Amercas ctes featured mornng papers and, n many cases, ndependent afternoon newspapers, owned by the same company, but wth dfferent staffs and content. There were 16 daly englshlanguage newspapers publshed n New york n 1892; 7 of those appeared n the evenng. sunday newspapers also rose n popularty at ths tme, fueled by the readng publcs desre for the news seven days a week and by a U.s. populaton that was ncreasngly educated and lterate. The 1890s n New york journalsm was punctuated by the legendary rvalry between two of the major personaltes of Amercan newspaper hstory: Joseph Pultzer and wllam randolph Hearst. Pultzer, generally cast n the role of hero of ths story, was an unlkely leadng mana Hungaran mmgrant whose eyesght was so bad that he was rejected by the Austran Army and the French Foregn Legon before he was deemed ft enough for the Unon Army durng the Cvl war. He began hs journalstc career after the Cvl war as a reporter for a German-language daly n st. Lous. Pultzer bought the St. Louis Dispatch for a song at a sherff s sale n 1878, merged t wth the St. Louis Post, and establshed hs St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a proftable and most mportant evenng paper n that cty. Pultzer stormed nto New york four years later wth hs purchase of the New York World and used that newspaper as the flagshp for hs new journalsm style. readers flocked to hs newspaper, and later to hs New York Evening World. Hs new style affected newspapers around the country. Pultzer was an ncorrgble self-promoter. He backed crusades aganst crooked poltcans, champoned the lttle guy, and exposed companes and contractors who stole and led to the poor. Hs so-called stunt journalsm trggered a natonal phenomenon. The most notorous of the stunt grls, journalsms Nelle Bly, was hs employee

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when she made the news as well as reported t by gong around the world n fewer than 80 days. whle Pultzer had a natural nose for news and loved the knd of stores that caught readers attenton, he also loved responsble journalsm. He tempered hs sensatonalstc approach to news wth an edtoral page that was thoughtful and nsghtful. He saw the edtoral page as the heart of hs newspaper and the man reason for the paper to publsh.2 If Pultzer s the hero of ths epoch, Hearst s the vllan. Generally consdered to be the founder of so-called yellow journalsm, Hearst went headto-head wth Pultzer n a crculaton war that ptted the New York Journal aganst Pultzers newspapers. Hearst, who was tossed out of Harvard for playng a practcal joke, learned the newspaper busness n san Francsco after hs father bought the San Francisco Examiner and handed over ts management to hs young son. Hearst arrved n New york and bought the Morning Journal n 1895 and almost mmedately declared war on Pultzers papers, whch were toppng New yorks crculaton. He stole away Pultzers best and seasoned wrters and edtors and bult a followng on sex and crme stores that appealed to readers prurent nterests. He also played fast and loose wth the facts. He reled on screamng headlnes set n extra-large type. The term yellow journalism came to descrbe ths popular style of wrtng after Hearst stole away Pultzers artst, who drew the yellow Kd for hs comc secton. The comc featured a street urchn dressed n a long, flowng, yellow coat. when the artst, rchard outcault, moved to the Journal and began pennng the comc for that newspaper, Pultzer hred another artst and contnued the comc. Pundts began referrng to the yellow Press, and the monker stuck. Today, the term yellow journalism s stll used to represent the most base of newspaper and televson reportng. Muckrakng, mostly a phenomenon n U.s. magaznes, rose to promnence n the new century, perhaps n drect response to the growng percepton of an rresponsble press that flourshed because of yellow journalsm. The term muckraking was meant as an nsult to news reporters when t was coned by Presdent Theodore roosevelt, who compared the nvestgatve reporters of the day to the man who rakes the muck n the then popular allegory Pilgrims Progress. Journalsts, however, embraced the term and contnued ther campagns aganst poltcal, socal, and busness corrupton n earnest. t he t wentieth C entury : m ultimedia e merge Newspapers n the twenteth century fended off challenges to ther supremacy from rado and newsreels before succumbng, at least n part, to the power of televson n the 1960s. After the Great war, Amercan lfe shfted radcally.

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People were anxous to forget the troubles of war. It was the day of the flappers, women who were embracng ther newfound rght to vote, whle at the same tme sheddng the bondage of ther clothng for knee-length dresses and pushng the boundares of socetal restrctons. Today, we call the era the roarng Twentes, whle the newspapers of the tme represent jazz journalsm. Newspapers responded to the looser tmes by a preoccupaton wth sex, crme, and entertanment and the rse of tablod newspapers. Tablods ntally referred to the small sze of the newspaper, makng t cheaper to publsh and easer to read for commuters on trans and subways, but tablod journalsm came to mean the knd of sensatonal journalsm that ncludes screamng headlnes, lots of photos, and appeals to the workng class. sports reportng ncreased; Hollywood stars became celebrtes n the press. In New york, the brthplace of Amercan tablod journalsm, the New York Daily News and the New York Post typfed the tablod brand of journalsm even nto the twenty-frst century. Newspapers were frghtened by the power of the nascent rado ndustry. Although rado dd not ntally compete wth newspapers to report the news, t was clear from the begnnng that t could threaten newspapers monopoly on nformaton. In January 1922, there were 30 rado statons broadcastng n the Unted states; 14 months later, there were 556. Newspapers were reportng on the phenomenon of rado n ther columns. The lstenng audence grew qucklythere were about 50,000 rado sets n 1921 and more than 600,000 n 1922. By 1930, that number had rsen to 14 mllon.3 Newspapers were not challenged by rado broadcasts per se. In fact, many newspaper publshers dabbled n rado by purchasng statons or sponsorng programs. yet the newspaper ndustry was, ndeed, frghtened by the possblty that t would lose advertsng dollars to the new ndustry and by the fear that rado statons would begn reportng news. even though the Amercan Newspaper Publshers Assocatons rado commttee sagely took the offcal poston that news on the rado stmulated newspaper sales, owners were not convnced. one way to curtal the growth of rado as a vehcle for news was to attempt to ban t. The Assocated Press (AP), founded n 1848 as an organzaton that shared news and the expenses ncurred coverng world events, ntally tred to prevent rado statons from usng ther news copy to broadcast rado newscasts. It fned the Portland Oregonian $100 for broadcastng the results of the 1924 presdental votng. Four years later, the AP, Unted Press Internatonal (UPI), and the Internatonal News servce had caved n and suppled the results to the rado statons. The canddates themselves had purchased rado ar tme to get ther messages across. At frst, rado broadcasts complemented newspaper coverage: the 1924 poltcal conventons, the 1925 scopes Monkey tral n Tennessee, the arrval

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of Charles Lndbergh n washngton after hs flght to Pars n 1927. sports events found a natural venue n rado. The 1927 Jack dempseyGene Tunney przefght was carred on 69 statons. one of the major concerns for newspaper publshers, however, was that the press assocatons were actually gvng nformaton to the rado statons before the newspapers had actually publshed the nformaton. They were fghtng a losng battle. Bowng to pressure from ther newspaper clents, the wre servces agreed to stop sellng ther news tems to rado statons. rado responded by gatherng the nformaton tself. Fnally, the newspaper-rado war of the 1930s ended wth UPI creatng a news report specfcally for rado broadcast. The AP fell nto lne shortly thereafter. whle news moguls were debatng what role rado would play n the gatherng and dssemnaton of news, there was no dspute over the new medum as a vehcle for entertanment. Amercas love of popular musc became apparent. dance musc and band leaders found a home on the rado. Just as sports fgures lke Babe ruth and Jack dempsey became celebrtes n part because of ther natonal exposure through rado, sngng stars lke Bng Crosby and Al Jolsen made a name for themselves over the arwaves. rado also appeared to be a natural venue for dramas, stuatonal comedes, and varety shows. The most endurng drama genre, the soap opera, traced ts begnnng to rado. The genre was so named because the syrupy romantc dramas wth ongong plotlnes that brought fans back to lsten day after day were sponsored by soap companes, most notably Proctor & Gamble. The frst soap opera was Guiding Light, whch came on the ar n 1937, made the transton to televson n 1952, and was stll broadcastng 70 years later. It s hard to separate the hstory of rado from the stores of the other meda wth whch t competed. It has bascally weathered four dstnct perods: 1890 to the 1920s, n whch rado was developng nto a dstnct medum; the 1930s to the 1940s, the golden age of rado programmng; the 1950s to the 1960s, the televson age, n whch rado needed to adapt ts programmng to accommodate the new medum; and the posttelevson age, whch contnues today.4 rado ncludes a wde range of programmng choces, ncludng calln shows, sports rado, shock rado, advce, ntervew, all-news, and commentary, n addton to the tradtonal musc statons. rado, however, enjoyed a short-lved perod as the entertanment medum of choce. whle t has contnued nto the twenty-frst century as a medum of news, entertanment, sports, and talk, ts nfluence s mnmal. Amercans gathered around ther rado sets n the 1940s to lsten to broadcasts from world war II, calmng words from Presdent roosevelt, and the musc, comedy, and dramas that had come nto fashon. That cozy tableau wth a rado n the center dd not last.

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whle the destructon of newspapers by the new medum of rado never materalzed, the second battle focused on how people chose to spend ther tme. The move ndustry, whch began n earnest n the 1920s, captured peoples attenton, and ther expendable ncomes. when televson arrved on the scene n the late 1940s, rado was pushed asde quckly. People moved ther chars from n front of the rado and settled down to watch an evenng of televson. rado has contnued as a secondary medum. People tend to lsten to rado whle they are dong somethng elsemost notably, drvng. Televson had the potental to snuff out rado and newspapers on all fronts: t could consume Amercans tme n the evenng, tme prevously spent readng newspapers or lstenng to rado; t could take a serous chunk out of lmted advertsng revenues; and t could be the medum of choce for vewers hungry for the days news. The shft dd not happen overnght. It soon became abundantly clear that newspapers could not compete on tmelness or mmedacy wth televson news. Amercansndeed, the worlds ctzensturned to ther televsons on November 22, 1963, when Presdent John F. Kennedy was gunned down n a motorcade n dallas, Texas. whle some afternoon newspapers publshed specal edtons to update ther readers on the natons tragedy, the publshed nformaton was outdated before the nk was dry. Three days later, the man suspected of beng the trgger man, Lee Harvey oswald, was shot on lve natonal televson. For newspapers, televsons ascendancy should have rased a red flag and forced publshers and journalsts to rethnk what they dd and how they dd t, but newspapers contnued to carry on busness as usual, despte other warnng sgnals. Newspapers had spent too many centures as the only game n town and were slow to react to change. They stll are. As the decade of the 1960s unfolded, televson demonstrated ts power as a news medum durng the Vetnam war, when Amercas confdence n ts government was shaken. Anger at U.s. polces n Vetnam was fueled by press coverage, especally the televson vdeo from southeast Asa. It was the frst tme Amercans wtnessed the horror of war on flm. They dd not lke what they saw. Amercans began questonng ther government and ther leaders n earnest. when U.s. presdent rchard Nxon ordered the nvason of Camboda n 1970, college campuses erupted n volence. one-thrd of the unverstes n the Unted sates were shut down that sprng n the wake of student walkouts, protests, and st-ns. Four students at Kent state were klled when the Natonal Guard n oho fred ther rfles nto the protestng crowd. Amerca was n crss. Then, durng the presdental campagn of 1972, the democratc Natonal Commttee headquarters at the watergate Hotel were burglarzed. Two local reporters for the Washington Post, Carl Bernsten and Bob woodward, began nvestgatng and reportng about the burglary

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and ts aftermath. Ultmately, ther reportng revealed a conspracy to cover up the nvolvement of hghly placed republcans and a campagn of drty trcks desgned to make the democrats look bad. The tral of responsblty led drectly to the whte House, and on August 8, 1974, Nxon resgned the presdency. As a result of ts coverage of the watergate affar, as t came to be known, the Washington Post newspaper won journalsms top award, the Pultzer Prze. socetal developments also had an effect on newspapers and ther readershp. The last half of the twenteth century saw a shft n the types of wrtng by journalsts. A second wave of new journalsm was evdenced begnnng n the 1960s wth wrters who took a fcton approach to nonfcton, book-length topcs. Truman Capotes In Cold Blood, seralzed n The New Yorker n 1965 and publshed n book form later that year, told the story of the senseless murder of a famly n Kansas. wrters lke Norman Maler, Tom wolfe, Jmmy Bresln, davd Halberstam, and Gay Talese were known for ths novel approach to news. A genre of book publshng, true crme, emerged from ths new journalsm. These edgy books complemented well the tastes of the Amercan publc, who were becomng enamored wth beng entertaned by televson. Another book genre, the kss-and-tell phenomenon, also emerged. Most notably, the 1977 publcaton of Mommy, Dearest, by Chrstna Crawford, lad out n gruesome detal the maternal mess that was her mother, the famous and glamorous move star Joan Crawford. It opened the floodgates. Tell-all books became popular. Magaznes that made publc the prvate lves of move stars and celebrtes prolferated. People Weekly, one of the proftable natonal magaznes owned by Tme Inc., and ts mtators gave rse to televson programs lke Entertainment Tonight, Extra!, and The Insider. The lnes between news and entertanment blurred. Is extensve reportng of stores lke the death of celebrty Anna Ncole smth and the ensung paternty battle over her baby daughter journalsm? when Fox News ntervews the contestants as they are voted off the ultrapopular American Idol song contest, s t news or blatant self-promoton? durng the twenteth century, the Unted states also saw the professonalzaton of the news reporter. early n the century, uneducated news hacks often rose from postons as copy boys nto full-fledged reporters. Ultmately, however, the route nto journalsm came from college, wth hundreds of journalsm programs sprngng up at unverstes around the country. Journalsts also became specalsts n ther beats, begnnng about 1960. Urban reporters, consumer wrters, and scence wrters joned the ranks of other establshed beats: war correspondents, poltcal wrters, foregn correspondents, and feature wrters. durng the 1970s, the envronment also became an establshed area for journalsts.

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Not only dd the type of journalsm change, but the professon was profoundly affected by technologcal advances throughout the century. whle reporters ntally pounded out ther stores on manual typewrters, they ultmately ended the century by carryng portable laptop computers wth them on assgnments. Conversatons could be recorded, frst on large, unweldy machnes, but n the 1980s, portable mnrecorders made that job smpler. In the 1990s, cell phones provded added flexblty, whle e-mal became a tool for ntervewng. The subjects of ntervews found comfort n ther ablty to wrte down the words that could be used as quotes, whle reporters were able to cast a wder net n researchng a story. The Internet also made journalstc research quck and effcent. what could have taken hours just 10 years earler could be had n an nstant. Trackng down a court opnon, for example, could have requred a journalst to travel mles to a courthouse and cost hundreds of dollars n photocopyng. wth the Internet, t could be located and prnted n mnutes. The wre servces also changed. The ncessant nose of newsrooms at mdcentury was caused by the clang-clang of the wre servce teletypes, whch became obsolete wth the shft to computer technology. That was not the only dfference. The ferce rvalry exhbted between the nonproft cooperatve, the AP, and ts for-proft counterpart, UPI, slowly faded. once consdered vtal for a large newspaper to subscrbe to both of the bg wre servces, that expense became a luxury as costs accelerated wth the years. The AP more often became the wre servce of choce, whle newspapers supplemented ther output wth one of the specalzed wres, lke the dow Jones, the Gannett wre, or the New york Tmes News servce. UPI changed hands repeatedly but clung to lfe by trmmng ts employees and lmtng ts offerngs. As UPI faded, the Brtsh wre servce, reuters, rose n promnence n the Unted states, wth ts focus on busness and nternatonal news. The declne of the ctes and the rse of suburba took ther toll on newspapers. In 1940, there were 181 ctes that had competng daly newspapers. That number shrank to 30 by 1981. New york Cty, once a mecca for newspapers, whttled down to three regular dales: the New York Times, the New York Post, and the New York Daily News. The Wall Street Journal also publshed fve days a week. Those four papers numbered among the top 11 papers n the country n 2006. Meanwhle, suburban newspapers grew n number and nfluence. Newsday, whch covers the mostly suburban Long Island, New york, was founded n 1940 and tapped nto the growng number of bedroom communtes that sprang up n commutng dstance to New york Cty. Newsday s the 19th largest newspaper n the Unted states, wth a crculaton n 2006 of 488,825, accordng to the Audt Bureau of Crculaton.5

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USA Today, founded by the Gannett newspaper chan n 1982, provded the naton wth ts frst truly natonal newspaper. wth 2.5 mllon crculaton, USA Today publshes fve days a week and looks the same no matter where t s purchased (by contrast, the natonal edton of the New York Times s a truncated verson of the edton that crculates n the New york metropoltan area). Although the U.s. journalsm communty ntally reacted to USA Today as f t were a bad joke, the newspaper ultmately made an ndelble mark on all U.s. newspapers. Its use of color, ts relance on graphcs, ts streamlned layout, and ts abrdged approach to news led journalsts to dub USA Today McPaper, flppantly callng t the fast food of newspapers. yet all Amercan newspapers, even the Gray old Lady (the nckname for the New York Times), have been affected by ts nnovatons. J ournalism o utside
the

m ainstream

Journalsm has long been a tool n the Unted states for people who lack a voce. whle the costs of a manstream newspaper ntally stood n the hundreds of thousands, daly newspapers today trade hands for hundreds of mllons of dollars. That prohbtve cost has always stood n the way of makng newspapers the voce of the lttle guy, but grassroots movements have long recognzed the power of modest methods n mass communcaton. In the nneteenth century, the aboltonst cause and the suffrage battle were waged n the press. Although manstream newspapers gnoredor worse stll, mockedthese socal justce crusades, the proponents found an outlet for ther arguments by creatng ther own newspapers. Aboltonst newspapers appeared early n the century. The Philanthropist was publshed n oho begnnng n 1817; the Manumission Intelligencer had ts home n 1819 n Jonesboro, Tennessee. The Genius of Universal Emancipation, the most nfluental of these early journals, was publshed by Benjamn Lundy begnnng n 1821. Lundy hred wllam Lloyd Garrson to work on the Genius. Lundy traveled the country drummng up readers and supporters to the cause, whle Garrson publshed the paper. Garrson and Lundy had phlosophcal dfferences that ultmately led to a splt and the publcaton of a new journal, Garrsons the Liberator. Garrson spewed fre. Hs strong language aganst slavery and the people who traded n t had tremendous shock value. He publshed for 30 years. Hs last ssue, on January 1, 1866, celebrated the ratfcaton of the consttutonal amendment to abolsh slavery. The black press was also born durng the nneteenth century. It marked ts foundng wth the publcaton of Freedoms Journal n 1827. By the tme the Cvl war began, about 40 black newspapers had been founded. Black newspapers, however, were poorly funded and slow to take hold, most certanly

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because of the lack of educaton avalable to the natons black Amercans and the hgh llteracy rates among slaves and free blacks. whle abolton clearly was an mportant topc n the black newspapers, they also were concerned wth the lves of black Amercans and provded news and nformaton about ths completely margnalzed and dsenfranchsed group. Black edtors and publshers numbered n the dozens, but most famous of all was former slave Frederck douglass. douglass escaped from slavery n 1838 and traveled wdely throughout europe, speakng on the horrors of the practce. when he returned to the Unted states, douglass began hs own publcaton, The North Star, n 1847. Many of Amercas suffragsts began ther actvsm n the aboltonst movement, where they often were treated lke second-class ctzens. Publcatons lke Amela Bloomerss the Lily and Paulna wrght davss the Una gave womens rghts the soft sell. elzabeth Cady stanton and susan B. Anthony would have none of that when they publshed the Revolution begnnng n 1868. A few years later, the Womans Journal began a 47-year tenure as the voce of the womans movement n Amerca. It was merged wth several other lke publcatons n 1917, just three years before the 19th Amendment to the Consttuton gave women the rght to vote n 1920. one major characterstc of the abolton and suffrage publcatons was that they suffered from a perpetual lack of funds. They were not alone. Any grassroots publcaton that reled mostly on the benefcence of ts readers, rather than the ncome of advertsers, could antcpate dffculty n meetng a payroll and fnancng the costs of prntng. In the 1930s, for example, dorothy day founded the Catholic Worker to spread the word of the roman Catholc socal justce movement. day began her journalsm career on the New York Call, a socalst newspaper, and the Masses. she began publshng the Catholic Worker n 1933 wth Peter Maurn. Publshed n the ktchen of a New york tenement, the Catholic Worker appealed to many of the Great depressons unemployed wth ts message of a benevolent, carng Church. day had to sell her typewrter to get a second edton of the monthly paper publshed. whle the crculaton of days newspaper has always been modest, ts success has always been n publczng the goals of the movement. day was not alone. I. F. stone, one of the earlest of the twenteth centurys alternatve journalsts, was a staunch opponent of senator Joseph McCarthys Communsm wtch hunt n the 1950s, when he began hs newsletter dedcated to lberal deals, I. F. Stones Weekly, n 1953. stones newsletter lasted untl 1971. stone and day are among a handful of wrters who are credted wth pavng the way for the underground press that began n the 1960s. These cheaply

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prnted newspapers were the forerunners to the now-popular newsletters that were made possble by personal computers n the 1990s. Underground newspapers were not confned by the dctates of far play and objectvty that often constraned manstream newspapers. The publshers of these radcal newspapers dd not worry about polte language and dd not care f they made enemes of the rch and powerful. At a tme when the naton was n turmol, when college campuses were hotbeds of unrest, when the cvl rghts movement was smmerng and the Vetnam war was trggerng ugly protests, the underground press fueled the fres. The Village Voice seems a manstream paper to many today, but t was consdered the most powerful voce of the underground when t began publshng n 1955. Rolling Stone, whch frst appeared n 1967, became a hugely successful commentator on popular musc and socety. other papers came and went. some publshed on college campuses, others at hgh schools. Today, the Internet has supplanted tradtonal newspapers or cheap newsletters n gvng a voce to the slent. The zne, a web magazne, was popular for a perod before blogs, short for weblogs, took over. Lterally mllons of blogs are publshed on the Internet, gvng voce to people who want to share ther thoughts, ther actons, ther prvate lves, and ther publc opnons wth an anonymous world. Lke the underground newspapers of the 1960s, whch abandoned the rules and customs of newspapers, the veracty and relablty of a blog s not guaranteed. often the ravngs of the passonate and rate, blogs have evolved from onlne dares nto a no-rules free-for-all. t eleVision Televson was ntroduced to the Amercan publc n 1939 at the New york worlds Far. There were a few hundred televson sets n the Unted states by then, and about 40 mllon rado sets, when Frankln d. roosevelt was televsed at the openng ceremones for the far. world war II slowed down the steamroller that televson ultmately became, and Fdr confned hs cozy fresde chats to rado, but the entertanment value of televson slowly emerged durng the 1940s. By october 1950, there were 8 mllon sets n Amercas homes. There was no turnng back. whle Johannes Gutenberg gets credt for the sxteenth-century nventon of the prntng press, and rado ponts to Guglelmo Marcon as ts nventor, televson can sngle out no one person. The technology necessary to translate both sound and pcture through the ar waves and nto peoples homes took many mnds. A few of the nnovators, however, stand out. In 1929, russan Vladmr Zworykn was workng for westnghouse n Pttsburgh when he nvented the cathode-ray tube, whch made the televson pcture possble.

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Meanwhle, Amercan engneer Phlo Farnsworth lays clam to producng the frst rudmentary televson broadcast n 1927. whle the engneers spent decades perfectng the scence behnd the technology, a true vsonary n creatng televson as the ultmate mass medum n the twenteth century was davd sarnoff. sarnoff honed hs communcaton sklls n rado. He understood that f rado was to be a mass medum, t had to be smple to use. Hs streamlned vson of a lttle box appealed to Amercan consumers. It worked. Then, sarnoff dversfed hs company, rCA, nto televson. determned to do for televson what he dd for rado, sarnoff had the frst televson studo bult n the empre state Buldng n 1932. The 1930s proved to be a decade of mere preparaton for the medum that was to come. Broadcasts occurred but were lmted, of poor qualty, and unavalable to all except the select few who had TV sets. It was not untl 1941 that the Federal Communcatons Commsson (FCC), whch had been establshed to sort out the rado ar waves, approved commercal broadcastng for 18 televson statons. They were approved to offer 15 hours of programmng each week. The federal government froze development of more statons durng world war II, and at wars end n 1945, only sx statons were stll on the ar. Televson as a powerful mass medum truly was born n the 1950s. It was then that the three networks, the Natonal Broadcastng Company (NBC), the Columba Broadcastng system (CBs), and the Amercan Broadcastng Company (CBs), soldfed ther postons. The networks traced ther roots to radoNBC was frst n 1928, when t establshed a coast-to-coast network of 58 statons. CBs appeared on the scene n 1929. ABC was the latecomer; t was formed n 1945, when NBC was forced to sell part of ts network by the FCC. The bg three ruled televson programmng for decades and were joned n 1987 by Fox Broadcastng. Later, UPN and the wB (warner Brothers) debuted n 1995 by focusng on programmng to lure young audences and Afrcan Amercan vewers to ther offerngs. UPN and the wB, whch often competed for the same audence, transformed nto one unt, the Cw network, n september 2006. Cable televson, whch actually had been operatng snce 1948, made t possble for remote areas to receve televson programmng. However, the bggest boon to cable came wth the advent of pay televson, for whch vewers pay a premum for extra televson statons. Home Box offce (HBo) debuted n 1972 and featured newly released moves that had never been seen on televson. It ultmately expanded ts programmng to nclude exclusve concerts, performances, sportng events, and ts own comedes and dramas, most especally the long-runnng Mafa drama The Sopranos. The

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1980s was a golden age for cable. The entertanment and sports Programmng Network (esPN) debuted n september 1979, whle the Cable News Network (CNN) was founded n 1980. despte skeptcs who predcted that an all-news or all-sports channel could never survve, those two channels thrved. As programmng on cable accelerated, more and more households made the converson. The Cabletelevson Advertsng Bureau asserted that nearly 93 mllon households (85%) n the Unted states used cable televson n 2005. The rules for cable televson were dfferent. whle standard televson programmng adhered to specfc rules and lmts that were montored by the FCC, cable televson flourshed wthout them. Comedans on network televson had to watch ther language and punch lnes, but cable televson provded a venue for adult stuatons, nudty, and rsqu topcs. Parents who objected to racy content had two choces: not buyng cable at all or programmng ther televsons to black out objectonable shows. Cable also served as the great meda equalzer. Televson was an expensve technology far beyond the means of the common person. Its ntal capablty was lmted to a small number of channels. Cables wde breadth of channels provded the possblty of access to a wder spectrum. Local access channels opened broadcastng to groups and communtes wthout extensve resources and allowed televson to provde news coverage that normally was reserved for small weekly newspapers. In addton to cable vewng, how Amercans watched televson was profoundly affected by the mass marketng of the vdeo cassette recorder (VCr) begnnng n the late 1970s. Two dfferent systems, the VHs and the Betamax, competed n the Unted states ntally, but VHs ultmately domnated. The advent of the VCr affected televson vewng n three major ways: frst, t opened up a rental market that allowed vewers to borrow moves and watch them at home; second, t allowed vewers to record ther favorte shows and watch them at ther lesuregone were the days when vewers had to stay home and watch ther favorte shows at an apponted tme; thrd, t allowed vewers to fast-forward past unwanted commercal advertsements. The VCr technology was slowly replaced by dgtal vdeo dsks (dVds), whch resemble musc Cds and computer dsks but allow televson programs and moves to be replayed on televsons. dVds were frst marketed n the md-1990s but slowly replaced VCrs as the state-of-the-art recordng method. The latest televson technologes to capture the pocketbooks of the Amercan people were flat screen TVs and hgh-defnton TVs (HdTVs). Flat screen televsons allowed consumers to hang ther sets lke a pcture on the wall, whle HdTV provded an ncredbly sharp, seemngly threedmensonal pcture. often, the two technologes were marketed together.

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Televson programmng n the Unted states ntally borrowed from rado. Comedes and dramas that had captured Amercas attenton on rado segued nto lve televson. The popular rado personaltes lke George Burns and Grace Allen broadcast ntally n both televson and rado, but televson clearly was more sutable to the stuaton comedes and soap operas that had been popularzed on rado n the 1930s and 1940s. Ultmately, rado abandoned ts pursut of these broadcasts and concentrated nstead on the news, talk, musc, and sports to whch t was more suted. Televson made bg celebrtes quckly. Comedan Mlton Berle became known as Mr. Televson because of hs understandng of and ablty to play comedy to a televson audence. He began hs shtck on televson n 1948 on the Texaco Star Theater varety show. People stayed home on Tuesday nghts to watch the program, whch was credted wth contrbutng to the sale of mllons of TV sets. Most programmng n the 1950s was broadcast lve. several genres emerged durng that tme and have remaned closely dentfed wth the medum. News broadcasts, both local and natonal, became a staple at dnnertme. Newscasters lke edward r. Murrow, walter Cronkte, and Howard K. smth made the transton to televson news. Murrow, whose voce calmed an anxous naton durng world war II, brought hs popular Hear It Now rado program to televson on CBs. See It Now began on televson n 1951 and was supplemented n 1953 wth hs Person to Person. Murrow tackled dffcult subjects n both of hs shows, most notably hs refusal to report objectvely on the hstroncs of senator Joseph McCarthy and hs campagn to root out hdden Communsts n Amerca. By the tme Murrow ded n 1965, walter Cronkte was seen as the face of news. on NBC, the news came to the Amercan people va the Huntley-Brinkley Report, featurng Chet Huntley and davd Brnkley as anchors, from 1956 to 1970. NBCs Meet the Press, whch premered on televson n 1947 (makng the transton from rado), s the longest-runnng program n U.s. televson hstory. NBC also popularzed mornng televson when The Today Show began n 1952. It made celebrtes of a seres of news ntervewers, ncludng Barbara walters, Kate Courc, Jane Pauley, Tom Brokaw, and Bryant Gumbel. The other networks mtated, but even nto the new mllennum, The Today Show was kng. The mmedacy of televson was ts strength. Amercans watched John F. Kennedy take the oath of offce as presdent n January 1961; they were glued to the televson when John Glenn made the frst manned orbt of the moon; they were transfxed when the much-loved Kennedy was felled by snper fre the followng year. when Nel Armstrong walked on the moon n July 1969, t was an event wtnessed by an estmated 600 mllon people back on earth, thanks to televson.

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NBCs Today Show draws large crowds to rockefeller Center every weekday mornng. AP Photo/Jason deCrow.

The love affar wth televson news contnued and accelerated, much to the chagrn of the presdents and ther admnstratons. The journalstc coverage of the Vetnam war n the 1960s and 1970s often s credted wth affectng ts outcome. Amerca had never seen a war up front and personal before because technology had stood n the way. But by the tme the U.s. nvolvement n Vetnam accelerated n the 1960s, televson was ready. For the frst tme, Amercans watched the war unfold n ther lvng rooms. The carnage was lve and n color. reported n newspapers and renforced on televson, the news from Asa was not pretty. Amerca revolted. The protests that erupted on college campuses and n washngton, d.C., were also played out on the evenng news. In March 1968, several hundred unarmed Vetnamese cvlans were slaughtered by Amercan troops n the vllage of My La. The devastaton was covered up by the army but made publc by a news reporter n November 1969. Two years later, the tral of Leutenant wllam Calley for mass murder led the natonal newscasts nght after nght. As the number of televson statons ncreased, broadcasters took advantage of the ablty to target both a local and a natonal audence. Local news shows usually focused on provdng vewers wth nformaton they needed to know: weather and traffc, crme and punshment, and government. Natonal news programs bascally syntheszed the natonal headlnes of the day.

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stuaton comedes, dubbed sitcoms, roared to popularty n the 1950s wth early shows lke Our Miss Brooks (whch had been a rado favorte) and Luclle Balls I Love Lucy. That comedy, whch lasted n varous forms nto the 1970s, garnered the largest televson audence of the 1950s, when 21 mllon famles turned on ther sets to watch the epsode when a pregnant Luclle Ball gave brth to her televson son, Lttle rcky, n January 1953. I Love Lucy also poneered the now-standard practce of tapng epsodes, thus creatng the concept of a rerun, whch allows the show to be shown over and over. In fact, TV programs sometmes earn more money after they offcally go off the ar by beng sold n syndcaton to televson statons that can re-ar them n a new tme slot. Seinfeld, a popular 1990s comedy about nothng, s the hghest-earnng stcom ever n syndcaton. As early as 1950, stcom producers ntroduced a laugh track nto ther shows. Ths canned laughter provded vewers wth cues on when to laugh and what was supposed to be funny. stcoms are the most endurng genre n televson entertanment. The Simpsons, an anmated show that actually parodes the genre, s the longest-runnng stcom n U.s. hstory. It premered n 1989 and was stll runnng n 2007. other popular stcoms over the years ncluded All in the Family, whch poneered the concept of btng

Will and Grace s one of the frst Amercan stcoms to address ssues wth homosexualty. Courtesy of Photofest.

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socal commentary n the 1970s wth ts bgoted leadng character, Arche Bunker; Friends, whch chroncled the lves of sx sngle New york frends; Cheers, whch centered on the lves of people who worked and hung out n a bar n Boston; and The Cosby Show, about the famly lfe of a lovable obstetrcan, played by Bll Cosby. Game shows also were popular n early televson, before they were rocked by a cheatng scandal that made producers shy away from the genre for a tme. The $64,000 Question was the CBs televson network program that brought the hammer down on game shows. Arng from 1955 to 1958, t was wldly popular and spawned mtatons at other networks, ncludng the show Twenty-one. The bubble burst when a contestant who lost on Twenty-one began talkng publcly about how the show was rgged. Congress got nvolved and ultmately passed a federal law barrng game tamperng. Game shows slowly reganed popularty n the 1960s and contnue to appeal to vewers today. Jeopardy!, whch frst ared n 1964, had several lves under several televson hosts, before t was broadcast n the early evenng begnnng n 1984 wth Alex Trebek as ts host. That game, whch provdes the answers and requres contestants to ask the questons, was stll on the ar n 2007. Produced by Merv Grffn, t usually ared just before or after Wheel of Fortune, a game that requred players to guess common word phrases by fllng n the blanks wth letters. The game show genre produced several other notable programs, ncludng the more recent Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, whch had dfferent versons n more than 60 countres around the word, and the granddaddy of them all, The Price is Right, whch began n 1956. Televson dramas take two forms: soap operas, a carryover from rado and stll a strong daytme staple on networks, and nghttme dramas, whch feature recurrng characters and often feature lawyers, polce offcers, detectves, cowboys, and doctors as the protagonsts. shows lke Perry Mason, Medical Center, Law & Order, Gunsmoke, Kojak, Matlock, and Marcus Welby, M.D., typcally last one hour and are self-contaned dramas. soap operas feature ongong story lnes, and they need to be watched daly to understand the story lne. Guiding Light, whch premered on televson n 1952, s the longest runnng of ths genre. Nghttme soap operas also have ther nche. Dallas, whch ran n the 1980s, was the most popular of ths type. The show created an nternatonal buzz when the leadng character was felled on the last epsode of the 1980 season and vewers had to wat untl the fall to learn the answer. sportng events were a natural draw for televson. Lve acton sports generate great exctement. In fact, t was the promse of one of the longestrunnng sports varety programs n televson hstory. spannng the globe to brng you the constant varety of sport . . . the thrll of vctory . . . and the

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agony of defeat . . . the human drama of athletc competton . . . ths s ABCs Wide World of Sports! was the voce-over ntroducton that opened the show, whch debuted n 1961, begnnng n the 1970s. The super Bowl has become a natonal televson event snce 1967, generatng a day of super Bowl partes and promptng advertsers to create custom-made commercals for the broadcast. In fact, the commercals, the half-tme show, the sngng of the Natonal Anthem, and the pregame events are often as much a part of the day as the game tself. Nnety-three mllon people n the Unted states watched super Bowl xLI n 2007, accordng to the Nelsen Meda research. In the early days of televson, the antcpated broadcast of a sportng event could generate sales of televson sets. The technology today has come a long way from the sngle, black-and-whte camera postoned along the thrd base lne for the Prnceton-Columba baseball game n 1939.6 some of the earlest broadcasts ncluded the baseball world seres and boxng bouts. Televson was, n some nstances, able to delver a better game than would be had at the ball park. The nstant replay, whch was put to lmted use n 1955, allows vewers to decde whether offcals got the call rght. Powerful and senstve cameras postoned n the outfeld allowed fans to call balls and strkes. The 1st and 10 lne provdes televson vewers wth a vrtual yellow lne that marks the next frst down. Fnally, no dscusson of televson genres would be complete wthout reportng on the most recent development, the realty show. Candid Camera featured people caught lookng foolsh on hdden camera, and the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, a talent show, both debuted on televson n 1948, but the genre never ganed the knd of wld devoton t experenced n the new mllennum. In the Unted states, the most recent forerunner of the genre was probably The Real World on MTV. A group of young people who lved together were flmed n ther daly lves. Then, competton was added to the genre n 2000 wth the show Survivor, whch brought a group of contestants to a remote sland, challenged them wth physcal hurdles, and then had them voted off the show one by one. American Idol, a sngng competton that allowed vewers to vote for ther favorte contestants, began n 2002 and enjoyed the dstncton as the most popular show on televson n 2007. realty televson was kng n the frst decade of the new mllennum and ncluded off-beat and sometmes bzarre shows lke Wife Swap, where two mothers changed places for a week; Nanny 911, n whch a Brtsh nanny taught parents how to control ther wld chldren; The Bachelor, n whch a man got to woo a cadre of beautful women and get rd of someone each week; and Extreme Makeover, n whch a person was completely redone usng plastc surgery.

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Survivor started a new trend n Amercan televson. A combnaton of realty TV and game show, contestants are placed on teams and are gven physcal and mental challenges. At the end of each epsode, one person s voted off of the show. Courtesy of Photofest.

C inema The story of Amercan moves traces ts begnnngs to the nneteenth century, but the ndustry really was a chld of the twenteth century. In the Unted states, nventor extraordnare Thomas A. edsons preoccupaton wth capturng movng objects on flm fueled a $44 bllon ndustry n 2006. From the fve-second black-and-whte flm Fred Otts Sneeze, whch featured edsons assstant n 1894, the move ndustry burst on the entertanment scene. whle the newspaper ndustry fought off competton from other meda, the flm ndustrys story s one of adaptaton. Televson, VCrs, dVds, payper-vew, and other nnovatons could have decmated the flm ndustry, but nstead, t has thrved. The move ndustry s a vtal and vbrant ndustry that n the Unted states generates about 600 flms each year.7 It s the Unted states bggest export. Flmmakng n the Unted states began modestly enough. edsons Black Mara studo n west orange, New Jersey, began producng flm shorts, ncludng a 20-second popular tem, The Kiss, whch created a furor and was

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notable for startng the dscusson of censorshp n regard to flm as early as 1896.8 early short flms found an audence n ctes at Knetescope Parlors, whch allowed vewers to see snppets of flm by payng 25 cents, an exorbtant prce at the tme. The Great Train Robbery, produced n 1903 by one of edsons employees, edwn s. Porter, was notable for ts creaton of the modern flm technque of usng several camera postons for the same scene and then edtng the flm to enhance suspense, create tenson, and mprove the narratve. That 12-mnute slent flm also gave rse to the western flm genre. Flms found a home at the nckelodeon, move houses where vewers could see a seres of short flms begnnng about 1905. They spread quckly around the Unted states, creatng a huge demand for new flms. Thus an ndustry was born. By 1909, there were 9,000 move theaters n the Unted states. Amerca was not alone n ts nterest n the buddng flm ndustry. Foregn flms lke The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari n 1919 (from Germany) and others found audences n the Unted states and contrbuted to the developng artstc technques that ncluded both drecton and camera work. whle the narratve story emerged quckly as the vehcle for popular flms, the flms themselves were short, lastng only about 12 mnutes (one reel), untl davd wark Grffth developed an nterest n drectng. Grffth had been hred as an actor n edsons studo but lked beng behnd the camera nstead. He convnced fnancers to back hs dea for a longer, melodramatc approach to the cnema. Grffth not only nfluenced the development of the flm ndustry wth hs nnovatve deas, but he also was at least partly responsble for the concentraton of the busness n the Los Angeles neghborhood we know as Hollywood. Grffth was workng for Bograph as a flmmaker, when he was sent to Calforna wth a troupe of actors n 1910 to flm In Old California. The resdents of the Hollywood neghborhood welcomed the actors. The rest s hstory. Hollywood, the locaton, has become synonymous wth Hollywood, the flm ndustry, and whle not all moves are flmed n Hollywood today, t s wthout a doubt the captal of the movemakng ndustry, not just n the Unted states, but n the world. Grffths cnematc contrbutons ncluded the development of a fulllength feature flm. He also began the long-held tradton of translatng a novel nto a flm. Grffth purchased the rght to the Thomas dxon novel The Clansman, and began flmng. when The Birth of a Nation was released n 1915, t ran a whoppng 3 hours and 10 mnutes and changed the drecton of flm producton. The Birth of a Nation, whch presents the story of the Cvl war and reconstructon from a southern perspectve, has been dsmssed as a racst nterpretaton of hstory, but n terms of cnematc development, ts

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mportance cannot be overstated. It frmly establshed the concept of storytellng and proved that vewers were wllng to st stll and watch raptly f the move was presented n a grppng fashon. It also establshed Grffth as a powerful force n the ndustry. Grffth contnued hs flmmakng career, and other drectors mtated hs methods. Another early nnovator was Mack sennett, who worked wth Grffth but left n 1912 and started hs own studo, Keystone. sennett had a knack for comedy and was adept at preservng the humor whle flmng. He was responsble for the development of the bggest star of the slent flm era, Charle Chapln. Most famous for hs persona of The Little Tramp, Chapln donned a bowler hat, sported a tny mustache, and twrled a cane n flms, whle he became embroled n rdculous, and funny, predcaments. Chapln regned supreme throughout the slent flm era of the 1920s but faded as a leadng man after sound was ntroduced wth the move The Jazz Singer n 1927. The slent flm era ncluded the development of seral stores that were updated perodcally, a precursor to the soap operas of rado and televson. Notable n ths group was The Perils of Pauline, whch began n 1914 and featured a damsel n dstress who was regularly saved from burnng buldngs, ralroad tracks, and the sde of a clff. The seres played on the concept of a clff-hanger endng that brought the vewers back to see the next epsode. The mpact of sound n flm hstory s enormous. Audences flocked to The Jazz Singer and clamored for more. Actors whose voces dd not lend them to flm were swept asde n favor of those who were photogenc and whose voces were pleasant. Movemakng grew nto an ndustry that was centered around a few powerful studos. The studo system, as t came to be known, revolved around fve companes: rKo, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, MGM, and warner Brothers. Most of the fnancally successful flms of the 1930s and 1940s were produced and dstrbuted through these studos. despte the desperate fnancal stuaton of many Amercans durng the Great depresson of the 1930s, people went to the moves. whether t was to escape ther dreary exstence, or lve vcarously through the exotc lves of flm stars, or merely to pass the tme for a few hours, Amercans loved the moves. As move producton and technques became more sophstcated, the flm ndustry became the levathan of the entertanment ndustryabout 80 mllon people (more than half the U.s. populaton) went to the moves every week. Flms lke Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz n 1939 showcased the ndustrys storytellng and technques n lvng color. The 1930s also saw the ntroducton of feature-length anmaton, most notably the work of master anmator walt dsney. dsney studos foray nto flmmakng began wth Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs n 1937 and

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contnued wth such nstant classcs as Pinocchio (1940) and Sleeping Beauty (1959), to name a few. even after dsneys death n 1966, and nto the new mllennum, dsney studos contnued ts preemnent poston among anmators wth flms lke The Lion King (1994), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Tarzan (1999). world war II saw the flm ndustry become an arm of U.s. propaganda. some leadng drectors, ncludng Frank Capra and John Ford, actually made flms for the government. stars lke Clark Gable, who actually joned the army, and hs wfe, Carol Lombard, who ded n a plane crash durng a campagn to sell war bonds, typfed Hollywood patrotsm durng the war. Newspapers were not the only medum threatened by the nventon of and consumer love affar wth televson. The 1950s and 1960s saw the rse of televson as a promnent and popular medum. Hollywood quaked. The studo system faded, whle Amercan flms tred to demonstrate that watchng a flm n a theater was a bgger and better experence. As the nfluence of Hollywood spread around the world, flmmakng branched nto many genres. Muscals were made possble when sound was ntroduced n 1927; flms lke Singin in the Rain n 1952 and The Sound of Music n 1965 are stll consdered classcs. Muscals are stll a vable genre. Chicago won the Academy Award n 2002, whle Dreamgirls was crtcally acclamed n 2006. The romantc comedy genre made stars of Cary Grant, dors day, rock Hudson, and Jmmy stewart begnnng n the 1930s. Movegoers came to expect nal-btng suspense flms whenever Alfred Htchcock drected, and hs flms, ncludng Rear Window, The Thirty-nine Steps, Vertigo, and North by Northwest, delvered spne-tnglng fear n vewers. drector John Ford and star John wayne typfed the western genre, whle Frank Capra focused on uplftng, happy endngs typfed by the stll popular Chrstmas classc Its a Wonderful Life or the patrotc and nspratonal Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It would be remss not to note the contrbutons of current-day drectors and actors. drector George Lucass sx-part star wars epc revved the scence fcton genre wth the release of the frst flm, Star Wars, n 1977. steven spelberg s one of the foremost contemporary drectors and producers, whose oeuvre ncludes 1975s Jaws; 1981s Raiders of the Lost Ark, whch launched Harrson Ford to superstardom; and 1993s best pcture, Schindlers List, whch also won hm hs frst Academy Award for Best drector. other leadng drectors of contemporary Hollywood ncluded woody Allen, Martn scorsese, olver stone, spke Lee, Penny Marshall, and Quentn Tarantno. Among move actors n 2007, Keanu reeves raked n about $206 mllon for hs work n the Matrix sequels; Tom Cruse, Tom Hanks, and

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Jack Ncholson were also good dealmakers by nsstng on a percent of the box offce. whle other meda compete for Amercans tme and can lure them away from theaters, the moves are stll kng. In 2006, the Moton Pcture Assocaton reported that the total U.s. box offce take came to $9.49 bllon, wth Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest pullng n $423 mllon. yet whle gong to the moves s stll a vable actvty, Amercans are ncreasngly stayng home to watch ther flcks. In the Unted states, 37 percent preferred to watch moves n the comfort of ther own home, accordng to the Moton Pcture Assocaton.9 That trend began n the 1980s, when the VCr frst was made avalable n the Unted states. Vdeo stores allowed consumers to rent relatvely newly released moves to watch at home. The technology shfted n the late 1990s to dVds, but the home market remaned strong. Cable televson also entered the fray wth pay-per-vew technology that allowed consumers to watch feature flms and on demand offerngs. The story of flm censorshp n the Unted states s almost as old as the ndustry tself. As early as 1907, nckelodeons were shut down for allowng chldren to vew napproprate short flms. The flm ndustry wasted no tme polcng tself. By 1916, the Natonal Assocaton of the Moton Pcture

The moves n the Pirates of the Caribbean seres have been some of the worlds hghest-grossng flms. Courtesy of Photofest.

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Industry was formed to oversee flm content, and when that faled, to satsfy crtcs, flmmakers created the Moton Pcture Producers and dstrbutors of Amerca, led by former postmaster wllam H. Hays. The assocaton accepted a Producton Code, whch came to be known as the Hays Code, n 1930. Ths self-censorshp ntatve was responsble for shapng the treatment of sex and volence n Hollywood n the 1930s. some dd not thnk t went far enough. The Catholc Legon of decency was formed n 1934 to combat what t beleved was a corrupton of morals by the flm ndustry. The lst created by the Legon condemned certan moves t deemed napproprate for anyone. others t lsted as approprate for chldren or for adults. The lst lasted untl 1978 and condemned such moves as From Russia with Love, Rosemarys Baby, and Grease. In 1968, the Moton Pcture Assocaton of Amerca created ts own voluntary flm ratng system, whch s stll n use today. The ntal system ncluded the ratngs G for general audences, M for mature audences, r for restrcted (under 16 not admtted wthout a parent or guardan), and x for no one under 17 admtted. The system has been fne-tuned over the years to nclude the PG (parental gudance suggested) and PG-13 (parental gudance suggested for age 13). whle the earlest flm actors were anonymous, the star system emerged durng the 1920s. The Marx Brothers eptomzed comedy; Jean Harlow was a vamp; edward G. robnson was a gangster; Bela Legos was typecast n horror flms; Cary Grant and Clark Gable were two of the earlest leadng men. As Hollywood actors and actresses became celebrtes, they were able to command large sums of money for ther work. Hollywood became known as Tnseltown. The success of the 1939 flm Gone with the Wind ushered n a golden age for Hollywood. The move, based on the runaway best seller by Margaret Mtchell, won 10 Academy Awards n 1939 and held the record for makng money for many years, before contemporary tcket prces knocked t out. It stll holds the record for the most tckets sold. The Academy Awards to recognze achevement n flm were begun n 1929 n Los Angeles. The wnners were gven a dstnctve gold statuette of a man to honor ther achevements. Legend has t that flm star Bette davs, who won two and was nomnated 10 tmes, dubbed the statue oscar because t remnded her of her frst husband. Held annually n the sprng, the oscars attract an nternatonal audence and generate hoopla for celebrtes, who prance along a red carpet nto the audtorum. whle other countres have establshed notable flm ndustres, most especally Japan, Inda, and Italy, Amercan flms are the undsputed world leader. In fact, as movegong habts shfted wth televson vewng and then the VCr technology that brought the theaters nto homes, Amercan flmmakers

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turned ncreasngly to the export market to make up the fnancal dfference. By 2007, more than half of Amercan flm revenues came from the foregn market, forcng flmmakers to pay attenton to how a move wll play wth foregn audences. It was by no means a one-way street. Increasngly, Amercans were open to vewng foregn flms. The Chnese flm Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon grossed $128 mllon n the Unted states n 2000. m agazines everyone reads magaznes n the Unted states. Amercans can be found thumbng through pages n doctors and dentsts watng rooms, at the barbershop, and even n lne n the supermarket. Magaznes, whch are often hghly specalzed, are bg busness. In 2005, the average crculaton for all magaznes was a whoppng 369,620,102that s more than one magazne for every man, woman, and chld. The Magazne Publshers of Amerca estmates that 84 percent of the populaton over age 18 reads magaznes, whle t counts 18,267 separate ttles, wth 6,325 consumer ttles.10 In fact, n 2005, 350 new ttles were ntroduced, most focusng on the nche marketng that has been so successful for magazne publshers. whle broad-based magaznes lke Newsweek and Time contnue to attract readers, publshers are more lkely to fnd success ntroducng publcatons that fll small markets, such as Arthur Frommers Budget Travel, Acoustic Guitar, and Bow & Arrow Hunting, to name a few. Magaznes began n the Unted states n 1741 n the Amercan colones. Ben Franklns General Magazine debuted three days after hs rval, Andrew Bradford, crculated hs American Magazine n January 1741. The colones mght have been ready for one magazne, but two was just too much. Nether succeeded. wthn sx months, they had both folded. over the next three decades, magaznes tred to gan a foothold n the colones, but none thrved. whle newspapers became mportant propaganda tools durng the revoluton, they were unable to garner a stable crculaton base. From the onset, magaznes were a potpourr of many topcs. Poetry, essays, poltcs, and the arts came together under one cover. The paper was cheap newsprnt, and the covers were plan. Artwork and llustraton were uncommon, although Paul revere provded a seres of cartoon engravngs on copper for the Royal American Magazine that was publshed just before the war began. In all, 98 magaznes were publshed durng the eghteenth century, but one by one, they succumbed to economc realtes. Magaznes durng that century were anythng but vehcles for mass crculaton and hovered at a crculaton of about 500.11 It was not untl the nneteenth century that magaznes grew to be a staple of news and nformaton. The Saturday Evening Post began publshng n

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Phladelpha n 1821. Around ths tme, there also was a growth n lterary magaznes and relgous publcatons. Intally, magaznes appealed to the upper classes, wth ther lterary content and the hgh subscrpton costs. yet that characterstc faded as the century, wth ts swellng lteracy and educaton rates, progressed. Harpers Monthly and Atlantic Monthly appeared at md-century and catered to lterary mnds, but publcatons lke Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper and Harpers Weekly drew a more popular audence. The llustratons n these magaznes, especally durng the Cvl war, appealed to the masses and paved the way for the pcture magaznes lke Look and Life that captured Amercan magnatons begnnng n the 1930s. The age of muckrakng was most vsble n magaznes begnnng about 1900. McClures magazne had been founded n 1893 by samuel McClure, who charged only 15 cents for each edton. By 1900, t had a sold crculaton of 350,000, when t began pokng ts nose n the publcs busness. wth sold staff wrters lke Ida Tarbell and Lncoln steffens, McClures was posed to make some nose. It became known as the most rgorous of the muckrakers after the publcaton of Tarbells expos of the abuses of standard ol and steffenss seres of artcles on publc and poltcal corrupton. The fervor of muckrakng magaznes faded wth the onset of world war I. A new type of magazne emerged n the decade followng the war. The weekly news magaznes that we stll know today trace ther roots to ths perod. Time magazne was founded by Henry Luce and Brton Hadden. Haddens nvolvement was short-lved, and the magazne n many respects reflected the tastes and poltcs of Luce. The frst ssue appeared on March 3, 1923. The news was mostly nformaton rewrtten from the weeks New York Times. edtoral analyss was a part of the news coverage. The success of Time gave way to other ventures, ncludng Fortune, Life, and Sports Illustrated, all of whch survve to date. Time remaned the most robust of the newsweekles, rankng 11th n crculaton, wth a weekly crculaton of 4 mllon. Newsweek, founded n 1933, ranked 16th, whle the thrd popular news magazne, U.S. News and World Report, ranked 32nd. The mportance of womens magaznes and ther growth throughout the nneteenth century cannot be overstated. womens place was the home and ts domestc responsbltes, and womens magaznes celebrated ths sphere of nfluence. Godeys Ladys Book, whch set the standard for womens publcatons for about 70 years, was begun n 1830 as the Ladys Book by Lous Godey. He then purchased the Ladies Magazine and merged the two publcatons nto Godeys Ladys Book and hred as ts edtor sarah Josepha Hale. Godeys publshed orgnal materal at a tme when many magaznes were merely repostores for prevously publshed artcles. Hale sought out the natons popular authors and poets for her monthly magazne and was re-

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warded wth the lkes of Harret Beecher stowe, edgar Allan Poe, Nathanel Hawthorne, and others. The magazne also provded women hungry for the fashons of europe wth llustratons of the latest dress styles. The magazne declned n popularty after the Cvl war and eventually ceased publcaton n 1898, but ts nfluence on generatons of womens magaznes s ndsputable. Its mx of fashon, lterature, and domestc, health, and chld-rearng advce s evdenced n magaznes even today. As Godeys crculaton waned, Ladies Home Journal ganed ground. It topped the 1 mllon crculaton mark n 1889, provdng short stores, seralzed novels, good artwork, and the promse, n an age of dsreputable advertsng, that t montored the clams of ts advertsers. In an era when newspaper and magazne edtors were celebrtes n the way that move stars are today, Ladies Home Journal s edtor edward w. Bok, who took the rens n 1890, was the vsble head of ths womens publcaton for 39 years. The Seven Sisters, a term that referred to the most powerful womens magaznes of the twenteth century, ncluded Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, McCalls, Redbook, Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, and Womans Day. These were the bggest guns n the womens magazne category, wth astoundng crculatons throughout most of the twenteth century. McCalls, ntally a vehcle to sell McCalls dress patterns to consumers, had a crculaton of 6 mllon at ts peak n the 1960s. In response to the growng popularty of O, the Oprah Magazine, the Hearst Corporaton monthly that debuted n 2000, McCalls changed ts name to Rosie n 2001 n an attempt to serve as a platform for talk show celebrty rose odonnell. That relatonshp flopped, and the magazne folded n 2002. All of the other seven ssters stll publsh. Better Homes & Gardens, wth a crculaton of 7.6 mllon, was the ffth largest magazne n the country at the end of 2005. Good Housekeeping was seventh, wth 4.6 mllon; Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, and Womans Day rounded out the top 10, accordng to the Audt Bureau of Crculatons. O enjoys a 2.5 mllon crculaton and a natonal rankng at number 23.12 whle tradtonal womens magaznes enjoy healthy crculatons, nche magaznes are the prevalng trend today. Magaznes lke Southern Living, Brides, Parents, Endless Vacation, and Cooking Light reled on smaller crculaton populatons but featured readers hungry for nformaton about ther topcs. By playng to small pockets of readers, magaznes have managed to thrve durng a tme that newspapers saw ther nfluence wanng. The largest-crculaton magazne n the Unted states n 2005 was the AARP magazne, wth a 22.6 mllon pad crculaton (membershp n AArP was consdered a subscrpton to the magazne); the AARP Bulletin ranked second, followed by Readers Digest. That monthly magazne, whch began n 1922, was the branchld of dewtt wallace and featured artcles condensed

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from other publcatons. That formula s stll successful today. A staple for years n doctors and dentsts offces, the Digest also reled on monthly regular features, ncludng humor columns that featured pthy anecdotes sent n from readers. The oldest contnually publshed magazne, the New England Journal of Medicine, began n 1812. m edia
in the

t wenty - first C entury

In 2005, the Kaser Foundaton asked 8- to 18-year-olds to descrbe what meda they had used the day before. The results are enough to send fear nto the hearts of some of the meda. eghty-one percent of the group had watched televson for an average daly tme of a numbng three hours and four mnutes. Twenty-one percent of the group had watched for more than fve hours. Ffty-four percent had used the computer for recreatonal purposes totalng an hour. Thrty-four percent had read a newspaper (that fgure contrasted wth the 42% who had glanced at a newspaper fve years before). The term glanced s correct, ndeed, because the average tme the group had looked at the newspaper was sx mnutes. Magaznes fared slghtly better: 47 percent had read a magazne n 2004 (compared to 55% n 1999). The average nteracton lasted 14 mnutes.13 If ths, then, s the future of the meda, tradtonal newspapers and magaznes have reason to be concerned. Newspaper readers are a loyal group, but t s a learned habt, and clearly the younger generaton s not takng to t. By contrast, 67 percent of adults over age 65 read a newspaper n 2006. The bad thng about that group s that they have a tendency to de; just two years earler, that fgure had been at 74 percent. Another natonal survey n 2005 showed that 59 percent of people get ther news from local televson, whle 38 percent read a local paper, and only 12 percent read a natonal newspaper.14 The demands for lesure tme are great. electronc explosons contnue wth new and better gadgets ntroduced each year before the holday buyng tme: televson, Tvo, Pods, Play staton, satellte rado, cell phones, Blackberres, sdekcks, and always new and better computers. Newspapers have been forced to change. Internet stes lke Crags Lst, eBay, Monster.com, and Autotrader have taken a bte out of the once lucratve classfed advertsng. Combned classfed ads peaked n 2000 wth earnngs of more than $19.6 bllon. Those dollars are slppngby 2003, the total had slpped to $15.8 bllon, accordng to the Newspaper Assocaton of Amerca. Classfed ads had provded a cash cow for years; they were cheap to produce, wth lttle overhead but a typst. Now, newspapers are fghtng to regan ther poston as the purveyor of classfed ads by makng allances wth onlne provders.

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overall, the future s grm for newspapers. Proft margns have sld from 26 percent n 2000 to about 17 percent n 2007.15 Crculaton was also slppng, even though 51 mllon people stll buy newspapers. The smartest news organzatons have accommodated the change and embraced Internet avenues. Newspapers, for example, have banded together to create a natonal employment servce, CareerBulder, to challenge the domnaton of Monster. In other advertsng areas, the well-beng of the newspaper revenues reflects the health of busness and ndustry n general. Fewer large department stores translate nto fewer sunday ad sectons. A downtrend n home sales means a dp n real estate advertsng. Not all the news for newspapers s dsmal. some newspaper companes have taken a lesson from magazne publshng and turned to nche publcatons. The Miami Herald, for example, has a separate daly edton n spansh for ts large Hspanc populaton. Gannett, the countrys largest meda conglomerate, has 90 newspaper markets but more than 1,000 nche publcatons n those areas, focusng on travel, health, and other topcs of nterest to ts readers. some newspaper companes have dversfed onto the Internet, buyng onlne companes or establshng jont ventures wth some of the onlne gants. The message to newspapers s clear: change or de. Newspapers are the oldest form of mass communcaton, but n the twentyfrst century, they consttute just one aspect of an ncreasngly complex meda system that s constantly evolvng. The Unted statesndeed, the worlds n the mdst of a communcaton revoluton whose ultmate outcome cannot easly be predcted. How Amercans wll nteract wth ther meda n the future s fodder for scence fcton wrters. Much s at stake. The future of journalsm as a professon s unclear. News organzatons have turned to ther vewers and readers to provde nformaton. Audences respond to nstant pollng because t gves them a chance to have ther voces heard. Popular televson programs lke American Idol can generate mllons of vewers votes: 74 mllon votes were cast n the American Idol fnale n 2007. News outlets get hundreds of thousands of votes when they ask vewers ther opnons on topcal survey questons, and when a news outlet lke CNN asks ts vewers to submt news tps and stores, they respond. The news outlet then shares vdeo clps of dramatc fres, eyewtness accounts of natural dsasters, and frst-person stores of human nterest. The Internet, wth ts unlmted capacty for news, has opened the news hole. when news rado wINs tells lsteners, you gve us 22 mnutes, well gve you the world, t underscores the fact that the rado staton only has 22 mnutes worth of news and nformaton. Network news shows last 30 mnutes, ncludng commercals. A typcal newspaper s 60 percent adverts-

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ng, 40 percent news stores. Thus the role of edtor ncludes the burden of gatekeepng: decdng what news s and what s not. The Internet, wth ts lmtless capacty, negates that role. News meda can post any number of stores on ther stes and let the reader or vewer decde what he s nterested n. The communcaton revoluton contnues. Lke wnston Churchlls qup durng world war II, ths revoluton s nowhere near ts end. It s not even the begnnng of the end, but t s, perhaps, the end of the begnnng. where t s headed s unclear. The only thng that s certan s that t wll contnue to be one heck of a rde. n otes
1. Jont statement by wllam P. Van Ness and Nathanel Pendleton on the duel between Alexander Hamlton and Aaron Burr, New York Morning Chronicle, July 17, 1804, reprnted n Lous L. snyder and rchard B. Morrs, eds., A Treasury of Great Reporting (New york: smon and schuster, 1962), 3839. 2. Frank Luther Mott, American Journalism (New york: Macmllan, 1962), 438. 3. Mott, American Journalism, 679. 4. M. Thomas Inge and denns Hall, eds., The Greenwood Guide to American Popular Culture (westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002), 4:1466. 5. Audt Bureau of Crculatons, Top 100 Newspapers n the Unted states, March 31, 2006, Informaton Please database, http://www/nfoplease.com/pea/ A0004420.html. 6. see sports and Televson from the Museum of Broadcast Communcatons, http://www.museum.tv/archves/etv/s/htmls/sportsandte/sportsandte.html. 7. see the Moton Pcture Assocaton of Amerca statstcs, http://www.mpaa.org. 8. A tme lne of flm ndustry development can be seen at http://www.flmste. org. 9. For current flm ndustry statstcs, see the Moton Pcture Assocaton statstcs at http://www.mpaa.org. 10. see The Magazine Handbook, Magazne Publshers of Amerca, http://www. magazne.org. 11. sammye Johnson and Patrca Prjatel, Magazine Publishing (Lncolnwood, IL: NTC/Contemporary, 2000), 49. 12. Audt Bureau of Crculatons, Top 100. 13. Use of Indvdual Meda by All 8 to 18 year olds, n Generation M: Media in the Lives of 818 Year-Olds (Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaser Famly Foundaton, March 2005), 2333. 14. News source: where People Get News, Pew Internet Project december 2005 survey, http://www.nfoplease.com. 15. Anya Kamenetz, Publc Interest, Fast Company 114 (2007): 38.

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B iBliograPhy
Cousns, Mark. The Story of Film. New york: Thunders Mouth Press, 2004. daves, davd r. The Postwar Decline of American Newspapers, 19451965. westport, CT: Praeger, 2006. emery, Mchael, edwn emery, and Nancy L. roberts. The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media. 9th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. endres, Kathleen L., et al., eds. Womens Periodicals in the United States: Consumer Magazines. westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. endres, Kathleen L., et al., eds. Womens Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues. westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. Inge, M. Thomas, et al., eds. The Greenwood Guide to American Popular Culture. Vols. 14. westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Johnson, sammye, et al. Magazine Publishing. Lncolnwood, IL: NTC/Contemporary, 2000. Martn, shannon e., et al., eds. The Function of Newspapers in Society: A Global Perspective. westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. Mrald, robert, ed. The Muckrakers: Evangelical Crusaders. westport, CT: Praeger, 2000. Mott, Frank Luther. American Journalism: A History, 16901960. 3rd ed. New york: Macmllan, 1962. Project for excellence n Journalsm, et al. The State of the News Media, 2007: An Annual Report on American Journalism. http://www.stateofthenewsmeda.com. sloan, wllam davd. The Media in America: A History. 6th ed. Northport, AL: Vson Press, 2005. snyder, Lous L., et al. A Treasury of Great Reporting. New york: smon and schuster, 1962. washburn, Patrck s. The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom. evanston, IL: Northwestern Unversty Press, 2006.

8
Performng Arts
Pamela Lee Gray

The thng about performance, even f ts only an lluson, s that t s a celebraton of the fact that we do contan wthn ourselves nfnte possbltes. sdney smth (17711845)

Americans love to be entertaned. American Idol, Ted Macks Amateur Hour, and a host of other smlar televson and rado programs broadcast over the decades llustrate the Amercan fascnaton wth lve performance, professonal or amateur. A century ago, socal commentators argued whether the country should conscously develop a shared performance culture. Instead, the geography of the Amercan contnent nfluenced development of a regonal character, and nstead of sculptng a shared dentfable tradton, these regonal styles, along wth some borrowed elements from the countrys mmgrants, created a unque culture n theater, musc, and dance. t heater early Amercan theater mmcked european performances and actng technques. Although records are ncomplete for ths perod, most theater scholars name Anthony Aston as the frst professonal actor n Amerca n 1703. (Aston was, however, preceded by Natve Amercan sprtualsts who regularly played roles n rtuals.) wllamsburg, Vrgna, boasted a dance school and theater as early as 1716. Phladelpha constructed a playhouse where Pckleherrng peces, a genre of actng that followed european clownng technques, were performed. The Cty of Brotherly Love was the center of
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colonal theater actvty untl 1825. walter Murray and Thomas Kean took smple shows on tour through many of the colones. Charleston surged ahead of the other colonal ctes wth a new theater constructed n 1736; at that tme, the New york Cty theater scene paled n comparson.1 The London Company of Comedans (later changed to the Amercan Company), led by Lews Hallan sr., and then by davd douglas, held a monopoly on professonal theater productons from 1752 untl 1755, when Hallans son took over hs fathers part of the team. The par constructed and revtalzed theaters throughout the colones, much to the dsapproval of relgous groups, who held that plays advocated mmoral behavor (despte the subttle A Moral Dialogue attached to most plays ttles). douglas bult two of the most mportant theaters n the colones n New york n the 1760s and put on the frst play wrtten by a natve playwrght. The Contnental Congress banned all stage performances n october 1774, but Amercan playwrghts contnued workng even as Brtsh troops captured ctes and put on ther own mltary performances n the colonal theaters. The perod after the revolutonary war was a tme of rapd theater constructon, as actng companes returned and new troupes were formed. French-speakng theaters were constructed n New orleans and Charleston. New york challenged Phladelpha for the ttle of theater captal of the colones but was not recognzed as a serous contender untl 1800.2 There s a percepton n Amerca of a clear dvson between art and the busness of art. Vaudevlle and muscals were consdered a separate venue from Chautauqua and operatc performances. eghteenth- and nneteenth-century promoters of stage muscal and dance performances found that producton funds were easy to obtan f the act was perceved as havng a reasonable moralty, but more mportantly, a chance for wdespread popularty. stephen Prce, the frst professonal manager n Amerca, began promotng european actors n the Unted states n 1809. Amercan actors, however, were not cast n mportant plays n europe untl much later. edwn Forrest was the frst Amercan actor to make a name abroad. Playwrtng contests, begnnng n 1828, encouraged homegrown Amercan wrtng. As the Unted states acqured land wth each act passed by Congress begnnng n 1815, theaters and actng companes moved nto the new terrtores. Floatng theaters were located on showboats that traveled the Msssspp rver. The Boston Museum began ts stock tourng company n 1841, and the troupe prospered for nearly 50 years. san Francsco receved professonal actng troupes from the east n 1850; actors were well compensated for ther long journey and for facng dangers n the western terrtores. The 1850s establshed a clear Amercan tradton on the stage, wth the hgh perod for theater profts runnng from the Cvl war era untl 1915.

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Matlda Heron, an actress wth an overtly dramatc technque, rose to fame n 1857 n hstorcal costume dramas that were all the rage. Most of the plays, f vewed today, would be consdered campy wth ther stlted, unnatural dalogue, but the theater moved toward a more realstc approach n the followng decades. The melodrama, a style that rose to popularty n the 1860s, always had a dramatc turnng pont such as the rescue of someone (usually a damsel ted to ralroad tracks). one of the most famous of the moral plays was Uncle Toms Cabin, whch opened n 1852 wth a mostly whte cast n blackface. Blacks played other roles, but not the major parts n the producton. Translatons of French plays were also popular durng ths decade. By the 1870s, plays about socal ssues were n vogue; comedes and dramas covered tmely ssues. Terrtoral expanson and the rse of the Amercan west was a popular topc that algned wth the phenomenal sales of the dme novels, purportedly chronclng the lves and tmes of gunslngers, outlaws, and mysterous natves of the new terrtores. A star system developed begnnng n the 1880s, wth edwn Booth, edwn Forrest, and Charlotte Cushman commandng top salares. John drew and Georgna drew Barrymore (an ancestor of the contemporary drew Barrymore) followed. Popular actors, pror to the turn of the century, regularly bult ther own theaters to showcase ther talents.3 Crcuses attracted crowds n europe, and ths performance tradton was brought to the colones. The frst tented show was used n 1825 for the ( Joshua Purdy) Brown and (Lews) Baley Crcus. Ths allowed flexblty n foldng up the tent and transferrng the performers, anmals, and temporary structures to a new cty along the route. Pror to that tme, crcuses requred large structures or constructon of a sempermanent buldng for even the smallest shows. wth names such as the Great overland, dog and Pony, and the wld west show, troupes of acrobatsperformers sklled n shootng, knfe throwng, and horseback rdngbrought to eastern ctes a stylzed verson of the west.4 Buffalo Bll and Pawnee Bll had travelng shows that recreated fctonalzed battles between Natve Amercans and cavalry troops. Buffaloes were transported from town to town n an attempt to recreate the west for eastern audences. The largest modern crcuses were the rnglng Brothers, founded n 1886, and C. F. Baley & Companys Famous Menagere, collected orgnally n 1870 by P. T. Barnum to tour under the name Grand Travelng Museum, Menagere, Caravan and Crcus. when the two combned, they came close to lvng up to the bllng Barnum used for the company, The Greatest show on earth. The crcuses of Baley and Barnum, when combned wth the huge tourng company of the rnglng BrothersGus, Alf, Al, Charles, John, and otto of Baraboo, wsconsnwere wthout competton n 1907

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for the ttle of greatest on earth. rnglng Bros. and Barnum & Baley shows contnue to perform today, wth two tourng troupes throughout the Unted states and Canada. each year, a performer s selected to be the featured headlner for marketng the tour.5 Part of the early spectacle of the crcus featured a person on horseback serenadng the audence n the sawdust rng. sprtuals were frequently sung, and ths tradton was adopted n the later mnstrel format. The organzatonal structure of the mnstrel show was establshed between 1843 and 1850. edwn P. Chrsty made hs name synonymous wth ths type of theater as the whte-faced master of ceremones, known as Mr. Interlocutor, who drected the three dstnct parts of the producton: the formal openng, wth an ntroducton; the second secton (the olo), whch featured a collecton of varety acts, ncludng at least one long speech and a man dressed n womens clothng actng n a so-called wench segment; and the fnale, later known as the walk around, that showed the actors promenadng around the stage, remndng the audence of ther part n the varety porton of the show. The fnale of the longer productons ncorporated a short play, usually depctng plantaton lfe, or a watered-down verson of a well-known shakespearean tragedy. The musc was an mportant feature of mnstrel shows. To the audences rght was a banjo or tambourne player, whom the master of ceremones referred to as Mr. Tambo (and later as Mr. Lean). The left sde of the stage featured a man, Mr. Bones or Mr. Fat, who played rhythm wth wooden spoons or bone clappers. In the center rear stage was a group of sngers and dancers, gven names such as Congo Melodsts or New orleans serenaders, who added varety to the performance n between acts. Addtonal nstrumentaton was also located to the rear of the stage and ncluded bass, drums, and fddles. The early mnstrel bands were the precursors to the modern jazz band n formaton and the types of nstruments used. The stage became an oval of talent, wth the guests performng n the mddle facng the audence. The repartee and nteracton was fast, and the humor was under the drecton of a competent Mr. Interlocutor. People from all socal classes and relgons attended mnstrel shows; unlke burlesque and later vaudevlle performances, most mnsters dd not speak from the pulpt aganst attendance at mnstrelsy. Mnstrels popularty lasted untl the 1870s, when Afrcan Amercan actors and performers began to be used wth whte actors n performances and theater constructon became more wdespread.6 Burlesque used the mnstrel show format but expanded the type of performances to nclude more leg. In an age when the uncovered ankle or wrst would brng more than a rased eyebrow, the appearance of legs (even seen through thck tghts) was shockng to moralsts. The most popular burlesque

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frst arrved from europe, and the best-known actress was Lyda Thompson, who led a troupe of Brtsh Blondes that flled theaters n the late 1870s and the early 1880s. Burlesque, too, developed ts own unque format. The frst secton of the show featured only sngng and dancng women (a rarty n early theater) and male comedans. The second secton followed the format of the mnstrel shows wth varety acts, and the thrd part offered the walk around, or grand fnale, wth fnely dressed but scantly clad women paradng on the stage. Ths walk was later taken on a long lghted runway that extended out nto the audence. The early burlesque shocked sensbltes wth the fact that female performers were ncluded n usual entertanment fare, but the farther west the theater genre moved, the rowder and rawer the burlesque became.7 The Zegfeld Folles, the branchld of Florenz Zegfeld, proved that sex dd sell. Zegfeld used the French Foles Bergre as nspraton for hs annual extravaganza that ncluded modelng, posng, and female formatons by hs famous Zegfeld grls. He clamed hs productons glorfed the Amercan grl, though the earlest featured the european actress Anna Held. In hs producton Miss Innocence (1908), each female was dressed elegantly, often n an elaborate headdress. Held and Zegfeld splt n 1913, but he contnued to produce large-scale muscals wth other stars. snger edde Cantor, comedans w. C. Felds, wll rogers, and Fanny Brce, and pared dancers featurng the latest dance steps were featured n the vaudevlle-type Folles shows. Irvng Berln was a regular composer for the troupe, and Joseph Urban lad out the artstc desgn for the elaborate stagng and set decoraton. The Folles began n 1907 and ended n 1928, and then Zegfeld transferred hs stagng to the bg screen n a seres of flms that ncluded elaborately choreographed dance productons before he ded n 1932.8 The Mnsky Brothers (Morton, Blly, Abe, and Herbert) made burlesque nto an art form from 1900 untl 1935 from ther chan of theaters n New york. Belly dancers were frst ntroduced, and then lghted runways, and ultmately performances showcasng strp tease dancers wearng twrlng tassels, a costume nnovaton ntroduced n 1921. Gypsy rose Lee, Anne Coro, wlle Howard, Jacke Gleason, and Phl slvers (who would later become famly favortes on televson) as well as Abbot and Costello (flm comedans after ther stnt n burlesque) were well-known burlesque entertaners untl 1942, when burlesque was banned. The remanng performers went nto strp clubs and Las Vegas shows n the early 1950s, after the crcut was shut down by polce enforcng pornography laws.9 Vaudevlle was a varety show that developed from crcus performances, the varety porton of mnstrel, burlesque, and patent medcne shows. The term vaudeville was used early n the 1870s by Benjamn Frankln Keth,

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consdered to be the Father of Vaudevlle. Keth opened hs own theater and museum n Boston n 1883, and from the profts, he then constructed the Bjou Theater. Hs productons followed strct standards of acceptable performance, allowng workng-class Amercans to attend n large numbers. edward F. Albee later joned Keth as a partner, but the team had ferce competton. The two men were able to control the crcut untl well after Keths death through the establshment of bookng agences such as Unted Bookng Artsts and the Vaudevlle Managers Assocaton; these lmted the acts partcpaton n theaters that the team dd not own. They poneered the use of contnuous shows lastng 12 hours, wth performances by 710 lve acts. Performers n upscale vaudevlle and tradtonal theater houses had only two performances each day. Vaudevlle never ded, but rather faded away wth the nventon of rado and expanded constructon of nexpensve move palaces. Many popular actors of the 1920s through 1940 traned n vaudevlle, ncludng Bob Hope and Al Jolson. over 25,000 performers graced the vaudevlle stages from the 1880s through the 1920s.10 Theater fans make a clear dstncton between regonal theater and the rural theater of summer stock, even though summer stock usually attracted audences from a specfc regon. The dstncton between the two s that regonal theater was consdered hghbrow and summer stock lowbrow. regonal theater had professonal actors, playhouses, and productons, whle summer stock frequently used amateur actors, some of whom even pad to be nvolved n the performances. Ths should not dmnsh the sgnfcance of summer stock n buldng culture n rural Amerca. As the once-massve Chautauqua crcut faded, summer stock theater rose to popularty n the 1920s and 1930s n the Northeast. Professonal and amateur actors, stage crews, producton desgners, and drectors were hred each summer to put on a group of plays, or a new play each week, n ndependent theaters that attracted upper- and mddle-class vacatoners from nearby summer resorts. some theater hstorans clam that summer stock s the only true regonal theater n the Unted states. englsh and early Amercan theaters had resdent actor stocks, but summer stock dd not operate year-round. englsh theater companes dd not have a separate group to be nvolved exclusvely n summer productons. summer stock theaters operated durng the months of June to september, from Mane to Vrgna to Pennsylvana n the west. By the 1930s, some houses offered tourng companes, and most had a permanent playhouse. summer stock venues ranged from converted barns to small theaters constructed specfcally for the permanent summer company. early playhouses used local talent, then shfted to the star system that employed a featured actor (often on hatus from Broadway shows that were closed durng the hot summer months of July and August), and fnally used a combnaton of the

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two durng the 1960s. Playwrght eugene oNell premered hs frst work n summer stock at the Provncetown wharf Theatre n Cape Cod, Massachusetts, n 1918. summer stocks popularty frst came wth the automoble, whch allowed escape from the summer heat of the cty, and the new road system that made gettng to rural resorts easy.11 Amercan theater came nto ts own durng world war I. european plays and actors were not vstng as frequently, and the nfluence from europe on Amercan stagng and plays was mnmal. The Frst Internatonal exhbton of Modern Art, held n 1913 at the buldng that normally housed the 67th regment Armory n New york Cty, wth ts Amercan and european pantngs and sculpture, challenged the tradtonal defnton of art and encouraged people workng on the stage, and n set and costume desgn, to take greater artstc rsks. The Broadway theaters n New york became the center of Amercas theater world at the turn of the century, routnely takng productons from Phladelpha and Chcago. durng the depresson years of the 1930s, theaters receved funds from the Federal Theatre Project, a part of Presdent Frankln delano roosevelts works Progress Admnstraton (wPA) that provded salares for unemployed desgners, wrters, actors, and stage workers. The program, under the drecton of Halle Flanagan, came under fre n the late 1930s for employng members of the socalst and Communst partes and for producng works that attacked bg busness. The Living Newspaper, a short-lved experment n theater desgn, was abandoned when federal fundng was abruptly cut after elected offcals objected to crtcsm from the quckly wrtten plays that nterpreted the economc, poltcal, and socal ssues from the front pages of the news. The electrc ndustry was mocked for the hgh prces for servce n the play Power.12 The perod from 1900 to 1932 saw theaters n New york Cty dwndle from 5,000 houses to only 132. Travel was lmted durng the depresson and world war II due to fuel shortages and restrctons on hard-to-fnd products such as natural rubber, whch was used to manufacture automoble tres. After world war II, there was a resurgence n theater and summer stock productons. The decades between 1945 and 1965 are consdered the brghtest of the Broadway stage. The plays or muscals of Lerner and Loewe, Tennessee wllams, rogers and Hammersten, wllam Inge, and Arthur Mller were performed to small audences n theaters that were bult decades before, wthout expensve audo and lghtng equpment: the play was the thng. Muscals starrng shrley MacLane, dramas wth headlners such as Geraldne Page and Marlon Brando, and plays and shows that reman on Broadway n revvals todayWest Side Story, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desirewere frst performed n ths perod.13

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durng ther heyday, the summer theaters brought recent Broadway hts, comedes, and melodramas to new audences. Between 1930 and 1960, summer stock employed more theater folk than any other venue n Amerca, ncludng Broadway. The Ford Foundaton, under the drecton of w. MacNel Lowry, gave generously to the arts, but by the 1960s, the mddle classes could travel by ar to exotc locatons, and attendance at summer stock venues and on Broadway fell. Many small Broadway theaters and summer stock venues could not attract enough revenue and were abandoned. A few regonal theaters contnue to perform hstorc dramas; roanoke Island, North Carolna, Tamment n the Pocono Mountans, and Green Mansons n the Adrondack Mountans reman n operaton today.14 Fundng has always been a concern for theater productons, and the federal government created assstance n the form of the Natonal endowment for the Arts, whch provded nearly $3 mllon n grants n 1966 and ncreased the fgure each year untl t reached over $162 mllon n 1995. After a long perod of ncreases, the legslature was motvated by consttuent letters over fundng for art that offended some sensbltes and took a red pen to the arts budget, reducng fundng to $99 mllon. durng the perod from 2004 through 2007, the fundng remaned around $124 mllon for future years.15 Amercan theater frequently expermented wth avant-garde productons n the decades between 1920 and 1970, notably n theaters appealng to workers and unon members. The workers Theater, workers drama League (later called the New Playwrghts Theater), and the Theater Unon put on performances to llustrate the struggles of the workng class and promote a poltcal transformaton n Amerca. The 1950s and the early 1960s saw lttle expermentaton n the manstream theater, but the late 1960s nto the 1970s were much dfferent. The open Theater performances attempted to elmnate the nvsble barrer between the actors and the audence and meld them together n plays such as The Mutation Show by Joseph Chakn (produced off Broadway) and the Bread and Puppet Theaters Fire, whch challenged Amercas poston as aggressor n Vetnam. sttng was not an opton at Fire, as symbolc masked fgures were allowed the freedom to move through the audence n a theater devod of tradtonal seats.16 There were only 23 regonal theaters n the Unted states n the early 1960s, but by 2007, the number had mushroomed to over 1,800. Many are new structures wth state-of-the-art lghtng and sound systems. The smaller venues offer new playwrghts an opportunty to get produced wthout the large fnancal losses a Broadway producton could ncur. some famous wrters prefer to test a new play n a small venue before openng a Broadway play or tourng producton. The top fve regonal theaters year n and year out

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n the Unted states nclude the old Globe Theatres n san dego, Calforna; the south Coast repertory n orange County, Calforna; the Goodman Theater n Chcago; the Amercan repertory Theater n Cambrdge, Massachusetts; and the Guthre Theater of Mnneapols, Mnnesota. The Guthre contnues to lead all small theaters n the country, wth 32,000 season tcket subscrbers. Playwrghts such as Arthur Mller have premered works on ths stage wth the companys seasoned actors. Theater founder sr Tyrone Guthre drected the frst producton, shakespeares tragedy Hamlet. The project grew out of a plan that Guthre made wth olver rea and Peter Zesler to establsh a resdent actng company and a venue to stage the classcs, far away from Broadways glare and pressure for success. The group dd not select Mnneapols; n fact, the cty selected the Guthre planners. A drama secton appeal n the New York Times brought offers from seven ctes, but Mnneapols brought more than nterest: t brought fundng and cooperaton wth the theater arts program at the Unversty of Mnnesota. The T. B. walker Foundaton donated land and a szable fund to be put toward the theaters constructon. wth Ford and McKnght Foundaton grants provdng mones for constructon and operaton, the Guthre opened n 1963. The focus of the Guthre has changed wth the appontment of each new artstc drector, but over the decades, the theater has been gven a Tony Award for outstandng contrbutons to Amercan theater and s routnely ncluded n lsts of Amercas best regonal theaters. It now ncludes a tourng theater group and a lab theater that explores the works of contemporary playwrghts.17 whle regonal and local theaters have ganed audences, Broadway fans have seen a declne n offerngs snce the md-1960s. stage productons have been transformed nto flms on a regular bass snce the begnnngs of the flm ndustry, but playwrghts have also taken flms and transformed them nto stage shows. The most notable seres of successful plays adapted for screen are those of the Marx Brothers. Brothers Harpo, Chco, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo clowned ther way to Broadway success n nearly a dozen shows. However, only two of the recreated stage plays, Duck Soup (1933) and A Night at the Opera (1935)productons not usually noted as hgh artare lsted by the Amercan Flm Insttute among the 100 most sgnfcant flms n move hstory. The Wiz, a restagng of the 1939 classc move The Wizard of Oz, won Tony awards for choreography and costume desgn n 1975. The stage verson of the 1951 flm Sunset Boulevard receved crtcal acclam when t was ntroduced n London and then toured the Unted states n the 1980s. More recently, modern flms that are box offce successes wthout crtcal acclam have made ther way to Broadway. Legally Blonde and Hairspray jon remakes

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The Broadway show Rent struck a chord wth audences n the 1990s. Courtesy of Photofest.

of dsney anmated features and have drawn a new generaton of theatergoers. Popular musc from the 1960s s currently featured on Broadway n Jersey Boys (chronclng the lfe of the Four seasons sngng group) and Dream Girls (a fctonalzed portrayal of Motowns supremes). High School Musical, a popular dsney televson move wth a plotlne revolvng around muscal theater, has drawn teen and tween wannabes to Broadway n droves. Broadway shows are experencng longer lves for productons and muscals. Cats, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, and Phantom of the Opera are currently n contenton for record-breakng runs on Broadway.18 s ymPhoniC m usiC
and

o Pera

The evoluton of classcal musc performance n Amerca has always suffered somewhat from what mght be called a fronter mentalty. Two and a half centures ago, f someone n town owned a voln, there could be musc for a vllage dance. However, f the vllage had to be defended n battle, or f everyone was needed to brng n the harvest, the voln was packed away n ts case and stayed there untl lesure tme returned. Amercan socety has always vewed serous musc as a luxury, not a necessty. when an economc recesson looms n modern tmes, chartable gvng to symphony orchestras

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falls off steeply; when school leves fal, the frst programs to be cut are musc and the other artsthat s, f they had not been dscontnued n favor of the study of math or scence years before. what s remarkable s how far the performance of classcal musc n Amerca has come. Folk musc, church musc, and any number of sngng styles came over wth the frst mmgrants. Parents who could afford nstruments and musc lessons had ther chldren study the pano or the voln, and musc was made n the homevoce and keyboard, soft-toned classcal gutars, even a strng quartet. Chors could always be mustered even n small towns, and any talented snger drew an audence; but n tmes when concerts of orchestral or chamber musc were exceedngly rare events, Amercans apprecaton of nstrumental musc was honed by playing t, not lstenng to t. The natons frst major symphony orchestra, the New york Phlharmonc, was formed n 1842. over a perod of many years, a Bg Fve of symphony orchestras arose, comprsng some of the oldest from the bggest ctes. The Boston symphony orchestra (1885), the Phladelpha orchestra (1900), the Chcago symphony orchestra (1891), and a relatve newcomer, the Cleveland orchestra (1918), joned the New york Phlharmonc n an unbreachable clque that perssts to the present day. despte ascents to fame by other fne orchestrasthose of st. Lous, Cncnnat, san Francsco, Baltmore, Pttsburgh, Mnneapols, and Los Angeles, just to name a fewthe Bg Fve have always pad the hghest salares, receved the most lavsh fnancal endowments, attracted the top conductors and best players, made the most recordngs, and retaned ther mystque even durng perods of artstc declne. opera houses also acqured a herarchy. No Amercan house wll ever overtake the fame of the Metropoltan opera n New york Cty, even f other superb companes, such as the Chcago Lyrc opera or those of Houston or san Francsco, occasonally mount better productons.19 It s no accdent that the majorty of Amercas most prestgous muscal organzatons are east of the Msssspp rver: out west, musc lovers had to wat longer whle cow towns slowly morphed nto cvlzed metropolses. Many mllonare Amercan ndustralsts lavshly supported ther home ctes cultural nsttutons, not only out of local prde, but also to attract executves and keep them n town. durng the nneteenth century, as wth theater productons, much of Amercan art musc was mported from europe: famous composers, sngers, volnsts, pansts, and conductors toured the Unted states, and some of them stayed. one hundred years ago, when Vennas master conductor Gustav Mahler rehearsed the New york Phlharmonc, he spoke German to the muscans because so many of them were mmgrants from Germany and Austra.

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only gradually dd Amercan muscal educaton begn to produce muscans compettve wth those of europe, and as of a century ago, no Amercan composer had made a true nternatonal reputaton. on the other hand, n the early decades of the century, the top opera sngers, such as enrco Caruso, were as fascnatng to the masses as rock stars are today. The twenteth century saw a remarkable rse n Amercan muscal prestge. europeans, ncludng conductors Arturo Toscann and George szell, tenor Caruso, panst Arthur rubnsten, and soprano Mara Callas, contnued to domnate the Amercan muscal landscape. However, by the 1940s, the musc of Amercan composers, such as George Gershwn, Aaron Copland, and samuel Barber, attracted nternatonal attenton, Afrcan Amercan sngers Maran Anderson and Leontyne Prce were major stars, and a young man from Boston, Leonard Bernsten, was enterng the prme of a career that would outshne that of any other Amercan muscan. Classcal musc performance n the Unted states n many ways reached ts golden age n the late 1950s, wth Bernstencomposer, panst, educator, and the frst Amercan to be gven the post of musc drector of the New york Phlharmoncbecomng a popular televson dol wth hs Omnibus and Young Peoples Concerts. Bugs Bunny sang wagner, comc actor danny Kaye conducted orchestras, and a great many young Amercans learned nstruments and played n school ensembles. The rse of the muscans unons gave professonal players protecton from the long-held tyranny of conductors, and the top Amercan orchestras began to be recognzed as the most techncally accomplshed ensembles n the world.20 A gradual declne set n begnnng n the 1960s. Amercan composers, many now tenured on unversty facultes and safe from the whms of audence tastes, began wrtng cerebral musc that left the publc behnd. recordngs, whch had been benefcal n spreadng classcal musc to the masses, also lessened the motvaton for people to learn to play nstruments themselves or to attend publc performances. As the century waned, the natons tastes changed. Televsed sports domnated weekends, and attenton spans grew shorter as TV shows, wth commercal breaks every few mnutes, took frm hold of the publc. Classcal musc, long perceved as a pleasure manly for the elte and educated, began to fall vctm to the tradtonal Amercan suspcon of anythng hghbrow. rock n roll, r&B, and country musc, explodng n popularty, requred no background muscal knowledge to enjoy. As the world economy shfted, major Amercan corporatons were acqured by overseas concerns, and ther sense of oblgaton to local Amercan cultural nsttutons vanshed. rch famles shfted ther attenton to the humantes, rather than the arts, and ndvdual chartable gvng faded as the baby boomer generaton came to power.

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Ctng a lack of nnovatve and magnatve composers focusng on ther audence, but nstead wrtng wth an eye toward the hstory of musc and theory, one south Afrcan musc scholar has suggested that classcal musc ded as early as 1950, after makng a slow declne from 1939: musc scholars, unversty-traned theorsts, and ntellectuals made up more and more of the concert audence, and the publc less and less.21 After 1970, most school systems cut ther strng orchestra programs entrely, and the remanng wnd and brass students were buser wth marchng band than wth concerts. Fewer and fewer youth wanted to learn the clarnet or trombone snce playng gutar n a garage band was undenably cooler. Many Amercan classcal musc nsttutons, saddled wth huge fxed costs and accustomed to beng baled out by deep-pocketed donors, began to langush n an era when even a nonproft entty must pay ts own way or vansh. The Tulsa (oklahoma) Phlharmonc, one example out of many orchestras that have suffered, faced a mllon-dollar defct and was forced to cancel the remanng concerts n ts 20022003 season.22 Classcal rado statons changed format to sports, lght rock, or talk. Most symphony orchestras felt they had to play more pops concerts to stay afloat, n the process further dumbng down the publc taste, just as Broadway was reduced to adaptng more popular moves and cartoons for stage productons. Most record companes had ceased to record classcal musc by the end of the twenteth century, wth classcal releases today averagng only about 100 new dscs a year, compared to nearly 700 n the 1980s. A top classcal artst such as cellst yo-yo Ma s far better known for a crossover Cd wth pop star James Taylor than for hs recordng of the Bach sutes. The Three Tenors, Placdo domngo, Jose Carreras, and Lucano Pavarott, helped accelerate these trends durng ther 1990 concert tour: operatc hgh ponts for whch audences used to happly wat an hour or more were now strung together n machne-gun fashon.23 Classcal musc exsts n todays manstream meda only as endlessly repeated excerpts of four or fve tred favortes, grotesquely compressed nto background musc for TV commercals. In the wake of september 11, 2001, Amercan phlanthropy n the performng arts dropped off grevously, whle the panstakngly bult endowment funds of opera companes and symphony orchestras dropped precptously wth the stock market. The marketng of many classcal solosts and sngers now depends more on ther physcal and photogenc appeal than ther muscal artstry. The hgh costs of tckets are another barrer to popularty: theater managers mantan that the prce of a tcket covers less than half the cost of the producton today. Tcket prces for the New york Phlharmonc n 2007 rvaled those of top-rated rock acts, and most orchestras perform today wth only 6065 percent of audence seats flled.

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savvy symphony promoters realzed, wth the success of Lttle ensten and tops of the charts classcal musc Cds for chldren, that f ther organzatons were to survve, they must hook parents on the dea that classcal musc provdes chldren a head start on sklls necessary for college and success n lfe. The Internet asssted n ths project. The san Francsco symphony and the Boston symphony orchestra developed kds stes offerng nteractve games, mages, musc feeds, and downloads, but kds are not the only group who requre educaton n the classcal lterature. Most orchestras now provde adult educatonal concerts and concert prevews to educate the audence about how to apprecate the muscal works and bographcal background of the composer. For lsteners who do not care to dress for a performance n formal wear or even long pants, many orchestras now offer casual dress concerts. Most symphones now program wth a hook, such as a meet-and-greet sngles event. orchestras have seen ncreases n attendance when a te-n to televson or popular culture s used, such as votng off a secton of the orchestra or playng move musc whle screenng slent flms. opera companes have found some success n projectng superttles (translatons of opera texts) on a small screen above the stage. The Met reached some new audences n 2006 wth lve closed-crcut hgh-defnton televson broadcasts (shown across the country n move theaters) of Mozarts The Magic Flute, staged by the producer of The Lion King, wth the musc severely shortened to cater to modern attenton spans. despte all efforts, classcal musc, never attractve to a major percentage of the publc and now scantly funded, hovers on the edge of rrelevancy, whle TV realty shows, NAsCAr, American Idol, and ultmate fghtng defne the pop culture trend n Amercan tastes. If the complete dsappearance of classcal musc n Amerca seems unlkely, so does a sgnfcant comeback. d anCe Amercan dance dd not break away from the european nfluence untl the ntroducton of modern dance n the early 1920s. dance became a hot topc n Amerca and garnered major press coverage when the frst belly dance was performed at the worlds Columban exposton n 1893. early dance performances catered to specfc ethnc groups, featurng wooden shoes or clogs. Clog dancers were frequently used as comc relef n varety shows and performed the clown dances. Modern clownng, or krumping, shares smlar moves wth break dancng. Mltary cloggng and clog dances were often part of local varety shows, and a novel form of the dance became popular wth the mnstrel and vaudevlle shows. Clog shoes and acrobatcs were featured n a bzarre performance that requred the dancer to do steps atop

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a pedestal. The smaller the tap area, the larger the audence the performer would draw. Amercan classcal dance performances reled heavly on european ballet, and untl choreographer Vaslav Njnsky and composer Igor stravnsky premered Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring ) n Pars n 1913, all ballet followed strct conventons for performances. The Rite flew n the face of the classcal tradtons of both musc and dance, and polce were called to restore order n the audence after fghtng broke out between supporters and detractors of the new forms. russan promoter serge daghlev was qute pleased wth the open controversy. Amercan ballets were nspred by ths creatve mpulse n ballet and began to nterpret dance n ther unque way. Portons of The Rite of Spring today reman standard repertory for many professonal companes.24 Amerca developed a rch ballet and modern dance tradton. Amercan dancer Isadora duncan nspred modern dance wth her so-called free dance performance n 1899. Her lght, free-form costumes, bare feet, and long, flowng har shocked the dance and theater world n Unted states, but audences n Pars loved her. duncan returned to the Unted states wth dancers Loe Fuller and ruth st. dens to set the stage for a transformaton of the way n whch dance was perceved. Formal dance, hard-toed shoes, and strct nterpretaton gave way to open, nterpretatve dance performed n flowng costumes. duncan was klled n a freak car ncdent when her scarf became tangled n the wheel of her sports car n 1927 at the age of 49, but ruth st. dens and her husband, dancer Ted shawn, carred on the modern dance tradton n ther school that opened n 1914. Ths group of dancers, ncludng duncan, shawn, and st. dens, are now called the frst generaton of Amercan modern dancers. dors Humphrey, Charles wedman, Martha Graham, and edna Guy, students at the denshawn school, became the second generaton. Martha Graham danced at denshawn untl 1923, when she became a prncpal solost n the Greenwich Village Follies three years later. Graham contnued choreographng and started her own modern dance company, overseeng t untl her death n 1991. The company carres on her vson today n performances around the world.25 Ted shawn was nstrumental n developng the role of the male dancer beyond partnerng the female n lfts and turns. Ted shawn and hs Men dancers gave ther frst performance n Boston n 1933 and changed the world of dance. shawn revolutonzed dance performance, both n hs methods and n the promoton of the art form. Hs students would become the future leaders of dance n Amerca. Merce Cunnngham, Alvn Aley, robert Joffrey, Agnes de Mlle, and Pearl Lang all benefted from hs nstructon,

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mentorng, and promoton. shawns festval Jacobs Pllow, establshed n 1932 as a home for Amercan dance and a center for hs company, s Amercas longest contnuously runnng dance festval. It offers dance workshops, professonal performances, and tranng, wth over 80,000 vstors attendng classes and performances each summer. shawn ded n 1972 at the age of 81, but Jacobs Pllow, named for the farm n the Berkshres n western Massachusetts where the festval s held, contnues to share Papas sprt of the dance.26 snce the organzaton of the Ballet Negre, founded by Katherne dunham n 1930, detractors of Afrcan Amercan dancers as professonals clamed that they were not suted to perform classcal ballet owng to dfferences n the european and Afrcan body styles. Afrcan Amercan dancers were requred to overcome both racal and artstc dscrmnaton. edna Guy and Hemsley wnfeld danced First Negro Dance Recital in America n 1931, and by 1937, eugene Von Grona created the Amercan Negro Ballet wth dancer James weldon Johnson, garnerng favorable revews from major whte news sources. The Negro dance Company, created by Felca sorel and wlson wllams, danced the choreography of Ann sokolow, a dancer traned by Martha Graham. Afrcan Amercan dancer Katherne dunham, apponted the drector of ballet for the Federal Theatre Project n 1938, performed n Tropics and Le Jazz Hot n New york n 1940, whch establshed her as a sought-after star. That same year, her dance troupe joned the Broadway muscal Cabin in the Sky, an allAfrcan Amercan producton. despte the dscrmnaton the group faced, whte audences regularly attended performances. The creaton of the dance Theater of Harlem, under the drecton of dancers Arthur Mtchell (a prncpal dancer n the New york Cty Ballet) and Karel shook (Mtchells dance teacher), took the debate head-on n 1969 by creatng a ballet school. The company frst met n the basement of a Harlem church and now s known throughout the world for ts efforts n educatonal programmng and dance performance. Today, contemporary dance companes routnely feature Afrcan Amercan dancers such as Carmen de Lavallade, dudley wllams, and Gus solomon, and Afrcan Amercans drect mportant dance troupes, ncludng Judth Jamson, who has taken over the poston of artst drector of the Amercan dance Theater from the late Alvn Aley.27 The 1960s and 1970s saw a boom n dance, reflected n the number of dance schools and new companes founded. The story of the oho Ballet (oB) s a textbook llustraton of the hghs and lows of a dance company. oB was founded n 1968 by artstc drector Henz Poll and assocate drector Thomas r. skelton (also an award-wnnng lghtng desgner). The company toured the Unted states, south Amerca, and europe to good revews. Unon dancers were pad for 36 weeks per year, but by the late 1980s, pay cuts were necessary. Begnnng n 1975, the company establshed a tradton

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of puttng on a sx-week summer program of free shows on outdoor stages n northeast oho. oBs Natonal endowment for the Arts (NeA) fundng was reduced n the 1980s, and revenues for ts more cuttng-edge repertory were not as hgh as those of ballet companes performng classcal story works such as Swan Lake. wth skeltons death n 1994 and Polls retrement n 1999, the company took stock. reorganzaton efforts resulted n a permanent home (and a 15-year contract) at the Unversty of Akron n 2003, wth the state of oho and a group of foundatons offerng fundng for the new Center for dance and Musc. The plan was for the company to work wth the unversty n creatng a hgher profle for fne arts on the campus. oB also performed n resdence at the Cleveland Playhouse square Center, but fnancal dffcultes and lack of attendance at ther performances forced the company to ncorporate wth the Cleveland Ballet.28 Cleveland and san Jose appear unlkely partners for a ballet company, but because of fundng dffcultes, the two companes attempted to work together, gvng the frst poston n the ballets ttle to the cty where they were performng. offce staff was n place n both ctes, and the dancers lved and traned n Cleveland but performed n both places. A formal announcement ended the companys 25th season and splt the partnershp. Half of the dancers joned the reconfgured company, Ballet san Jose slcon Valley (popularly known as Ballet san Jose), and the other group of dancers joned small companes n the Cleveland area. Performances for the san Jose company today nclude The Nutcracker, Carmina Burana, Swan Lake, several Balanchne ballets, and stravnskys The Firebird. whle Cleveland topped the lst n 2005 and 2007 of major U.s. ctes wth the hghest percentage of the populaton lvng n poverty, sponsors for the new Ballet san Jose are plentful and nclude Frys electroncs, sandsk, eBay Foundaton, Lnear Technology, and the wllam and Flora Hewlett Foundaton (part of the Hewlett and Packard partnershp), provng that locaton s an mportant component for a dance company. dancers from four regonal ballets wth rghts to perform Polls choreography today, along wth a group of dancers who studed wth Poll, contnue the tradton of puttng on free summer performances n Akron publc parks, but the formal dance company no longer performs. The seres s called the Henz Poll summer dance Festval, n honor of the artstc drector and founder of the oho Ballet.29 Lke symphony performances or operas, classcal dance s not a bg moneymaker. Tradtonally, performances n the arts have been dependent on a patron, and ballet has followed that pattern to modern tmes. A handful of natonal companes, usually bankng and fnancal nsttutons wth local branches, sponsor many regonal or large local dance companes. Many other countres provde backng for natonal dance companes, but that has never

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been the case n the Unted states. some states offer compettve grant fundng for the arts, and many ballets use these renewable funds for operatng expenses. Most funds have strngs that requre companes to do outreach concerts to rural areas. Federal funds are avalable n the form of specalzed grants, many from the NeA. Congressonal support (n terms of the amount of money budgeted for the NeA) perodcally wavers, and some decades have found hgh-prorty publc ssues pressurng elected representatves to reduce cuttng-edge performance fundng. strngs currently attached to federal grants almost unformly requre the recpents to offer low-cost or free performances for the publc and at elementary, mddle, and hgh schools. Grant applcatons must outlne a regonal need and a unque proposal to address that need. durng the years when NeA and state fundng s tght, avant-garde and controversal projects are rarely funded. Ths forces many companes to go for attendance money and perform only holday and story ballets, further wdenng the gap n dance educaton and creatng stuatons n whch audences come to stereotype ballet as women as swans. Large dance companes have a grant wrter on staff who works year-round to obtan fundng. smaller companes have staff members that take on the grant wrtng dutes n between ther own assgnments or ask communty members to volunteer for the task, wth mxed results. A professonal grant wrter usually has an advantage over volunteer efforts. success attracts the successful, and the companes wth nternatonal reputatons attract the largest amount of captal. even wth ongong fundng dffcultes, a number of Amercan dance companes have nternatonal reputatons.
tap dancing

dance had a revval n the 1960s and 1970s, and nterest n tap dancng also ncreased. Tap s one of the pure Amercan cultural nnovatons, and a long lne of dancers have developed the art. european clog and jgs, mxed wth Afrcan mmgrant rhythms and mprovsatons, form the basc elements of tap. early saloon dancers Uncle Jm Lowe and wllam Henry Juba Lane were documented step dancers who toured the country before the Cvl war, often appearng n racally ntegrated shows. Lane traveled to London to perform and challenged noted Irsh step dancer Jack damond to a danceoff. Although a clear wnner was never establshed, Lane blled hmself as the Kng of dance. whtes adopted tap dancng, notably Thomas dartmouth daddy rce, who tapped n hs productons n 1828. rce, a mnstrelsy performer, used blackface to portray the stereotypes of the dandy and the clown. Black dancer wllam Henry Juba Lane ganed fame wth hs dancng n 1840. several schools of tap developed, wth one group usng wooden shoes

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(sometmes called buck and wng style) and the other a smooth-sole shoe style, where the dancer would shuffle, rather than loudly pound, the shoe on the stage. These two styles ntegrated by the 1920s to utlze a smooth shoe wth metal plates affxed to the toe and heel. The Floradora sextet, turn-of-the-century female dancers, tapped out a synchronzed routne that the Zegfeld Folles chorus lne adapted nto a regular performance feature. eube Blake and Noble sssle created a show called Shuf f le Along that played on Broadway n 1921, creatng natonal nterest n tap. Personal nnovaton n tap led to a group of dancers called Nerve Tappers, who would tap as many beats wth the foot as a loose ankle would allow. All vaudevlle performers from the 1920s onward were expected to perform some form of tap as well as the black bottom and the Charleston, made popular n Broadway shows.30 Two levels of tourng tap performers developed: flash and class acts. The flash acts ncluded attenton-gettng tap steps and acrobatc moves to awe audences, whle the class acts frequently used a story lne that focused on ther smooth steps and graceful movements. Hon Coles and Cholly Atkns were a noted class acts duo, and Bll Bojangles robnson would later jon chld star shrley Temple to popularze the class act for move audences. Chldren growng up n the 1930s frequently took tap lessons to tap just lke Mss Temple. some groups developed a style that allowed them to play both the flash and class venues. The Ncholas and Condos brothers are the bestknown duos of ths type. The 1930s and 1940s saw Fred Astare, Gnger rogers, and ray Bolger brng tap to the moves, and both tap and popular dance schools sprang up across Amerca to teach adults the buck and wng and shuffles. resdents n large ctes and small towns alke wanted to learn to dance. Amercans n the Mdwest attended weekly lessons n a studo, whle many cty dwellers tapped nformally on street corners. Top tap acts routnely borrowed and adapted steps from street tappers. Actors and hoofers Buddy ebsen and Gene Kelly carred on the tap legacy nto the 1950s on the bg screen and Broadway. In the 1970s and 1980s, tappng was agan the rage wth Broadway hts such as On the Twentieth Century and a remake of the 1920 stage ht The Girlfriend. Tommy Tune choreographed tap dances for a new group of Broadway hts and famles of tappers, such as Gregory and Maurce Hnes, who followed n the steps of the brothers Harold and Fayard Ncholas and the Covan Brothers.31 Actors from earlest tmes were traned n dancng and sngng, n addton to actng. Although not popularly known for ther dance prowess, actors James dean and Marlon Brando were students at the dunham school of dance n New york Cty. dramatc actor Chrstopher walken, known for hs

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Gregory Hnes, rght, danced hs way nto fame through the 1970s and 1980s wth moves such as History of the World: Part I and Broadway shows such as Jellys Last Jam. Courtesy of Photofest.

roles n flms such as The Deer Hunter and Pulp Fiction, s a traned tap dancer who starred both n Broadway and on flm n the muscal ht Chicago. P oPular m usiC Popular musc performance, once centered on the parlor pano and famly entertanment at the communty school audtorum, underwent a metamorphoss wth the nventon of the rado. rado featured professonal performers and moved musc from a personal event to a regonal, natonal, and even nternatonal experence. wth the nventon of the televson, lsteners no longer had to magne the appearance of the performer. sound and musc records, made at 78 rpm and 45 rpm, and then long-play records of 33 1/3 rpm, were popular for decades (along wth tape cassettes from the 1960s onward), but these were swept away by Cds n the 1980s. Musc vdeos, whch exploded on the scene n the 1980s on MTV, had an ndelble effect on the publcs percepton of muscans. After 2000, the Internet moved popular musc nto the future, offerng downloadng capabltes n both sound and the capture of vsual mages. despte the avalablty of entertaners on the

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Internet, lve concerts reman popular n the Unted states. rock concerts are the most popular and brng n the hghest revenues. The legacy of culture-changng rock performances began wth elvs Presley and the frst Amercan tour of the Brtsh band the Beatles, but bands tourng the Unted states had ther orgn n the early jazz orchestras that traveled from cty to cty durng the perod 19141919. restrctons were placed on Afrcan Amercan muscans near New orleans that made t dffcult for them to obtan work permts, so many left the area and began tourng. The orgnal Creole orchestra s a typcal example. organzed n Los Angeles by Bll Johnson n 1909, the group of dsplaced New orleans jazzers, ncludng Fredde Keppard, James Palao, and George Baquet, toured from 1914 through 1918 (gnorng requests to make recordngs of ther musc). Ther dance musc was not well receved due to the basc dfference n audences: northern audences expected to lsten to the musc, but New orleans audences expected to dance to t. The musc became known as ratty because of the mprovsatonal style used when the fve-nstrument band played. The Creole orchestra dssolved n 1918, but ths perod establshed a tourng tradton that future rock bands would emulate to earn a lvng.32 Muscal tours pror to the 1950s usually ncluded dancng by audence members. relgous, classcal, and country performers developed crcuts that they would tour each year, but the gutar-playng vocalst elvs Presley would change ths pattern. Presley performed lve n shreveport, Lousana, on the Louisiana Hayride rado program (a compettor to the Grand ole opry) and was an nstant ht. He sgned a contract commttng hm to a weekly show for one year, and t was durng ths work that he met and sgned wth promoter Colonel Tom Parker, manager to stars eddy Arnold and Hank snow. From ths partnershp, Presley was able to cross over from country musc to the new rock n roll, a muscal format that had smlartes to early jazz n that t encouraged dancng. elvs recorded, made moves, and toured, garnerng top rankngs on the ht parade and n performance tours untl the early 1960s and the ntroducton of englsh groups to the Amercan muscal market. He contnued to perform developng nto a Las Vegas headlner for showrooms untl hs death on August 16, 1977.33 The Brtsh Invason of the 1960s brought the Beatles, the rollng stones, the Anmals, Hermans Hermts, the Zombes, and the Knks. The Beatles, one of the frst groups to wrte all ther own songs, were also the frst to play at large venues once reserved only for sportng events. shea stadum hosted the Beatles and nearly 60,000 screamng fans on August 15, 1965. The concert was so successful that the stadum agreed to host many more rock concerts, ncludng the Polce, elton John, and a 1970 summer Festval for Peace wth Jm Hendrx and Jans Jopln.34

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Large-scale rock outdoor musc concerts were poneered n the 1960s, and the largest was n New york state. The woodstock Musc and Art Festval holds a unque place n the hstory of popular musc. The frst event took place from August 15 to 17, 1969, on land rented from farmer Max yasgur near the towns of Bethel, woodstock, and wallkll. The young concert promoters, Mchael Lang, Arte Kornfeld, Joel rosenman, and John roberts, planned for attendance of nearly 200,000, but by the tme the event concluded, estmates put the weekend crowd n excess of 400,000. Fans trampled fences and declared woodstock a free event, denyng concert promoters any profts and openng the organzers to a host of lawsuts from vendors and local resdents for damages. word of mouth and rado dsc jockeys hyped the event, and crowds swelled, blockng the roadways nto and out of the grounds. snger-songwrter rche Havens played for hours before any of the other performers were able to reach the stage. Hs song Freedom, entrely mprovsed whle on stage, s remembered as an anthem of the festval. The rock group the who played a 24-song set. The Grateful dead; Crosby, stlls, Nash, and young; santana; Jefferson Arplane; Jans Jopln; and a host of others,

A woodstock 99 concertgoer hammers a pay phone off of a burned out Bell Atlantc phone truck. rotng broke out after the three-day festval ended. AP Photo/ stephen Chernn.

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some arrvng by helcopter to reach the stage, played to crowds left for an entre summer weekend wthout food, shelter from the rans, and santaton. woodstock was a falure for ts promoters, but t created musc hstory, mmortalzed n a record and flm that carred the musc to mllons. An attempt at a woodstock revval n 1994 was peaceful but faled to capture the sprt of the frst concert. woodstock 99, promoted agan by Mchael Lang, ended wth a rot by several hundred fans, who torched vendor tralers, clamng they were angered by prces of $4 for a bottle of water.35 rock groups gave ttles to ther tours n the 1970s, many named for recently released albums. Large arena rock tours n the 1980s began the evoluton of concert themes. davd Bowe performed as Zggy stardust wth the spders from Mars, and rock group KIss and Alce Cooper morphed nto ghoulsh fgures wth costumes and full-face makeup. ozzy osbourne bt off a bats head n one performance and used ths as a theme for later tours, btng heads from plastc bats n each cty the tour played. Performers today make more from tourng than from musc sales, and some groups tour year-round to earn ncome and keep tour crews workng. The Grateful dead was formed n the san Francsco Bay area n 1965, whle the members lved at 710 Ashbury street. The group and the Haght-Ashbury dstrct became part of a musc scene that would make both famous. The nternatonal meda n 1967 drew natonal attenton to what s now called the summer of Love, and hppes from the world came to san Francsco to hear lve musc, wearng flowers n ther har as gestures of peace n the tme of the Vetnam war. The Grateful dead, along wth other oddly named muscal groups called Jefferson Arplane, Quckslver Messenger servce, and Moby Grape, gave free concerts n parks. The dead added to ther legend n performances wth author Ken Kesey. The group contnued to tour regularly for decades and became legendary for shows featurng space musc, ncorporatng hours of mprovsed musc solos fans called The X-Factor. Illegally recorded bootleg albums and tapes, encouraged by the group, were fevershly traded among dehard fans, angerng record executves, who felt the practce dened profts to the record company. The Grateful dead performed 85 concerts n one year, even though the group faled to have a ht song on the charts or to be ncluded n a regular rotaton on any syndcated rado programmng. even after the death of group leader Jerry Garca n 1995 at the age of 53, the remanng members, known smply as The dead, were stll a top act on the college musc crcut. Group members sold merchandsng rghts to T-shrts, bumper stckers, and hats to buld ther personal fortunes.36 The top tourng acts n the country n 2007 ncluded rock musc groups that have been n the ndustry for decades, ncludng Pearl Jam, rush, the

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rollng stones, Geness, Guns N roses, Bob dylan, Bon Jov, the who, and Aerosmth as well as the Polce, returnng after a 23-year hatus. Industry nsders speculate that the revval tours earn top dollar because of the age of the audence, many of whom have establshed careers wth a large amount of dsposable ncome. Fans spent an average of $130 to be serenaded by former Beatle Paul McCartney on hs tour n 2002, whle new acts such as Nckelback set concertgoers back less than $30. rumors clamed that tcket scalpers receved over $3,000 for front row seats to sr Paul.37 outdoor amphtheaters were the top lve musc rock concert draws n the 1980s, but today, many have closed. Arena concert venues allow larger crowds, and now that groups and record labels market ther own T-shrts and posters, there s less proft to be made n ownng a venue that features a large amount of land. The dramatc ncrease n land values, especally n states wth moderate clmates, has made home buldng far more lucratve. Hp hop and rap musc performances began to develop n large metropoltan areas such as New york Cty and Los Angeles n the 1970s. Local performers developed styles that ntegrated regonal characterstcs and combned wth exotc nfluences that ncluded Jamacan toastng. Toasts were done by dsc jockeys playng records (usually Amercan r&B) at lve dances to encourage the dancers. Toastng evolved to encompass a practce known as dubbng, where the dJ would select short phrases (samples) from the record. samples would be manpulated usng the turntable to create ndvdual styles. Compettons, or battles, took place between competng dJs. These performance styles came to the Unted states n the md-1960s and were ntegrated nto muscal forms called rappng and hp hop that began to grow to popularty n the 1970s. dance forms, such as lockng, poppng, clownng, and flow, were an ntegral part of lve performances and audence partcpaton, and each performer developed a style and a fan followng. some noted lve performance dJs were: Theodor, nventor of scratchng, a process that nfluences the speed of the record; Grandmaster Flash (George saddler) who developed punch phasng (addng percusson from one record to hghlght the beat of the man recordng); and The Fat Boys, a group that perfected usng human sounds to create percusson (a Human Beat Box). Afrka Bombaataa and the Zulu Naton were an early hp hop act that focused on dance and musc, rather than on the gang aspect of performance musc. regonal Zulu Naton clubs were establshed around the country. early rap musc was assocated wth gang actvty and, as the musc style became more manstream, rappers began tourng the Unted states. Volence broke out at some concert venues and communtes passed laws bannng rap performances. There s debate as to whether rap and hp hop appealed to

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whte and black audences alke at frst, but record companes and concert promoters began to target whte audences. The three-member rap group run d.M.C. sold out concert venues across the country n the 1980s. Females, targets of abuse n early rap records and lve stage performances, began earnng top honors for rap musc n groups such as salt N Pepa. By the md-1980s, hp hop evolved nto more than just musc and dance: the hp hop culture ncluded dress, harstyles, and a unque slang vocabulary. By the 1990s, spontaneously arranged dance partes called raves featured all types of musc but featured hp hop performers. Latn, salsa, Tex-Mex, and Tejano musc are now also a major component of Amercan performance culture. Latn nfluences were frst found n the folk musc performed n the southwestern Unted states from the earlest U.s. hstory, and popular musc n the Unted states has been nfluenced by Latn culture snce before the turn of the nneteenth century. Couples danced the rumba and tango to orchestra musc of the 1920s and dancers added the mambo and conga lne to the popular dances n the 1940s and 1950s. once confned to areas of the country wth large Latn populatons, performers such as Glora estefans Mam sound Machne and Carlos santana brought Latn nfluences to the pop charts n the 1970s. Jennfer Lopez, rcky Martn, Chrstna Agulera, and Tex-Mex snger selena attracted sellout audences to performances n the 1990s. Latn musc today s consdered to be a manstream muscal offerng. r egional P erformanCes French observer Alexs de Tocquevlle noted the regonal dfferences of the Amercan landscape and culture when he toured the country n 1831, and those unque characterstcs reman at the heart of Amercan performance today. each regon offers unque performance opportuntes and has developed a culture of musc theater and dance performances.
the north

Brtsh tastes establshed the crtera for performance for the frst colones that would later become the Unted states. As the colonsts constructed theaters, they became aware of the dfferences between French and Brtsh performances versus Amercan offerngs. The symphony orchestras n Boston, New york, and Phladelpha frst set the bar for Amercan classcal musc, and the publc stll looks to these ctes to uphold the standards of performance. Theater productons may rehearse and offer tral runs n other parts of the country, but the ultmate objectve s to fll theaters on

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Broadway. other mportant performance tradtons have developed n the Amercan North. Upstate New york s the home of the Chautauqua Insttuton. The Chautauqua movement grew out of a publc desre to experence the performances wrtten about n magaznes and newspapers that were held at the Chautauqua Insttuton at the lake n southwestern New york state. The summer sessons orgnated n 1874 wth Lews Mller of oho and John Heyl Vncent of New Jersey as a sunday school camp and quckly expanded nto performances and nstructon that ncluded art, musc, and physcal educaton courses for teachers. The program grew wth the creaton of the Chautauqua Lterary scentfc Crcle, whch encouraged readng and, begnnng n 1878, gave rse to tens of thousands of readng crcles through the country. Lectures were well establshed by 1880 and featured speakers on a wde range of topcs, ncludng poltcs, lterature, phlosophy, and nternatonal relatons. educator John dewey drected the preschool classes at the nsttuton, and both the Boys and Grls Clubs had constructed buldngs on the grounds by 1902. Melvl dewey began tranng lbrarans n 1900. The Chautauqua Insttuton for Lfelong study was offcally chartered n 1902. Ironcally, the countrys least capable presdent, Ulysses s. Grant, was the frst U.s. presdent to attend classes and lectures at the nsttuton, puttng the camp on the wealthy classs lst of the place to be n the summer. Among the most popular speakers were womens rghts advocate susan B. Anthony, avatrx Amela earhart, Frst Lady eleanor roosevelt, composer and conductor John Phlp sousa, and (decades later) supreme Court Justce sandra day oConnor. Magazne readng was a popular pastme at the turn of the century, and resdents of rural towns and vllages across the country wshed to expand ther knowledge, but they were unable to travel to the nsttuton or were shut out by competton for tckets to the choce performances each summer. The travelng Chautauqua experence was created to brng the nsttuton to these famles. At the heght of the movement, 21 troupes traveled 93 crcuts throughout the Unted states, performng for and teachng more than 35 mllon people each year. A typcal nght at a tent performance n the Mdwest mght nclude speeches by a Populst Party member explanng the dfference between the slver and gold economc platforms, a unon leader from the Knghts of Labor lstng reasons why labor unons should be legal n all ndustres, muscal performances of hymns or a selecton from an opera, and a dramatc nterpretaton of a pece of classcal lterature or scrpture readng from the Bble. The Chautauquas am was educaton, but the crowds clearly vewed the performances as entertanment. For a tme traveler from today, the Chautauqua crcut would have resembled a lve presentaton of the Hstory Channel, mxed lberally wth a large

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dose of the Publc Broadcastng servce. somethng at the two- or three-day program was bound to capture the nterest of every member of the famly. A full musc program was offered at the New york summer camp, begnnng n 1929, wth the establshment of the Chautauqua symphony orchestra. The group contnues to perform each summer at the 5,000-seat Vctoranstyle outdoor stage. An opera and ballet company and a conservatory theater were added to perform n halls bult on the grounds for ther exclusve use. despte fnancal ups and downs, ncludng a bankruptcy n 1933, the nsttuton contnues to put on a full summer sesson, attractng an average of 150,000 people to the pcturesque vllage on the lake each year.38 The Tanglewood Festval, located n the Berkshre Mountans of western Massachusetts, s the summer muscal venue for the Boston symphony orchestra (Bso; and ts offshoot, the Boston Pops) as well as a group of select musc students. The place that earler nspred Nathanel Hawthornes chldrens stores The Tanglewood Tales has hosted the Bso snce 1937. After a dsastrous naugural performance, durng whch the audence, muscans, and nstruments were soaked n a summer ranstorm, a pavlon desgned by Fnnsh archtect eero saarnen was constructed. In the 1950s, Tanglewood banned women n shorts from sttng n the pavlon, clamng that uncovered legs were ndecent. Bare-legged female vstors were forced to rent skrts at the festval entrance or st on the lawn to lsten to the performance. Bowng to recent publc pressure to ncorporate a vsual element, Tanglewood has added a flm nght. on these specal nghts, the conductor and orchestra play orgnal flm scores, whle moves are projected on a screen above the stage. over 5,000 musc fans today can be seated under the open-ar shed, women n shorts are now allowed admsson to any seat they wsh, and an addtonal 10,000 musc fans can pcnc and take n the performance under the stars. snce 1990, Tanglewood on Parade has become a tradton that ncludes a fnale wth Tchakovskys 1812 Overture and concludes wth a freworks dsplay. Tckets to the event are always sold out, and televson statons broadcast the performance across the country.39 The Newport Musc Festval began n rhode Island n 1969 as a summer performance locaton for New yorks Metropoltan opera. The locaton turned out to be unsutable for opera, but the festval has contnued wth a seres of more than 60 chamber musc performances over 17 days each July, many of whch use members of the Met opera orchestra. Among the festvals notable performances have been rectals by award-wnnng volnst Andre Gavrlov and panst Bella davdovch. The Newport Jazz Festval (also n rhode Island) began n 1954. Ths August, outdoor, exclusvely jazz festval s consdered the frst of ts knd n the world; most of the worlds great jazz artsts have passed through Newport durng the summers. snger

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dave Brubeck performs durng the Newport JVC Jazz Festval n rhode Island. AP Photo/Joe Gbln.

Mahala Jackson brought gospel to a new audence after performng at the venue n 1958. The festval closed down n 1971 but was revved agan n 1981 by the orgnal founders, jazz club mpresaro George wen and fnancal backers Lous and elane Lorllard. The current management team, JVC Famly of Jazz Festvals, now produces 117 jazz festvals across the Unted states and clams attendance of over 40,000 muscans and lve audences of nearly 4 mllon people snce the group took over producton n 1990. dave Brubeck, etta James, dzzy Gllespe, Jack deJohnette, and Branford Marsals are but a few of the top muscans who have headlned at ths granddaddy of jazz festvals.40
the midwest

At the close of world war I, Afrcan Amercan muscans toured or relocated from the south to mdwestern and northern ctes n search of work. New orleans bassst and bandleader Bll Johnson settled n Chcago after tourng faled to brng n the profts he had hoped for. He nvted hs frend Joe olver to jon hm snce Chcagos economy was boomng and musc venues were openng around the cty. Jazz was stll a tough sell for most audences untl 1917, when jazz recordngs began to educate audences on

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the mprovsatonal nature of the musc. Msssspp rverboats began to hre jazz muscans to play for dance party excursons, and the jazz age was born. rooftop dnng and dancng became the rage, and Chcago became the place to be for jazz n the 1920s. when the storyvlle brothels and clubs were closed durng ths perod, addtonal muscans went lookng for work n musc n the wndy Cty. Joe olver headed hs Kng olvers Creole Jazz Band, wth a young newcomer named Lous Armstrong on trumpet. despte socetal dscrmnaton, whte patrons hred Afrcan Amercan orchestras to play for events. The 1930s saw jazz bands expand from fve peces to larger numbers. The orchestras also featured solosts. duke ellngton, Paul whteman, and Fletcher Henderson headlned the top jazz clubs and hotel ballrooms n Chcago and around the country. Bluesmen from the south also came to Chcago. Lttle walter, sonny Boy wllams II, and Bg walter Horton were regulars on the local club crcut. Blues and jazz went through a seres of changes, splnterng nto dverse styles, and by the 1960s, Thelonus Monk and Mles davs rose to be the top jazzers. Chcago Blues developed ts own dentfable style, featurng a small strng band wth amplfed nstruments, percusson from a pano or drums, and a harmonca; some groups added a saxophone to the mx. Chcago blues usually has a sngle person on vocals. Important Chcago bluesmen wlle dxon, Carey Bell, and Fredde Kng became known throughout the world for ther ndvdualstc styles. Jazz and blues clubs can stll be found throughout Chcago today, and fans clam that dstrcts specalze, wth separate venues for bebop, bg band, swng, fuson, expermental, delta, jump, and Chcago styles.41
the South

The Grand ole opry n Nashvlle, Tennessee, s the captal of country and bluegrass musc. The frst performance hall, bult by the Natonal Lfe and Accdent Insurance Company, was home to lve stage shows featurng banjo pckers and fddle players, sngers, and comedans who were broadcast to rado statons across the country under the call letters wsM (we sheld Mllons). The opry changed homes many tmes to allow for ncreasng audences, and Hank wllams, Pete seeger, woody Guthre, Flat and scruggs, Patsy Clne, dolly Parton, Porter wagoner, and the sons of the Poneers appeared at the varous early venues. early opry acts performed for the weekend broadcasts and toured the country n tent shows and audtorums across the country durng the week. The opry contnues to tour, but not at the frenetc pace of ts poneers. Performances at the opry today can be heard on a two-hour weekend rado program broadcast to over 200 markets as well as on satellte rado, the

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The Grand ole opry s the longest contnuously runnng rado show n the world. AP Photo/Mark Humphrey.

Internet, and the Armed Forces Network. Performers have been featured on televson snce 1955 and are now seen on the Great Amercan Country cable channel. The sold oak center stage of the ryan Audtorum, whch has housed the opry snce 1943, was moved to a new opry house n 1974 and contnues to host fans to lve musc performances each year, wth broadcasts on both rado and televson. Ambassadors, members of the Academy of Country Musc wth sponsorshp of the opry, have toured snce the 1930s, brngng country, western, and bluegrass musc to the world.42 The cty of New orleans s a street performers dream. Tap dancers, sngers, horn players, and bucket drummers occupy cty street corners each day and nto the nght. Carnvals are cultural events n the Bg easy. The nfluences of French costume balls and parades, masked Carbbean carnvals, and Afrcan musc rhythms and melodc curves are evdent each year at the Mard Gras celebratons. Named for Mard Gras day n 1699, when a camp at Pont du Mard Gras was constructed near the present-day cty, the frst documented parade took place n 1837, but most hstorans cte 1857 as the naugural Mard Grasthe frst wth a parade and ball organzed wth

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a unfyng theme. The Mystc Krewe of Comus, Merre Monarchs of Mrth carred torches to lght the parade path n an organzed and nonvolent parade. The entre cty, however, joned the revelry n 1872 and expanded the party wth the selecton of the kng, an offcal flag, and an anthem adapted from a popular burlesque show. Burlesque sensaton Lyda Thompson was, n fact, a guest for the parade. Mard Gras began as a relgous celebraton and has expanded over the decades to nclude multple types of performance art. rebuldng after Hurrcane Katrna has been slow, but the resdents stood together and offered small parades and celebratons only a few months after the devastatng storm. Attendance at Mard Gras ncreases each year, as addtonal hotels and restaurants open n the cty.43 New orleanss Preservaton Hall n the heart of the French Quarter draws crowds from around the world to hear jazz muscans play. The hall s old and surprsngly small. The audence sts on worn wooden chars and benches, whle the band plays the mprovsed jazz that musc hstorans clam as an Amercan nnovaton. Thousands vst the hall, and the assocated jazz festval held each year n Aprl attracted a crowd of over 600,000 n 2001.44 Grassroots musc festvals such as the southwest Lousana Zydeco Musc Festval have been organzed n an attempt to mantan the hstory of a specfc muscal genre or performance style. Fearful of the dsappearance of the Creole tradton of the La La (house dance), where homemade gumbo and a bouchere (hog roast) are enjoyed, a group of Lousana resdents formed the Treasure of opelousas and organzed a festval n 1982 to celebrate Creole and zydeco musc and customs. Groups performng at ths venue regularly use frottiers (washboards), spoons, and a fddle to play dance musc. The festval puts on a month of events that nclude an old-fashoned ball, where the kng and queen of zydeco are crowned; a jam sesson; a breakfast; and dances, culmnatng n a one-day muscal extravaganza near the frst of september each year n Plasance, Lousana.45 The Bonnaroo Musc and Arts Festval, begun n 2002, s held each June n Manchester, Tennessee (60 mles south of Nashvlle) on a 700-acre farm. It became the worlds most proftable musc festval n 2007. The event features performances on eght stages, wth jam bands, such as Cat Power and death Cab for Cute, to more tradtonal bands, such as that of Phl Lesh (an orgnal member of the Grateful dead) and Blues Traveler.
the West

The Monterey Pop Internatonal Pop Festval was conceved by Alan Parser after he attended the Monterey Jazz Festval. Parser felt that pop musc had matured as an art and that a pop festval would showcase talent n the same way that the jazz festval dd. record executve Benny shapro and

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rock producer Lou Adler joned the plannng and recruted one musc group, the Mamas and the Papas, who eventually bought out the promoters and turned the festval nto a nonproft event. A foundaton was created, wth a board of drectors that ncluded Paul McCartney, Mck Jagger, Paul smon, smokey robnson, orgnal Beach Boy Bran wlson, and others. After extensve plannng, over 30 acts were booked to perform at the frst festval n 1967, ncludng the who, the Jm Hendrx experence, Buffalo sprngfeld, the Byrds, Johnny rvers, ots reddng, and Jans Jopln wth Bg Brother and the Holdng Company. The whtney Museum n New york featured a four-month exhbt n 2007, The summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelc era, commemoratng the 40th annversary of the festval that many cultural observers vew as a watershed event n the hstory of pop musc.46 Colorado has made a concerted effort snce 1960 to encourage the creaton of festvals offerng lve performances throughout the state. snce the late 1940s, Aspen has held an annual classcal musc festval that now runs from June through August and s the only rval to Tanglewood as the top Amercan summer experence for classcal musc students and performers. Bowng to the wanng of audence members for the classcal performances, the festval merges seamlessly nto Jazz Aspen snowmass (whch has featured more crossover rock than pure jazz n ts most recent seasons). Former Colorado mnng town Tellurde has offered ts own set of muscal celebratons snce the 1970s; classcal musc fans can enjoy nne days of performances there. For those whose tastes run to bluegrass or country, snce the early 1970s, the summer solstce has been brought n at the Tellurde Bluegrass Festval. orgnally conceved n hard-core bluegrass style, the event now sees rock and jazz muscans jonng pckers on stage for concerts.47 whle New york Cty s the U.s. brthplace of the Poetry slam, the west s home to a unque form of spoken word performance termed cowboy poetry. when most Amercans thnk of cowboys, they probably vsualze a man n jeans, western shrt, and boots who s drvng a pckup truck, but both male and female ranch hands stll rde the trals on horseback n many parts of the west. even more surprsng, many also celebrate ther trade through poetry. In celebraton of ther western hertage, cowboy poets, ncludng the Gauchos of the Pampas, Fsher Poets, Badger Clark, Baxter Black, and Paul Zarzysk, nterpret ther poems at publc gatherngs. one of these, the Natonal Poetry Gatherng, has been held snce 1983 at the begnnng of each year at the western Folklfe Center n elko, Nevada. The Amercan natonal cowboy poet sprt has grown to the pont that contests are also held n Heber Cty and Moab, Utah (ncludng a Buckaroo Far); Monterey, Bg Bear Lake, and santa Clarta, Calforna; and serra Vsta, Arzona. All of the venues have held contests for nearly a decade or more. The events range from smple

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spoken word presentatons and weekend contests to more fully staged poetry events that nclude gutar and banjo pckng to accompany the poems. some poets do more than just read; they yodel and call the lttle doges on the tral. Many events have separate judged contests n tall tale spnnng, storytellng, and a challenge to fnd the best bold-faced lar. some of these poets and pckers have become so well known that ther programmng at the Natonal Cowboy Poetry Gatherng n elko has attracted major sponsors and Nevada Humantes Councl fundng. Natonal Publc rado regularly broadcasts the poetry performances.48 The western states are known for rodeos, but the term rodeo was not generally used untl after 1920. rodeo began as nformal contests between herders, wranglers, and ranch hands and developed nto a crcut of compettons and performances throughout the Unted states, many n states outsde the west. each ranch would send one of ts best hands n each category to compete n early rodeos, usually after the cattle were brought to market. some accounts trace the frst documented rodeo to Arzona n 1864, although t dd not offer

A compettor n the bull-rdng event of the nnth annual Idaho womens Pro rodeo. AP Photo/Ted s. warren.

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award money or przes. The frst contests ncluded challenges n rdng and ropng and featured two professonals who rode the cattle tral that ran beef from Ablene, Kansas, to an area northwest of Pecos, Texas. Trav wndham and Morg Lvngston were the man challengers at the frst contest held on July 14, 1883, but other cowboys, ncludng a few females, joned the compettons. The contest jumped to another class wth the move to ts present locaton n 1936 and the constructon of a professonal arena and audence vewng stands. eastern rodeos have ther roots n the wld west shows that toured the naton snce the Cvl war. The elaborate productons that ncluded drama, panoramc dsplays, and anmals were a natural addton. Many western ctes added rodeos to town hertage celebratons. some of these events, wth rodeos, are stll held today, ncludng the Pendleton (oregon) roundup and the Cheyenne (wyomng) and Prescott (Arzona) Fronter days. Modern rodeo s organzed nto tmed and roughstock events. Bronc-rdng and bull-rdng contests are termed roughstock, owng to the wld nature of anmals rdden n the rng. The rder must touch, or spur, the anmal to gan ponts. Tmed events nclude ropng, wrestlng (sometmes called dogging), and barrel racng. The frst offcal rodeo crcut was created n 1934, wth compettons n large ctes, ncludng the eastern and mdwestern metropoltan areas of detrot, Phladelpha, Indanapols, Boston, and New york. The current headquarters for professonal rodeo s located n Colorado, has over 7,000 members, and sanctons nearly 700 rodeos, wth purses totalng over $35 mllon. There are currently 12 regonal rodeo crcuts. rodeo contnues to draw crowds of nearly 20,000 to the natonal fnals, wth the largest crowds n the western states. Canada and Australa also hold rodeos.49 Las Vegas, Nevada, once vewed as smply a place to gamble, has developed nto a performance center attractng natonal and world vstors. Crque du solel s the modern-day recreaton of the tradtonal crcus. The company was created n the early 1980s by a collecton of street performers who soon added one tent and, snce 1993, have been n permanent resdence n a showroom on the Las Vegas strp. other casnos feature lve entertanment, ncludng magc, musc, and modern folles, but the largest entertanment draw for the cty s the legalzed gamblng.50
the northwest

The Brtt Festvals, held snce 1962 n the pcturesque hstorc town of Jacksonvlle, oregon, on the estate of the late photographer Peter Brtt, have attracted audences to classcal, folk, rock, new age, and country performances and an educaton program that ncludes camps and musc nstruc-

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ton. Founder John Trudeau turned the drecton of the festval over to others after several decades of servce. The three weeks of performances n August nclude the Martha Graham dance Company, who perform and gve dance master classes, and a symphony orchestra that draws 90 professonal muscans from orchestras throughout the country. Many of the Brtt Festvals classc rock acts also appear on the stages of the Bonnaroo Festval n Tennessee.51 Although there are other shakespeare celebratons n the Unted states, notably n san dego and New york Cty, the oregon shakespeare Festval s the largest and oldest n the Unted states. The festval hosts plays on three stages, wth numerous off-festval stes, for eght months begnnng n February. Nearly 360,000 theater fans attend the 770 performances gven every year. one of the stages, the elzabethan Theatre, s a restored structure from the turn of the nneteenth century. The grounds were orgnally used n 1893 as a Chautauqua crcut ste for performers such as wllam Jennngs Bryan and bandleader John Phllp sousa and were enlarged over the years to accommodate more vstors. As the Chautauqua movement lost popularty n the 1920s, the frst structure was abandoned. Angus L. Bowmer, an nstructor at southern oregon Normal school (southern oregon Unversty), proposed that a three-play July shakespeare festval be held durng the depresson n 1935, usng a stage that was constructed by the state emergency relef Admnstraton. The festval covered the costs of the producton and made a bt of a proft, and two years later, the oregon shakespeare Festval Assocaton was ncorporated. The festval was dark durng world war II but returned wth a new stage n 1947 and a full-tme pad general manager n 1953. Addtonal new constructon followed, openng up addtonal theaters and halls n the 1970s, and by 1978, the festval had completed a second traversal of the complete plays of the bard. By the 1990s, the group had an outreach program n Portland and a new state-of-the-art elzabethan stage. The festval, named by Time magazne as one of the top regonal theaters n Amerca n 2003, draws near sellout crowds to dramatc productons and chamber and symphonc musc performances.52 Perhaps the bggest change over the centures of Amercan performance, besdes the steady and monumental ncrease n the sheer number of cultural events across the country, s the newfound capablty to publcze even the smallest and most remote venues and performances from coast to coast. regonal and geographc solaton once gave rse to dstnctly ndvdual styles n many areas, but the prolferaton of recordngs, rado, and televson has made t possble for almost any Amercan to see and hear performances that he or she mght never have the chance to experence lve. Fnally, the Internet

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An actor n the oregon shakespeare Festval performs n an all-male cast of Henry IV Part 2. AP Photo/oregon shakespeare Festval, davd Coope.

and the rse of downloadng have nsttuted a unversal avalablty of cultural product for anyone n the world who can afford to purchase t. The generatons of today can scarcely magne the physcal, practcal, and economc obstacles to experencng exotc performances that confronted ther grandparents. If there s a prce to be pad today n lost authentcty, dsparate styles blendng together, and dmnshed apprecaton for the effort of mountng a lve performance, ths s counterbalanced somewhat by the fact that Amercans can now see, hear, or experence vrtually any performance that has ever been recorded, n the prvacy of ther homes, on the moment. n otes
1. don B. wlmeth and Tce L. Mller, eds., Introducton: survey from the Begnnng to the Present, n Cambridge Guide to American Theater (New york: Cambrdge Unversty Press, 1996), 120. 2. Ibd. 3. Ibd. 4. Ibd., 493.

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5. Hstory of the rnglng Brothers & Barnum Baley Crcus, http://www.rnglng. com. 6. see Isaac Goldberg and edward Jablonsk, Tin Pan Alley: A Chronicle of American Popular Music with a Supplement from Sweet and Swing to Rock N Roll (New york: Frederck Ungar, 1961), chap. 1. 7. John Kenrck, A Hstory of the Muscal Burlesque, http://www.muscals 101.com/burlesque.htm. 8. Lbrary of Congress, Amercan Memory Collecton, Ths day n Hstory March 21, http://memory.loc.gov. 9. wlmeth and Mller, Cambridge Guide, 9091. 10. Alan Trachtenberg, The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age, hypertext extenson by rck easton, http://xroads.vrgna.edu/~MA02/ easton/vaudevlle/vaudevlleman.html; U.s. Lbrary of Congress Informaton Bulletn, Thanks for the Memory, June 20, 2000, http://www.loc.gov; Vaudevlle, Publc Broadcastng Amercan Masters, http://www.pbs.org. 11. Martha schmoyer, Summer Stock! An American Theatrical Phenomenon (New york: Palgrave Macmllan, 2004), 113. 12. New deal Network, Power: A Lvng Newspaper, http://newdeal.fer.org. 13. wlmeth and Mller, Cambridge Guide, 813. 14. wllam Arnold, Homage to Broadways Heyday Hts Hgh Ponts, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, september 24, 2004, http://seattlep.nwsource.com. 15. Natonal endowment for the Arts, Hstory, http://www.nea.gov. 16. Vctora Ann Lews, radcal wallflowers: dsablty and the Peoples Theater, Radical History Review 94 (2006): 84110. 17. rchard Zogln, Bgger Than Broadway! Time, May 27, 2003, http://www. tme.com; Guthre Theater, http://www.guthretheater.org. 18. Amercan Flm Insttute, 100 years . . . 100 Moves, http://www.af.com; The wz, http://www.bdb.com; erno Hernandez, Long runs on Broadway, http://www.playbll.com. 19. The Top U.s. orchestras, Time, February 22, 1963, http://www.tme.com; opera Company web stes, http://opera.stanford.edu. 20. John H. Mueller, The American Symphony Orchestra: A Social History of Musical Taste (westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1976), 17. 21. see Peter Van der Merwe, Roots of the Classical: The Popular Origins of Western Music (oxford, UK: oxford Unversty Press, 2007). 22. Mchael Tsa, symphony Fnances a Problem across U.s., Honolulu Advertiser, october 15, 2003, http://the.honoluluadvertser.com. 23. Martn Kettle, Vanshng Act, Manchester Guardian, Aprl 3, 2007, http:// musc.guardan.co.uk/classcal/story/0,2048916,00.html; Allan Koznn, Check the Numbers: rumors of Classcal Muscs demse Are dead wrong, New York Times, May 28, 2006, http://www.nytmes.com. 24. Culture shock: Musc and dance, http://www.pbs.org. 25. Martha Graham Center for Contemporary dance, About Martha Graham, http://www.marthagraham.org.

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26. Jacobs Pllow web ste, http://www.jacobspllow.org. 27. Alvn Aley Amercan dance Theater web ste, http://www.alvnaley.org. 28. octavo roca, Ballet san Jose emerges from Cleveland Collapse, Dance Magazine 75 (2001): 38. 29. wlma salsbury, Two Companes n TranstonCleveland san Jose Ballet and oho Ballet Companes survve Fnancal strfe, Dance Magazine 72 (1998): 70. 30. Maryland Hstorcal socety, shuffle Along: The eube Blake Collecton, http://www.mdhs.org. 31. Paul Corr and Tony Curts, Hstory of Tap dance, http://www.offjazz.com. 32. U.s. Natonal Parks servce, New orleans Jazz Hstory, 18951927, http:// www.nps.gov. 33. Bography, http://www.elvs.com. 34. Barbara McHugh, Hstory of shea stadum, http://newyork.mets.mlb.com. 35. steve Morse, destructon at woodstock 99 shakes Promoters Fath, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 27, 1999, B8; rche Unterberger, Eight Miles High: Folk-Rocks Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock (san Francsco: Backbeat Books, 2003), 26587. 36. Herb Hendler, Year by Year in the Rock Era: Events and Conditions Shaping the Rock Generations That Reshaped America (westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983), 1017; wllam F. Buckley Jr., Jerry Garca, rIP, obtuary and edtoral, National Review 47 (1995): 1023. 37. Fred Goodman, Trouble for the Tour Bz, Rolling Stone, August 2, 2002, http://www.rollngstone.com; Prnceton Unversty, economst Alan Kruegar examnes Prcng of Concert Tckets, http://www.prnceton.edu/man/news/archve/ s01/18/72I40/ndex.xml. 38. The Chautauqua Insttuton, Hstory, http://www.cweb.org. 39. Boston symphony orchestra, Hstory of Tanglewood, http://www.tangle wood.org. 40. JVC Jazz Festval web ste, http://www.festvalproductons.net. 41. PBs, Jazz, http://www.pbs.org. 42. Grand ole opry web ste, http://www.opry.com. 43. see Natonal Park servce, New orleans, http://www.nps.gov. 44. New orleans Jazz and Hertage Festval web ste, http://www.nojazzfest.com. 45. southwest Lousana Zydeco Musc Festval web ste, http://www.zydeco.org. 46. Unterberger, Eight Miles, 27173. 47. Aspen Musc Festval and school web ste, http://www.aspenmuscfestval. com; Tellurde Bluegrass Festval web ste, http://www.bluegrass.com. 48. western Folk Lfe Museum web ste, http://cybercast.westernfolklfe.org. 49. Bonne Cearly, The Hstory of the worlds Frst rodeo, http://www.pecos rodeo.com; ralph Clark, rodeo Hstory, http://www.prorodeoonlne.net. 50. Crque du solel offcal web ste, http://www.crquedusolel.com. 51. Brtt Festval web ste, http://www.bemf.org. 52. oregon shakespeare Festval web ste, http://www.orshakes.org.

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B iBliograPhy
Anderson, Jack. Ballet and Modern Dance: A Concise History. New york: Prnceton Book Company, 1992. Bayles, Martha. Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music. Chcago: Unversty of Chcago Press, 1996. Bloom, Ken. Broadway: An Encyclopedia Guide to the History, People and Places of Times Square. New york: Zesler Group, 1991. Bordman, Gerald. American Theater: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 19141930. oxford, UK: oxford Unversty Press, 1995. Chang, Jeff. Cant Stop, Wont Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. New york: st. Martns Press, 2005. Clarke, donald, ed. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. London: Pengun, 1990. Csda, Joseph, and June Bundy Csda. American Entertainment: A Unique History of Popular Show Business. New york: Bllboard-watson Guptll, 1978. Frank, rusty. Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories. New york: wllam Morrow, 1990. Gllett, Charle. The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll. New york: da Capo Press, 1995. Glatt, John. Rage and Roll: Bill Graham and the Selling of Rock. New york: Carol, 1993. Goldberg, Isaac, and edward Jablonsk. Tin Pan Alley: A Chronicle of American Popular Music with a Supplement from Sweet and Swing to Rock N Roll. New york: Frederck Ungar, 1961. Hendler, Herb. Year by Year in the Rock Era: Events and Conditions Shaping the Rock Generations That Reshaped America. westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983. Hcks, Mchael. Sixties Rock: Garage, Psychedelic, and Other Satisfactions. Chcago: Unversty of Illnos Press, 1999. Horowtz, Joseph. Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall. New york: w. w. Norton, 2005. Lebrecht, Norman. Who Killed Classical Music? Maestros, Managers, and Corporate Politics. secaucus, NJ: Carol, 1997. Levne, Lawrence w. Highbrow Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. Cambrdge, MA: Harvard Unversty Press, 1988. LoMonaco, Martha schmoyer. Summer Stock! An American Theatrical Phenomenon. New york: Palgrave Macmllan, 2004. Long, rchard A. Hot Jazz and Jazz Dance. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1995. Morales, ed. The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin Music, from Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond. Cambrdge, MA: da Capo Press, 2003. Mueller, John H. The American Symphony Orchestra: A Social History of Musical Taste. westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1976.

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Taylor, Karen Malpede. Peoples Theatre in Amerika. New york: drama Book, 1972. Unterberger, rche. Eight Miles High: Folk-Rocks Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock. san Francsco: Backbeat Books, 2003. Van der Merwe, Peter. Roots of the Classical: The Popular Origins of Western Music. oxford, UK: oxford Unversty Press, 2007. wlmeth, don B., and Tce L. Mller. Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. New york: Cambrdge Unversty Press, 1993. Zedman, Irvng. The American Burlesque Show. New york: Hawthorn Books, 1967.

9
Art, Archtecture, and Housng
Benjamin F. Shearer

a rt
If art s to noursh the roots of our culture, socety must set the artst free to follow hs vson wherever t takes hm. we must never forget that art s not a form of propaganda; t s a form of truth. Presdent John F. Kennedy

American fine art today has no sngle style, method, subject matter, or medum. Ths eclectcsm draws from the reworkng of past movements, the adopton of new technologes, and the magnaton of each artst. regonalsm, defned prmarly by ts local subject matter, remans an mportant force n Amercan art. Folk art also remans an mportant expresson of Amercan lfe. Government support for the arts developed only lately n the Unted states, and even at that, t was haltng and nggardly. The early publc art that t supported tended to be propagandstc, thus Presdent Kennedys admonton n 1963 quoted above. Lkewse, most of Amercas great art museums came nto beng through the largess of those who had made mmense fortunes, rather than through government fundng. As a young Amerca of mostly european mmgrants looked back to europe for the best of art as well as fashon and archtecture, truly Amercan art took a long tme to emerge, and when t dd, t changed the focus of the art world.
art and artists in america

Fne art and those who create t have a strugglng exstence n the everyday lfe of Amerca. Jobs for artsts n general are scarce. In 2004, there were
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only 208,000 of them. of those, 94,000 were for multmeda artsts and anmators. Art drectors held another 71,000 jobs; 8,500 jobs fell n all the other categores. That left fne artsts, ncludng sculptors, panters, and llustrators, at only 29,000 and craft artsts at only 6,100 for the entre naton. The medan annual ncome for fne artsts was $38,060 and for craft artsts, $23,520, as of May 2004.1 Pragmatc Amercans fnd t dffcult to value thngs that are nether necessary nor useful. In 2002, for example, only 29.5 percent of Amercans 18 years old or older purchased an artwork at least once. The greater the persons educatonal attanment, the greater the chances of buyng an artwork.2 Amercans are also notorous for avodng confrontaton, preferrng busnesslke compromse and accommodaton so that they can go on wth ther personal belefs hdden and ntact. Amercan art, however, became purposely confrontatonal, seemng to delght n conoclasm. The art that Amercans are now accustomed to experencng has even delved overtly nto the realms of relgon, race, sex, and poltcs, the most avoded subjects by Amercan socal conventon. Contemporary Amercan art, at least much of what s consdered avant-garde, s uncomfortable. The comfortable art, often the romantc realsm that Amercans seem to prefer, can be found n ther homes, where t s decoraton. Furnture stores use art on the walls of ther dsplays as props, whch set the tone. The dsplay wth the bg dark wooden desk, green leather chars, and sofa for the wood-paneled den s complemented by prnts of rders attred approprately n red, black, and whte whle huntng foxes through a green countrysde on chestnut horses. A pantng of fluffy whte clouds hangng n the deep blue sky llumned by the fantng sunlght wth stars twnklng around them adorns the wall above the headboard n the chlds bedroom dsplay. There are generc seascapes n the wcker pato furnture dsplay, pantngs of brght baskets of flowers for the eatng area dsplay, pantngs of romantc cottages n dyllc forests for the famly room dsplay that say ths s home sweet home. Amercans are just as lkely to buy a pantng or prnt because ts colors go wth the colors of ther walls and furnture as they are to purchase art wth a message they enjoy and do not have to fgure out. Great Amercan artsts at one tme chroncled the natons hstory. wth artstc lcense, Benjamn west (17381820) depcted death n the French and Indan war and wllam Penn sgnng the treaty wth Natve Amercans that would found Pennsylvana. John Trumbull (18561843) produced major pantngs of the revolutonary war. every chld n Amerca knows George washngton from the portrats by Glbert stuart (17551828). Thomas Cole (d. 1848), Frederc Church (18261900), and Albert Berstadt (18301902) panted the beauty of the Amercan landscape. George Catln

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(17961872) captured the lfe of Natve Amercans as t was quckly dsspatng nto eventual assmlaton. what Catln dd wth a brush for natves, Mathew Brady (c18231896) dd wth a camera for the Cvl war. George Caleb Bngham (18111879) captured fur traders and rverboat lfe n the west on the Msssspp and Mssour rvers. Charles russell (18641926) chroncled the passng of the old west n hs pantngs. As the twenteth century opened wth Amerca becomng ever more urbanzed, robert Henr (18651921), George Luks (18671933), edward Hopper (18821967), and the other members of the Ashcan school realstcally portrayed lfe n New york Cty. yet as Amercan artsts had always taken ther cues from old europe, ndeed many had studed at least brefly there, that trend would contnue. Modernsm came to Amerca before world war I n the varous forms of abstract art represented n the pantngs of Morgan russell (18861963) and Max weber (18811961), and many others. Modern art and ts progeny would come to play a new role n Amercan socety that was no longer as hstorcal or natural chroncle. Furthermore, Amercan modernsts succeeded n creatng an Amercan art. By the end of world war II, many Amercan artsts set out to loose themselves from the conventons of representatonal art and express themselves n new ways alen to many Amercans. whle all ths was gong on, however, Norman rockwell (18941978) was stll celebratng small-town Amerca n hs pantngs for the covers of the Saturday Evening Post. By the end of the twenteth century, art had approprated new meda and new technologes that prolferated new styles, new messages, and not a lttle controversy. durng the 1950s, abstract expressonsm separated Amercan from european modern art. Jackson Pollock (19121956) had forsaken representatonal art for the art of self-expresson n the 1940s. Hs so-called acton pantngs were abstracts made by pourng and drppng pant on canvases lyng on the floor n a nearly unconscous state of actvty and revolutonzed Amercan art. He would even clam that he hmself dd not know what would evolve on canvas as the pant layered. He dd beleve, however, that the acton tself was mportant because t revealed an nner self, an nner truth. The new age called for a new art, and the new age was Amercan. Mark rothkos (19031970) chromatc studes, wllem de Koonngs (19041997) layerng of pants to brng brth to emergng forms, robert Motherwells (19151991) ntroducton of meanng to abstract forms, and Lee Krasners (19081984) full abstract gestural canvases were all part of abstract expressonsm. Abstract expressonsm began takng many turns n the turbulent but artstcally nnovatve 1960s and 1970s. Agnes Martn (1912) panted grds, and Frank stella (1936) dd a seres of formalzed black pantngs as well as pnstrpes. These mnmalsts beleved that form and content were one;

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they were tryng to make sense of the 1960s wthout usng symbols and sendng messagespure art for arts sake. robert rauschenberg (1925) and Jasper Johns (1930) turned to neo-dadasm, mxng known objects and symbols n ther works along wth ther pant and effectvely endng the regn of abstract expressonsm. In 1959, Allen Kaprow (19272006) started dong happenngs, whch brought a new vtalty and creatvty to art n a very nontradtonal way. In 1961, Claes oldenburg (1929) opened the store, a happenng n whch hs sculpted objects provded the atmosphere of a varety store, where they were bought and sold. oldenburg also employed hamburgers and French fres as subjects for hs art. Pop art, based soldly and happly on Amercas mass consumer culture, also emerged n the early 1960s n the works of roy Lchtensten (19231997), Andy warhol (19281987), Tom wesselmann (19312004), and James rosenqust (1933). Campbells soup cans, del Monte frut cans, Coke bottles, Marlyn Monroe, Jacke Kennedy, elzabeth Taylor, Volkswagen Beetles, and comc books were only some of the subjects for these pop artsts. If the art of abstract expressonsm could be crtczed as the product of ts creators self-centered egotsm, conceptual artsts took t a step further, clamng to be arbters of deas to the people as they questoned socal norms. Thus the concept or dea held greater mportance than the art pece tself, as Joseph Kosuths (1945) 1967 Art as Idea as Idea eptomzed. Ths was the perfect medum for poltcal protest durng the Vetnam war era. Its bass was n lngustc theory, and thus t branched rather quckly nto performance art, agan wth the artst-performer as arbter. Body art came nto vogue. Chrs Burden (1946) crawled naked through broken glass on Man street n Los Angeles n hs 1973 performance Through the Night Softly. In hs 1970 performance of Trademarks, Vto Acconc (1940) bt hs body wherever he could, nked the btes, and appled hs so-called trademark to dfferent places. Among the femnst artsts who were attemptng to reclam womens bodes from a hstory of use (and abuse, they would argue) by male artsts, Carolee schneemann (1939) performed Interior Scroll n 1975, n whch her otherwse nude body was panted, and she read from a scroll she pulled out of her vagna. Photographer Cndy sherman (1954) began her seres of so-called self-portrats n 1977 wth Untitled Film Still, whch explored stereotypes of women n flm. Her later seres contnue to nvestgate the development of self-mage. As femnst artsts were tryng to reapproprate the female body and femnne symbols of art for themselves, Afrcan Amercans, Natve Amercans, and Hspancs also sought to send a message. Betye saar (1926) sought to debunk a famlar stereotype n her 1972 The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. Fath rnggold (1930) employed the Amercan flag to make her pont. Her 1967 The Flag Is Bleeding depcted three fgures, one black, trapped nsde

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the U.s. flag, ts red strpes bleedng. Her 1969 Flag for the Moon: Die Nigger Black Light #10 depcted the word die n red nsde the whte stars on the flags blue feld and the word nigger formed by the flags whte strpes. Ths was powerful protest. Frtz scholder (19372005) used hs art to try to rd people of the noton of Natve Amercans as noble savages, preferrng to depct hs subjects as real people wthout stereotypng, such as n hs 1969 Indian with a Beer Can. r. C. Gorman (19312005) redefned Indan pantng styles wth hs abstracts. Judth Bacas (1946) Great Wall of Los Angeles, a ggantc, half-mle collaboratve effort that was completed over the years 19761983, sought an ntegratve approach to the ncluson of all the cultures that nform Los Angeles lfe. The 1960s and 1970s also brthed other artstc experments. Lynda Benglss (1941) For Carl Andre, created n 1970, was a scatologcal example of process art (also called antform art) n ploppng layers of brown polyurethane foam. In ths art, the process was clear. As artsts contnued to try to escape cultural and nsttutonal boundares, some artsts created earthworks n the western deserts. Nancy Holt (1938) completed Sun Tunnels n 1976 n the Great Basn desert, whch conssted of placng four large concrete ppes n an X wth holes drlled n the sdes to reflect constellatons. The ppes were placed to vew the rsng and settng sun through them. robert smthsons (19281973) The Spiral Jetty at the Great salt Lake s perhaps the best known of the earthworks. It was completed n 1970. By the md-1970s, modernsm was hstory. Postmodern art tolerated a dversty of styles that were not necessarly dependent on partcular artsts. The neoexpressonsts brought pantng back to large canvases wth a style that was recognzable and sellable. Julan schnabel (1951) and davd salle (1952) ushered n ths new style that borrowed heavly and lberally from the past to the extent that ther work could not be placed n any partcular style. Appropraton artsts took ther cues from Amercas mass consumer culture. Vacuums, lava lamps, pots and pans, magazne pcturesanythng could become art wth a message. Installaton art, whch defnes the settng for a pece, and vdeo art were comng of age, too, along wth a new generaton of artsts who made dentty poltcs ther cause. Gender, sexualty, and AIds became the subject matter for artsts lke Kk smth (1954), robert Gober (1954), and Janne Anton (1964). Amercan artsts have never been shy n adoptng new technologes to ther art. Adran Pper (1948) took a hdden tape recorder that played belchng noses wth her to a lbrary for her Catalyss seres (19701971). Bll Vola (1951) used vdeo n hs nstallaton Stations (1994) to project naked human fgures onto fve hangng screens, whch produces the experence of bodes freed of the forces of nature. Tony oursler (1957) projected vdeo to make

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the faces on nanmate objects come alve. He used ths technque n hs Crying Doll (1993), n whch the face of the doll s a movng vdeo, and n hs We Have No Free Will (1995), wth talkng puppets. Hs 1997 Eye in the Sky s a vdeo sculpture featurng a fberglass sphere on whch s projected an eye watchng televson. The Internet and computer technologes are rpe for artstc exploraton. Mark Naper (1961) mxed up text and mages from varous web stes to create hs 1999 Riot to an arrestng effect. New york artst Cory Arcangel (1978) developed a web ste that juxtaposed snger Kurt Cobans sucde letter wth Google Adsense n 2006. He called hs 2005 performance of I Heart Garfunkel a messy lecture/performance nvolvng my slde from the Nntendo Pod to my current obsesson wth Art Garfunkel. In 2004, Arcangel took the group Iron Madens song The Number of the Beast and compressed t 666 tmes as an MP3. Also n 2004, he erased all the nvaders but one from the Atar space Invaders vdeo game, thus creatng Space Invader, and he dd a mash-up called Beach Boys/Geto Boys of the songs Lttle surfer Grl, by the Beach Boys, and 6 Feet deep, by Gravedggaz. In Arcangels Super Mario Clouds2005 Rewrite, he erased everythng but the clouds from a super Maro Brothers Nntendo game and provded the source code and nstructons for those who wanted to do t themselves.3
Public art

The federal government had establshed a precedent n 1927 to devote a percentage of constructon costs to art when the Post offce department and department of Justce were bult at Federal Trangle n washngton, d.C., and for the Natonal Archves buldng, whch opened n 1935. It had long been the governments practce to adorn publc buldngs wth approprate art and decoraton, even though there was no legslatve mandate to do so. In 1934, however, a federal percent-for-art program was establshed that allowed for approxmately 1 percent of constructon costs to be set asde for art, wth the dea that patrotc, democratc, realstc art wth local, recognzable cues would nspre Amercans otherwse untouched by art to experence good art n federal buldngs. Murals and monuments were then the stuff of publc art. whle the percent-for-art program suffered through shortages durng world war II and squabbles about who or what commttee should actually hre the artsts, by 1973, t was up and runnng agan on a frm footng as the Art n Archtecture Program, wth experts n charge of commssonng the artsts. The nstallaton of Alexander Calders moble Flamingo n Chcagos Federal Center n that year proved to be a success.4 The noton that government buldngs should be showcases for relevant, ste-specfc art was pcked up outsde of washngton frst by Phladelpha

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n 1959, by Baltmore n 1964, and by san Francsco n 1967. Later, state governments adopted percent-for-art programs based on the constructon costs of state publc buldngs. The movement spread across the naton. For example, oregon began ts program n 1977; Nebraska n 1978; Mane and New Hampshre n 1979; wsconsn n 1980; Montana n 1983; oho n 1990; and Lousana n 1999. More than 30 states now have percent-for-art programs. Publc art, bolstered by these federal, state, and muncpal percent-for-art programs, began pckng up steam n the 1960s. Corporatons, prvate foundatons, and other large nsttutons joned the movement, and n fact, most publc art today s not government funded. Publc art was to be the socally relevant art that defned publc placesplazas, playgrounds, parks and subway statons, walls and buldng faades. Publc art allowed artsts to brng ther messages to the people; art could be an agent for change. Artsts could become the arbters of publc opnon. Ths dyll was put to the test after the General servces Admnstraton, the federal agency that oversees federal constructon projects, commssoned mnmalst sculptor rchard serra (1939) n 1979 to create a ste-specfc pece for the Federal Plaza at Fogarty square n New york Cty. In 1981, serras Tilted Arc was dedcated. It was a 120-foot-long, 12-foot-hgh, 2.5-nch-thck slghtly tlted wall of rusted steel. workers n the federal buldngs began complanng about t and pettoned for ts removal, and n 1989, the General servces Admnstraton removed Tilted Arc from the plaza after a seres of court cases and splenetc rhetorc on all sdes. whle some couched ths publc debacle n the terms of gnorant people and poltcans who do not understand modern art aganst an enlghtened and msunderstood artst, t dd brng forward a fundamental queston: what f the publc do not want or lke the publc art ther tax money pad for? Throughout the 1980s, publc artsts wanted to make socal statements to advance the people, the publc, convncng themselves that they were creatng the art of the publc. Makng publc art was dong good for the people. In the 1990s, many publc artsts began to queston ther own personal cultural superorty and started creatng art n collaboraton wth the publc. wth the publc actually nvolved n art makng, and wth the artst mmersed n the culture of the ste through the people, Amercan art wll have acheved true democracy. WaterFire, n Provdence, rhode Island, s a stunnng example of publc art that nvolves the publc drectly as volunteers and engages from 40,000 to 60,000 people each performance n explorng the relatonshp between human exstence and the prmal elements of water, fre, earth, and ar. WaterFire, the concept of artst Barnaby evans, s a ste-specfc sculpture

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Crowds gather along the rverfront to watch waterfre, an art llustraton by Barnaby evans. The work centers on a seres of 100 bonfres that blaze just above the surface of the three rvers that pass through the mddle of downtown Provdence. AP Photo/stew Mlne.

and performance. The ste s the three rvers that run through downtown Provdence. Metal brazers are strategcally placed n the water, flled wth aromatc oak, cedar, and pne, and set afre at twlght. Volunteers dressed n black tend the fres. Torch-lt boats travel the rvers. An eclectc assortment of musc accompanes the performance. WaterFire was scheduled for 17 performances n 2006. evans began hs work n Provdence n 1994 wth an nstallaton called FirstFire, and another called SecondFire n 1996. These performances were so successful that n 1997, waterFre was set up as an ongong nonproft arts organzaton.5
the national Endowment for the arts

The U.s. government dd not drectly support the arts outsde of the federal buldng programs untl the establshment of the Natonal endowment for the Arts (NeA) n 1965, save for the emergency arts programs establshed by Presdent Frankln roosevelt to provde jobs durng the Great

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depresson. The NeA began awardng the Natonal Medal of Art n 1985. several of Amercas most noted artsts have been honored wth that award, ncludng Georga oKeefe (1985), wllem de Koonng (1986), robert Motherwell (1989), Jasper Johns (1990), robert rauschenberg (1993), roy Lchtensten (1995), Agnes Martn (1998), and Claes oldenburg (2000). Intal support for the arts was qute meager n the NeAs frst year, however, amountng to less than $3 mllon. NeA appropratons grew steadly, however, reachng nearly $176 mllon n fscal year 1992. In the 1970s, the NeA also pursued publc art wth ts Art n Archtecture program. Appropratons decreased steadly from that 1992 peak through fscal year 2000, bottomng at $97.6 mllon. snce then, fundng has ncreased to nearly $121 mllon n fscal year 2004. Although the NeA does support art mostly through grants to mount exhbtons, ts natonal ntatves nclude supportng jazz presentatons, brngng shakespeare performances to Amercan ctes and towns, and supportng arts journalsm nsttutes n opera, theater, classcal musc, and dance. Its objectves now have to do wth access to and learnng n the arts.6 To put the place of arts n the perspectve of federal spendng, one B2 sprt bomber costs over $1 bllon. Funds for the NeA, whch must be approprated by the U.s. Congress, nearly came to an end n 1989 when some congressmen and senators found out that NeA funds were used to support exhbtons of so-called obscene art, namely, of the works of robert Mapplethorpe (19461989) and Andres serrano (1950). The travelng Mapplethorpe exhbt, whch the Corcoran Gallery cancelled owng to poltcal consderatons, ncluded homoerotc photographs as well as photographs of nude chldren. The serrano photograph that nspred congressonal re was ttled Pss Chrst, a photograph of a crucfx emerged n a clear contaner of the artsts urne. The NeA was usng federal tax dollars to exhbt obscene, pornographc, sexually perverted, and sacrlegous materal around the country n the vew of several members of Congress, and they were outraged. Congress amended the NeA legslaton n 1990, nstructng the NeA char to consder general standards of respect and decency for the dverse belefs and values of the Amercan publc as grants are awarded.7 Federally funded art projects were to be fltered through ths so-called decency clause, and four artsts, soon dubbed the NeA 4, challenged ths new provson when the NeA yanked away ther grants. They clamed that ther Frst Amendment freedom of speech rghts had been volated, and they went to court. Karen Fnley (1956), among other thngs a performance artst, dealt wth womens ssues sometmes scatologcally n such performances as We Keep Our Victims Ready, a seres of monologues n whch she smeared chocolate over her body, whch was naked, save for boots and pantes. Holly Hughes (1955), a lesban performance artst, used explct sexual

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and relgous magery n her show World without End. Tm Mller (1958) explored aspects of hs gay dentty n such performances as Some Golden States n 1987 and Stretch Marks n 1989. In Blessed Are All the Little Fishes, performance artst and later actor John Fleck (1951) urnated on stage and smulated masturbaton. The NeA 4s case meandered through the courts and was fnally decded by the supreme Court n 1998. The Court found that because the NeAs decency clause asked only that general standards be consdered n awardng grants, the artsts Frst Amendment prvleges were not volated, nor would lack of government fundng prevent the artsts from performng ther art. In short, the NeA 4 lost, and the NeA ceased to award ndvdual grants for avant-garde categores. The Amercan government would not subsdze art that questoned basc Amercan values.
museums

The Foundng Fathers of the Unted states dd not envson the collecton of art to be n the purvew of government. For one thng, the Unted states began ts exstence completely broke and heavly n debt. For another, patronzng the arts surely must have smacked to them to be the stuff of popes, monarchs, and noblemen, all anathema n the new republc. Furthermore, they understood government to have a very small role n domestc lfe. In 1841, the Natonal Insttute was created n the Patent offce to oversee art and hstorcal tems the government had come to own. John Varden, ts frst curator, had begun collectng art prvately, and hs collecton was added to what the government already had. The nsttute was dsbanded n 1862 and ts collectons sent to the smthsonan Insttuton, whch was founded n 1846. After a fre at the smthsonan Castle n 1865, most of the art was loaned out to other museums well nto the twenteth century. A 1906 court case caused the smthsonans art collecton to be named a Natonal Gallery of Art, a heghtened status that encouraged donatons of new artworks. The federal governments entrance nto art collectng and museums had been, for the most part, accdental to ths pont, and certanly unenthusastc. There was no proper federal art museum untl fnancer Andrew w. Mellon donated hs european art collecton to the Unted states n 1937, the year he ded, and hs foundaton pad for the buldng, desgned by elel saarnen, to house t. In 1941, the Natonal Gallery of Art opened on the mall n the natons captal. The Mellon famly and foundaton also donated funds for the gallerys east Buldng, desgned by I. M. Pe. It opened n 1978. Vardens orgnal collecton, greatly enlarged, s housed n the newly renovated old Patent offce Buldng and s known as the smthsonan Amercan Art

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Museum. The collecton ncludes the works of more than 7,000 Amercan artsts.8 The Natonal Gallery of Art was not the frst federal art museum. The smthsonans frst fne art museum was the Freer Gallery. Charles Lang Freer (18541919) made a fortune as a ralroad car manufacturer n detrot. He was an avd collector of Asan art and Buddhst sculpture. He gave hs collecton to the naton along wth the money to buld a museum. The Freer Gallery opened n 1923. The Arthur M. sackler Gallery of Asan Art s connected to the Freer and was opened n 1987 to house dr. sacklers (19131987) gft to the country.9 There was one case, however, n whch the U.s. government aggressvely pursued a new collecton and museum. Presdent Lyndon Johnson, not known as an art afconado, sealed the deal wth fnancer Joseph H. Hrshhorn to donate hs collecton of sculpture, Amercan modernsts, and French Impressonsts to the Amercan people. Hrshhorn, born n Latva n 1899, made hs fortune n the uranum mnng busness and consdered t an honor to donate hs art to the people of the Unted states. Although Hrshhorn also donated $1 mllon toward the Gordon Bunshaftdesgned Hrschhorn Museum and sculpture Garden of the smthsonan Insttuton, government funds made t happen. Ground was broken for the Hrshhorn n 1969, and t opened n 1974. Joseph Hrshhorn, who ded n 1981, left substantally all hs art to the museum.10 wth the establshment of the Natonal endowment for the Arts n 1965, t may have seemed that the federal government was about to embark on a contnung program to support the arts. Amercas great art museums were founded and nurtured not by government, but by the ntatves of ctzens, partcularly wealthy ctzens. New york Ctys Metropoltan Museum of Art, arguably one of the worlds great museums, was founded n 1870 by wealthy art patrons and artsts seekng to further the democratc deal of gettng art out of prvate collectons and to the people. It took nearly 100 years after the Amercan revoluton before museums began to be establshedbrngng art to the Amercan people was, therefore, a noble deal. Banker and fnancer wllam wlson Corcoran (17981888), one of Amercas few collectors of Amercan art, donated hs collecton and the buldng that housed t to a board of trustees, who ran the congressonally chartered, tax-exempt Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Corcoran n washngton, d.C., opened n 1874. The Phladelpha Museum of Art was chartered n 1876 as the Pennsylvana Museum and school of Industral Art. Agan, local busness leaders, who wanted a school to support local art and textle ndustres, and artsts, notably Thomas eakns (18441916), got together to see that the Cty of Brotherly Love would have an art museum. The geness for the movement was Phladelphas Centennal exposton of 1876.

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The permanent buldng, called Memoral Hall, was to be the expostons art museum. The success of the Centennal exposton was, n turn, the geness of ctzens of Cncnnat, oho, decdng to found an art museum, whch opened n 1886. The Art Insttute of Chcago was founded n 1879 as the Chcago Academy of Fne Arts, both a school and museum, as Phladelphas had been, and Mrs. Henry Feld was ts frst major donor. The movement to establsh art museums went all over the country. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, now wth extensve and dverse collectons, was establshed n 1910 wthout a collecton. The Museum of Fne Arts n Houston, Texas, opened n 1924, the result of 24 years of work by the Houston Publc school Art League. Today, Amerca has more than 1,700 art museums, and some of ts most sgnfcant ones were founded n the twenteth century. wealthy art collectors and patrons Mary sullvan, Abby Aldrch rockefeller, and Llle P. Blss founded the Museum of Modern Art n 1929 n New york Cty because the large museums were reluctant to collect modern and contemporary art. Thus was establshed one of the worlds premer art museums. Major duncan Phllps and hs wfe, Marjore, left ther washngton, d.C., home n 1930 for another resdence, turnng ther old home nto an art museum. The Phllps Collecton s a major nsttuton of modern art and ts orgns. Gertrude Vanderblt whtney founded the whtney Museum n 1931, wth her own collecton of twenteth-century Amercan art as ts foundaton. The Frck Collecton was created and endowed by Henry Clay Frck, the Pttsburgh steel magnate. when he ded n 1919, he requested that hs New york Cty resdence become a museum to house hs hundreds of artworks, ncludng old masters, after the death of hs wfe. The museum opened to the publc n 1935. olman J. Paul Getty opened the J. Paul Getty Museum at hs Malbu, Calforna, ranch n 1954. snce 1984, the trustees of hs estate have sought to promote Gettys belef n art as a humanzng nfluence by expandng the museums programs beyond the orgnal campus wth the Getty Center n Los Angeles, desgned by rchard Meer and Partners and opened n 1997. The collectons have been greatly enhanced beyond Gettys collecton of antqutes and european pantngs and furnture. In 1937, ndustralst solomon r. Guggenhem establshed hs eponymous foundaton to operate museums based on hs collectons of nonobjectve art. whle solomons artworks were put nto travelng shows and hs nece Peggy Guggenhem was makng her own name n the art world as a dealer and patron, the frst permanent home for the Guggenhem opened n Frank Lloyd wrghts famous New york Cty landmark n 1959. The Kmbell Art Museum n Fort worth, Texas, opened n a Lous I. Kahndesgned buldng n 1972. It was establshed through a foundaton by entrepreneur Kay Kmbell, hs wfe, and

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hs wfes sster and her husband. The museum houses a dverse collecton reachng back to antquty. Travelng museum exhbts take mportant art throughout the country. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) n Cleveland, oho, recently exhbted some of the pantngs of dana schutz (1976) completed between 2002 and 2006. schutz tred to extend realty nto the magnary n her pantngs. These ncluded selectons from her seres self-eaters. MoCA also exhbted two shows of Catherne opes (1961) photographs, 1999 and In and Around the House. The 1999 photographs were taken on a trp around the country n 1999; the photographs of the other show depct a close look at Amercan lfe at home, wth opes famly as subjects. In an exhbt called sarah Kabot: on the Flp sde, emergng Cleveland artst sarah Kabot (1976) had the opportunty to show her nterest n the relatonshp between form and content through her art, whch ncluded transformng a spral notebook nto a new meanng.11 In Houston, Texas, the Contemporary Arts Museum presented ts patrons wth the travelng exhbt Kk smth: A Gatherng, 19802005. smths exploraton of humanty and sprtualty could be dscovered n about 250 works n dverse meda. In ts Perspectves seres, the museum gves artsts ther frst opportuntes for museum exhbton. Artsts who have lately exhbted n ths seres nclude Mchael Bse, who draws domestc scenes; soody sharf, who photographs communtes; Janak Lenne, who pants ctyscapes; and demetrus olver, who s a Houston conceptual artst engaged n performance, sculpture, and photography. The Houston museum also mounted a travelng retrospectve of sam Gllams (1933) draped pantngs. Gllam took canvases off stretchers and walls, turnng them nto three-dmensonal nstallatons.12 The Contemporary Art Center of Vrgna n Vrgna Beach featured waterng, an exhbton of 24 photographs by eljah Gown (1967). Gown used composte photos from the Internet that he bult dgtally nto montages, and whch he then, as negatves, put through a scannng and prntng process to nvoke contemporary meanng for the act of baptzng. The Butler Insttute of Amercan Art n youngstown, oho, showed Lghtboxes and Melts. Artst ray Howlett (1940) produced lght sculptures usng Led technology. The san Francsco Museum of Modern Art featured a nearly three-month run of the drawng restrant seres, an ongong work of art by Matthew Barney (1967). It s a performance-based project that employs flm, photography, drawng, sculpture, and vdeo to nvestgate the dea that form comes out of struggle aganst resstance.13 The attendance rate for art museums across the Unted states s 34.9 percent, whch means that only about one n three Amercans vsts an art

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museum n a gven year. There are regonal varatons, however, n attendance rates. New england (42.4%), the Md-Atlantc (38.7%), and the Pacfc Northwest wth Hawa (39.7%) exceed the natonal average. The attendance rate n the south Atlantc regon s bolstered by Florda (35.5%), but ts overall rate s only 30.5 percent. (Ths regon ncludes the states of Florda, Georga, south Carolna, North Carolna, Vrgna, west Vrgna, Maryland, and delaware.) The west south central regon outsde of Texas, whch exactly meets the natonal rate, has an attendance rate of only 26.5 percent. Ths regon ncludes Texas as well as oklahoma, Lousana, and Arkansas. Art museum attendance n the mountan states (Montana, Idaho, wyomng, Utah, Nevada, Arzona, Colorado, and New Mexco) at 40 percent exceeds the natonal average. In the east south central regon, ncludng Kentucky, Tennessee, Msssspp, and Alabama, the attendance rate at art museums s a meager 24.8 percent. The Mdwest generally meets the natonal rate. when partcpaton rates n art experences through televson are consdered, however, most regons come near or above the natonal rate of 45.1 percent. The east south central regon s the notable excepton at only 36.5 percent.14 The Amercan Assocaton of Museums reported n 2003 that medan annual attendance for art museums totaled 61,312, whereas zoos had 520,935; scence and technology museums had 183,417; arboretums and botancal gardens had 119,575; chldrens/youth museums had 85,088; and natural hstory museums had 64,768.15
the Contemporary art Scene

The whtney Bennal s an mportant event that showcases contemporary Amercan art and may therefore be consdered representatve of what s happenng n the Amercan art scene. Among the artsts whose works were chosen for ncluson n the 2006 Bennal, called day for Nght, was Los Angeles artst Lsa Lapnsk (1967), whose nstallaton Nightstand was nspred by the contradcton between smple shaker furnture and the relgous ecstasy depcted n shaker gft drawngs. In ths sculpture, the basc wooden nghtstand adorned wth curous decoratons seems to have exploded n all drectons. Trsha donnelly (1974) s a conceptual/performance artst from san Francsco. Her demonstratons rely on unpredctablty to transcend the tme and place of exhbton. For her, art s ephemeral, but t can be the vehcle to a bref transcendent experence. Lucas degulo (1977), also workng out of san Francsco, lkes to make small sculptures out of thngs he fnds and transform them nto a sort of otherness. Hs Can Barnacles n the Bennal s a barnacle-encrusted alumnum can. Four Houston, Texas, artsts, all members of otabenga Jones & Assocates, an artsts collectve founded n 2002 and dedcated to educate young

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Afrcan Amercans about the fullness of the Afrcan Amercans experence, were pcked for ndvdual works n the Bennal. Jamal Cyrus (1973) nvented a mythcal record company of the 1970s, and hs collage, on a Cream album, depcts n a cutout a group of Afrcan Amercan mltants marchng wth fsts rased and carryng a coffn. Hs 2005 pece s called The Dowling Street Martyr Brigade, Towards a Walk in the Sun. robert A. Prutt (1975) sought to comment on the Afrcan Amercans struggle n hs 2005 This Do in Remembrance of Me. Har, Pods, a mxer, wne, and other offerngs lay on a communon table. Kenya A. evans (1974) employed texts to dmnsh and bolster the mportance of hstory books, whle a slave on the ground attempts to defend hmself helplessly from a robotc slave master. Her canvas s ttled Untitled (Overseer). A drawng by dawolu Jabar Anderson (1973) s ttled Frederick Douglass Self-Defense Manual Series, Infinite Step Escape Technique #1: Hand Seeks Cotton s an nk and acrylc on paper that the artst treated to gve t an hstorcal look. The 2006 whtney Bennal, f nothng else, exposed the great dversty of Amercan art today. Los Angelesbased Mark Grotjahn (1968) showed hs debt to the conceptual art of an earler era n hs Untitled (White Butterf ly). Matthew Monahan (1972), also based n Los Angeles, explored the human body nsde and outsde n hs drawngs and sculptures. Another Los Angelesbased artst, Mark Bradford (1961), s famous for hs mxed meda collages, nstallatons, and vdeos that may nclude strng, magazne pages, and ads found on cty lampposts. Angela strasshem (1969), who dvdes her tme between New york Cty and Mnneapols, Mnnesota, employed her tranng as a forensc photographer to create extremely crsp color photographs of the grotesque and the ordnary. Anthony Burdn of Calforna, who nssts on beng ageless, made hs fame sngng along wth tunes as he photographed the passng scenery from hs 1973 Chevy Nova, n whch he clams to have lved. New yorker Kelley walker (1969) used a computer, scanner, and photo software along wth such thngs as smeared and dabbled chocolate and toothpaste on archval mages to create dgtally prnted two-dmensonal abstracts. In Austn, Texas, Troy Brauntch (1954), workng from photographs, has managed to vel representatonal art to make t somethng other than tself. Hs 2005 Untitled (Shirts2) n the Bennal, a 63 by 51 nch cont crayon on black cotton depcton of folded shrts n a rack, s almost ethereal. There s nothng ethereal, however, about dash snows (1981) photographs of hs lfe n New york Cty, ncludng a dog eatng garbage. Inventve Amercan artsts can turn about anythng nto art, as the Bennal demonstrated. New york Ctys dan Colen (1979) used wood, steel, ol pant, paper-mch, felt, and styrofoam to create Untitled. Ths 96 by 108

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by 96 nch sculpture appears to be a poorly constructed, grafft-encrusted wooden fence, the knd of fence the lttle rascals may have bult around ther clubhouse. Los Angeles sculptor Lz Larner (1960), who uses color to draw attenton to her works, rather than form, used alumnum tubng, fabrc and rbbons, battng, wre rope, padlocks, and keys to create her 82 by 117 by 117 nch RWBs n the whtney show. It appears to be a completely formless but colorful ple of stffened spaghett.16 whle the whtney Bennal shows may be sad to be mounted wthn the tradton of avant-garde Amercan art n the sprt of art for arts sake, the U.s. government uses Amercan art for poltcs sake, thus revealng another sde of Amercan art. The embasses of the Unted states around the world act n part as art museums to show Amercan art. The U.s. department of state establshed ts ArT n embasses Program n 1964 to mount exhbtons of orgnal Amercan art n the publc rooms of dplomatc nstallatons at some 180 nternatonal locatons. The purpose of the program s to provde nternatonal audences wth a sense of the qualty, scope, and dversty of Amercan art and culture through the work of Amercan artsts.17 In 2004, the ArT n embasses Program, workng wth the Bureau of Internatonal Informaton Programs, showcased 17 of the younger program artsts n the hope of ncreasng nternatonal understandng and n the belef that experencng ther art would also be to experence the fundamental Amercan values of nnovaton, dversty, freedom, ndvdualsm [and] compettve excellence. Ther works were chosen because they reflect the great magnatve varety of the current Amercan art scene.18 Among the artsts whose works are shown around the world s Phlp Argent (1962), who lves n santa Barbara, Calforna. He s nfluenced by the layerng of vsual effects n the way that wndows software presents nformaton. He uses that technque and puts together seen objects wth magned ones to produce varous optcal effects. Hs acrylc and damond dust on canvas called Window Drop #1 (2000) s a prmary example of hs technque. Graham Caldwell (1973) of washngton, d.C., sculpts n glass. Hs 2002 work Elizabeths Tears llustrates n glass, steel, water, and wood hs exploraton of connecton and nterdependence. New Mexco artst Lauren Camp (1966) desgns colorful threadworks about jazz because she clams to be able to hear colors and shapes n the musc. New york Cty photographer Gregory Crewdson (1962) attempts to nvolve vewers of hs work n a narratve from a frozen moment n tme. In hs Natural wonders seres, he uses the beauty of nature to engage the vewer. New york Cty natve Hllary steel (1959) s a textle artst. Her use of color s ordnarly qute brght, but her Current Events (2001) s made of hand-woven newspaper and cotton, makng her pont that the cloth or fabrc tself has a structure and a hstory

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that allows t to delver messages. wll Cotton (1964), who lves n New york Cty, does ol pantngs of confectons on lnen. Hs pantngs, such as Brittle House (2000), a mnature, dyllc cottage made of peanut brttle, and Flanpond (2002), four flans that appear to be floatng on flowery water, look good enough to eat and evoke a perfect world of unfettered consumpton. Ncole Cohen (1970) of Los Angeles s a vdeo nstallaton artst. Pctures of rooms become the stages (a dgtal prnt) on whch a performance vdeo s projected. santago Cucullu (1969) was born n Argentna but rased n the Unted states. He s nterested n large wall peces, whch nclude Lunchtime, the Best of Times (2002), a hgh shelf of folded plastc tablecloths, and Come to Me (2002), a wall of colorful plastc table skrtng. Benjamn edwards (1970) of washngton, d.C., chooses hs subject matter out of the consumer socety he nhabts to create new syntheses from unorganzed realtes, as n hs Starbucks, Seattle: Compression (1998). Kevborn Valere demanchuk, now of New york Cty, ntensfes the essence of her subject matter n detaled graphte drawngs on plan drawng paper; her 2001 Terra Firma (Dry Land) s but one example. Jason Falchook of washngton, d.C., s a photographer who explores lfe wthn the boundares of communtes and sometmes uses nkjet prnters to produce hs peces. Trenton doyle Hancocks (1974) mxed meda peces are nspred by the dscarded thngs (garbage) he fnds, whch, he beleves, have ther own stores to tell. dante Maron (1964) s a glassblower who creates hs colorful and fancful peces n homage to the hstory of the craft. stacy Levy (1960) of Phladelpha uses her art, rather than scence, to evoke a heghtened sense of nature. Her Mold Garden (19992002) s made of sandblasted glass, agar, and mold spores.19
Folk art

Amercan folk art, more pejoratvely known as prmtve art or nave art, s the product of unschooled artsts and arguably an unvarnshed nsght nto Amercan lfe. Ths s outsder artoutsde the academc tradton. Amercas best-known folk artst was probably Anna Mary robertson Moses, or Grandma Moses (18601961). A farmers wfe and mother of fve chldren who lved n rural eastern New york state, she dd not take up pantng untl she was n her seventes. wth a brght palette, she depcted the smple lfe and the natural beauty around her. Her pantngs are of a happy Amerca. earl Cunnngham (18931977) was born n Mane but eventually settled n st. Augustne, Florda. He had been a tnker, a seaman who worked up and down the Atlantc coast, and a chcken farmer before he opened hs curo shop n Florda n 1949. even before movng to Florda, however, he had begun to pant vvdly colored fancful landscapes of the places he had vsted.

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These, too, are happy pantngs. Cunnnghams works are the foundaton of the Mennello Museum of Amercan Art n orlando, Florda.20 The essence of folk art s self-expresson. whle some early Amercan folk artsts lke Joshua Johnson (17631824) and Amm Phllps (17881865) were portrat panters, Pennsylvana artst edward Hcks (17801849), a Quaker and a preacher, used many of hs pantngs to delver moral and relgous lessons. Bll Traylor (18541949) was born a slave n Alabama. For 82 years, he remaned at the place where he was born, and then he moved to nearby Montgomery, Alabama, where he began drawng the scenes around hm. Henry darger (18921973), who stole hmself out of a deplorable chldrens home for the so-called feeble-mnded to become a jantor n Chcago, created an entre unreal lfe n hs small apartment, wrtten and llustrated by hmself. The Amercan Folk Art Museum n New york Cty celebrates outsder Art week n January. a rChiteCture
and

h ousing

The mother art s archtecture. wthout an archtecture of our own we have no soul of our own cvlzaton. Frank Lloyd wrght

It s curous that no one anywhere would dentfy a photograph of any street n any Amercan cty as a street n Johannesburg, Pars, Istanbul, or ro de Janero because t looks Amercan. yet for all the efforts of archtects at one tme to create an Amercan archtecture, none emerged. Lkewse, Amercan resdental neghborhoods look Amercan, but here agan, houses, too, appear to be copes of hstorcal relcs bult wth locally avalable materals. Amercan buldngs, havng gone through a hstory of dervatve european archtecture, are now sad to be eclectc and regonal. A walk through any cty or resdental neghborhood proves the pont. Banks n central ctes may demonstrate ther fnancal strength through Ionc columns, romanesque stonework, or towerng heghts n glass and steel. In many suburban neghborhoods, faux spansh colonal, French provncal, Tudor revval, dutch colonal, and Greek revval houses may share the same block. Ths s not to say that the potpourr of styles that consttutes Amercan archtecture, publc and resdental, are not wthout Amercan values. George washngton and Thomas Jefferson spent decades buldng ther homes, Mount Vernon and Montcello, to make statements that endure. washngton, the consummate practcal farmer, mltary hero, and father of the naton, found a way to wed the grand style befttng a publc man wth the comforts of prvate lfe. Hs fnal renderng of Mount Vernon, garnered

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from hs perusal of the pedestran englsh buldng gudes avalable to hm, suggested wth Palladan and neoclasscal accents that ths home was a temple of democracy. Callng to mnd the ancent roman republc, Mount Vernon became a symbol of the strength of democracy, an Amercan castle, a sacrosanct place n whch the occupants were safe, a place replcated to ths day all over Amerca. For Jefferson, Montcello was as much a home as t was an dea and an deal. He famously dengrated archtecture n colonal Amerca. Jefferson sought perfecton n classcal archtecture, borrowng lberally from englsh and French archtectural studes of classcal buldngs. The dscplnes of art and archtecture blurred n Jeffersons works. He beleved Amerca needed archtecture to express ts unque place n the world, and t was he who would proffer the reworked roman temple as the exemplar of Amercan democratc archtecture: bold, pure, sold. In fact, Jeffersons desgn for the Vrgna statehouse, wdely coped n the south for lbrares and other publc buldngs, was squarely based on a roman temple. what made Jeffersons archtecture Amercan, however, was the freedom he felt to blend and marry dfferng classcal styles together. It was Jefferson who would set the tone for Amercas aspratons and publc archtecture for years to come.
american Cities

Amercan ctes look young and orderly. They express a knd of hopefulness and vtalty. Most of them were lad out on grds, wth straght streets and broad avenues. whle sectons of ctes developed over tme around entrepreneural vsons punctuated by freestandng, sngle archtectural statements, the grd mantans a certan cvc unty. It also defnes the footprnts of the buldngs and the publc spaces where commerce can take place. The rapd expanson of the Unted states was all about the successful entrepreneural commerce that took place on Man street Amerca. For a century from the 1850s, these small-town and cty commercal centers provded one-stop shoppng for burgeonng populatons and busnesses. Grocery stores, drugstores, hardware stores, furnture stores, clothng stores, emporums, shoe stores, jewelry stores, banks, hotels, theaters, restaurants, doctors and lawyers offces, repar shops, candy stores, bllard halls, bars and grllsall these and more came together n commercal buldngs remarkably alke across the country. Amercas commercal Man street archtecture was domnated by the supremacy of street-level trade; that s, access to frst-floor busnesses from wde sdewalks that nvted busness actvty was easy, and parkng for horses and bugges and cars was mmedately avalable off the sdewalks. one-story busnesses, n detached buldngs and rows, popped up everywhere. The popular two- and three-story buldngs were clearly defned

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nto two zones: the commercal, publc spaces on the frst floor and more prvate spaces on upper floors. Thus doctors offces mght be above drugstores or hotel rooms or apartments above shoe stores. some twenteth-century buldngs began to feature framed large wndows for dsplays, and as land values ncreased, buldngs began gettng taller, but fve stores was consdered a maxmum, untl passenger elevators and structural steel made the sky the lmt.21 No matter the style of the faades, whch were often desgned n the style prevalent at the tme, Man street Amerca stll has a famlar feel for Amercans, even though t has fallen on hard tmes. wth the shft of populaton to suburbs and the development of shoppng malls to serve t, large central cty commercal dstrcts fell nto dsuse and dsrepar. Lkewse, the thousands of Man streets n small towns across the country experenced a smlar demse because small mom-and-pop busnesses could not compete aganst bg chan stores wth more varety and better prces. In Amercan memory, however, Man street s the real Amercaa safe place wth a bustlng frendlness and hardworkng, honest merchants who treat ther customers as kngs and queens. Happly, urban renewal and hstorc preservaton programs have brought some Man streets back, rencarnated as specalty shops and boutques that may make ther revenues more from Internet sales than foot trade. The bg crowds are at the shoppng malls. That old Man street Amerca feelng, replete wth penny candy and ce cream sodas, s now mostly the stuff of theme parknduced magnaton. The only thng that could be more dyllc than vstng walt dsney worlds Man street would be to lve n t, or at least a verson of t. seasde, an 80-acre development on Flordas northern Gulf Coast, hatched a movement called the new urbanism. Begun n 1981, ts pastel-panted wooden cottages wth front porches catch the Gulf breezes. whte pcket fences both defne propertes and nvte conversaton wth passers-by. everythng s wthn walkng dstance: the small stores and the town square where communty events take place. The streets are narrower than Amercans are accustomed to; cars do not domnate the streets, and garages do not domnate the front of the homes. In fact, the entre development s scaled down from normal sze to gve t the feel of a manageable urban envronment. Crtcs may have called seasde a la-la land wth strct rules, but t sparked a revoluton. The prmary archtects of seasde, Andres duany and elzabeth PlaterZyberk, were among the founders of the Congress for the New Urbansm n 1993. It now clams some 2,000 members worldwde. The congresss charter takes a stand n favor of restorng urban centers, ratonalzng suburban sprawl nto communtes of real neghborhoods, conservng the envronment, and preservng what s already bult. Furthermore, t declares that land develop-

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ment polces and practces should further dversty n use and populaton; support the automoble as well as mass transt and pedestran traffc; shape urban areas by the use of accessble publc spaces and communty nsttutons; and employ archtecture and landscape desgn based on local hstory, clmate, ecology, and buldng practce to frame urban areas. Fnally, the groups charter commts to reestablshng the relatonshp between the art of buldng and the makng of communty. Ths would occur only when ctzens partcpate n plannng and desgnng ther communtes.22 Idealsm s not dead n Amercan archtecture; lookng back to an dealzed past s always comfortable. Amercas efforts to revtalze urban centers began n the 1960s and contnues. In the largest ctes, urban malls, some of them spectacular, lke Lberty Place n Phladelpha, were bult around subway and tran stops. The value of waterfront property was realzed n New york Ctys south street seaport and Baltmores Inner Harbor. In Boston, a dlapdated old Faneul Hall was renovated and reborn as a modern marketplace. In washngton, d.C., the old Post offce was reclamed as a tourst attracton featurng small shops and food, and the magnfcent tran staton near the Captol was restored as a busy tourst center, wth a number of retal establshments and stll wth arrvng and departng trans as well as a subway stop. wth developments lke san Francscos embarcadero Center and Chcagos water Tower Place, Amercan ctes have taken on a new look. The new Man street of Amercas bg ctes s spacous, tall, glass and steelencased retal, offce, eatng, and drnkng establshments and lvng quarters that are not necessarly dependent on the automoble. They are safe places.
american architects

Benjamn Latrobe (17641820), who desgned the U.s. Captol, was Brtsh, havng come to Amerca n 1796. even the frst U.s.-born Amercan archtect, Charles Bullfnch (17631844), traveled to europe for nspraton. Hs Massachusetts state House, completed n 1798, demonstrated hs debt to the classcsm then current n england.23 Amerca had no professonal archtecture program, untl the frst was establshed n 1865 at the Massachusetts Insttute of Technology. There were 13 professonal programs by 1900, but they were all modeled after the ecole des Beaux-Arts n Pars, where many Amercan archtects had studed.24 Amercas affar wth englsh classcal archtecture was therefore renforced by Beaux-Arts classcsm. Indeed, archtects chose classcal buldngs to make the statement to the world that the Unted states was no longer a second-rate power n any respect at the 1893 worlds Columban exposton n Chcago. skyscrapers were the chance for Amercan archtects to shne. In 1875, a skyscraper was a 10-story buldng. when archtect Cass Glberts New york

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Cty woolworth Buldng was completed n 1913, t stacked 60 tall stores to a heght of 792 feet. In 1931, what was long Amercas tallest buldng, the empre state Buldng, was bult to 102 stores and a total heght of 1,252 feet, dwarfng the 1930 Chrysler Buldng at only 1,046 feet. These three skyscrapers defned and redefned the New york Cty skylne, yet they reman perod peces. The woolworth Buldng s swept wth Gothc ornament. The vertcalty of Gothc archtecture seemed to lend tself to skyscrapers for there were no other precedents for what these tall buldngs mght look lke. The Chrysler Buldng s full-blown art deco, wth decoraton relatng to automobles, Chryslers lvelhood. The empre state Buldng s n a muted art deco style. operatng out of Chcago, archtect Lous sullvan (18561924) had some deas about tall buldngs. He beleved that they should embrace ther tallness n new ways and that ther forms should follow the buldngs functons. The wanwrght Buldng n downtown st. Lous, whch was completed n 1892, s on the Natonal regster of Hstorc Places because sullvan and hs partner, dankmar Adler, dealt wth steel and glass and brck and terra cotta for a tall buldng n an entrely new way. The 10-story wanwrght Buldng respected the urban tradton of dfferentatng publc from offce functons n the faade. The frst two stores are defned as retal and publc spaceths was form followng functon. However, n no other respect was ths buldng tradtonal. The brck pers of the faade that extend from above the second floor to the terra cotta cornce that caps the buldng suggest the strength of the structural steel they hde, but more sgnfcantly, they suggest the tallness of the buldng tself. Lkewse, the larger corner posts, although not structurally functonal, suggest the strength of the steel that s really the structure of the buldng n terms recognzable to the unntated. Terra cotta spandrels or panels between the wndows lend horzontal cues to the buldng. sullvan vared the organc desgns of the spandrels above each floor, thus solvng the ssue of ornament n ths new archtecture. These terra cotta panels as well as the cornce were not the work of artsans, but they could be produced mechancally. whle sullvans desgn of the wanwrght Buldng predated the modern skyscraper, t was decdedly an Amercan contrbuton to the tall buldng. The Unted states now has nne skyscrapers that hover above 1,000 feet. Among the top fve are the sears Tower n Chcago, wth 110 stores, whch s the tallest at 1,450 feet. The empre state Buldng s 102 stores at 1,250 feet. The Aon Centre n Chcago, although only 80 stores, rses to a heght of 1,136 feet. Chcago also has Amercas fourth tallest buldng, the John Hancock Center, whch has 100 stores at 1,127 feet. New york Ctys Chrysler Buldng, wth 77 stores, rses to 1,046 feet.

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Another orgnal Amercan archtect worked for Adler and sullvan from 1888 untl 1903. Frank Lloyd wrght (18671959) always clamed sullvan as hs mentor, even though hs nfluences were qute dverse and even ncluded Japanese archtecture. wrghts endurng legacy to Amercan archtecture would be hs lberaton of the house from a rabbt warren to an open space, but hs fnal work, the solomon r. Guggenhem Museum n New york Cty, gave Amerca one of ts sgnature buldngs. If wrght was a member of any partcular school, t was hs own. Hs cantlevered buldngs and houses suggested an organc archtecture sprngng from nature lke branches unfoldng from trees. Nature and technology could be complementary. In the Guggenhem, however, technology and modern materalsmolded concrete and steelare formed nto a plastc sculpture. The form of the sculpture was defned by the functon of a museum: to vew art, n ths case, on spralng ramps. The museum was completed n 1959, shortly after wrghts death. In 1932, Amercan archtecture was awakened from ts classcal slumber by a show at the Museum of Modern Art n New york that was called Modern Archtecture: Internatonal exhbton. The show went on the road,

The solomon r. Guggenhem Museum n New york Cty, desgned by Frank Lloyd wrght, stands out archtecturally. Corbs.

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and a book called The International Style: Architecture Since 1922 by Henry russell Htchcock and Phlp Johnson was based on t.25 Johnson would later attend archtecture school and prove one of ts most famous practtoners. The nternatonal stylemodern archtectureopened a new avenue of expresson for Amercan archtecture because t condemned hstorcal decoraton, classcal symmetry, and mass, all the stuff of tradtonal Amercan archtecture. As fate would have t, two of europes greatest modernst archtects ended up as ctzens of the Unted states. walter Gropus, who founded the Bauhaus n Germany n 1919, came to the Unted states to drect Harvards Graduate school of desgn n 1937, retrng n 1952. In that same year, Ludwg Mes van der rohe came to the Unted states and was ensconced n the Armour Insttute of Technology as head of ts archtecture program from 1938 untl 1958. Mess seagram Buldng n New york Cty, completed n 1958, s consdered the heght of hs work and spawned glass and steel towers of smple elegance n many of Amercas largest ctes. To Mes, less was more. It was Phlp Johnson (19062005) who frst brought Mes to Amerca, and he collaborated wth hm on the seagram Buldng. The pure lnes of nternatonal-style glass and steel towers became so ubqutous across Amercas ctes (Amerca was not alone n ths experence) that they attaned a knd of anonymty, save for the color of the glass. Most Amercans found them sterle and bereft of meanng. Johnsons famous glass house, an homage to Mes, whch he bult n 1949 n New Canaan, Connectcut, s a case n pont. Ths glass and steel box looked more lke an archtectural statement than home sweet home to the Amercan eye, but Johnson lved n t. In the domnant archtectural crcles, however, modernsm represented the perfect mnglng of materals, technology, precson, and artthe essence of modern archtecture. The form and the materals were themselves the decoraton. Johnson, however, began to crawl out of the box, as t were. In 1967, he joned wth archtect John Burgee. In ther desgn for the Ids Center n Mnneapols, Mnnesota, completed n 1973, modern archtecture appeared sleek, but wth human spacesa glass atrum and elevated walkways. Ther 1976 Pennzol Place n Houston was another nnovatonmodern archtecture truly out of the box and now shaped to dramatc effect. Johnson then began weddng hstorcsm to modern archtecture methods. Hs 1984 republcbank Center n Houston was topped wth ever-taller three-stepped pyramds. Hs AT&T Buldng (now sony) n New york Cty, also n 1984, was controversalt was apparently nspred by furnture, a Chppendale hghboy. whle controversal, t was another archtectural statement by Johnson, namely, that the european modernsm he helped to ntroduce to

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Amerca and that domnated Amercan archtecture for 50 years was nearly dead. The Prtzker Archtecture Prze was naugurated n 1979 to recognze the worlds most sgnfcant archtects. often referred to as archtectures Nobel Prze, Phlp Johnson was ts frst recpent. In acceptng the prze, Johnson noted that new understandngs are sweepng the art. He hoped that archtects mght, as they had n the past, jon pantng and sculpture once more to enhance our lves.26 Modernst archtects were employng technology to buld forms other than boxes. one of Amercas most recognzable buldngs, wllam Perera Assocates 1972 Transamerca Pyramd n san Francsco, defnes both the corporaton (t appears n all ts advertsements) and the ctyscape. Kevn roche and John dnkeloo completed the sculptures that had been desgned under eero saarnen after hs death. Two of the buldngs are qute famlar to travelers: the old TwA termnal at New yorks JFK Internatonal Arport and washngton, d.C.s, dulles Internatonal Arport. roche was awarded the Prtzker Archtecture Prze n 1982, a year after dnkeloos death. Ieoh Mng Pe, born n Chna n 1917, came to Amerca from Chna n 1935. He became the master of geometrcal shapes n archtecture. Hs well-known desgns nclude the John Ftzgerald Kennedy Lbrary and Museum outsde Boston; the east Buldng of the Natonal Gallery of Art n the natons captal; and the Jacob K. Javts Center n New york Cty. Cleveland, oho, s home to the rock and roll Hall of Fame and Museum, opened n 1995 and desgned by Pe. Hs famous pyramd at the Louvre s known throughout the world. Modern archtecture was takng shape n many dfferent ways as archtects grew restve under orthodox nternatonal style. robert Ventur receved the Prtzker Archtecture Prze n 1991. The jurys ctaton noted that hs 1966 book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture s generally acknowledged to have dverted the manstream of archtecture away from modernsm.27 Ventur argued essentally that modern archtecture had lost context n ts struggle for smplcty and clarty. Buldngs were beng desgned to mythc archtectural deals, rather than to the ste or hstorcal cues. The contradcton and complexty that can be observed n the archtecture of any cty should be part and parcel of the new archtecture. There should not be one school of archtecture, but many. Buldngs should have meanng. Thus none of Venturs buldngs look alke. The seattle Art Museum looks nothng lke oberln Colleges Allen Memoral Art Museum. The symbolc end of modern archtecture n Amerca occurred n 1972 when the man buldngs of the modernst Prutt-Igoe housng project n

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st. Lous were dynamted. opened n 1955 and desgned by Amercan archtect Mnoru yamasak, who also desgned New york Ctys ll-fated world Trade Center twn towers, Prutt-Igoe represented hgh-rse housng for the poor n a new age. By the tme t was demolshed, t had become a drugnfested, crme-rdden, hellsh place. Modern archtecture, contrary to ts hopes and belefs, proved not to be ennoblng. Frank Gehry won the Prtzker Archtecture Prze n 1989, and he was the last Amercan to receve that award untl Thom Mayne was named the laureate for 2005. Both operatng out of Calforna, they typfy where Amercan archtecture s now. Gehry ganed notce n 1979 when he renovated hs 1920s santa Monca bungalow nto a deconstructed expresson of archtecturally curous materals (plywood, chan-lnk fencng) and unexpected planes. In hs later and larger works, Gehry successfully used new technologes to create volumnous space n varous forms that came together n buldngs whose nterors were soldly functonal. Hs Frederck r. wesman Art and Teachng Museum at the Unversty of Mnnesota, completed n 1993, s one such example. Hs Guggenhem Museum n Blbao, span, fnshed n 1997, s an exquste example that rvals and even vaguely recalls Frank Lloyd wrghts Guggenhem n New york. Clearly archtecture for hm s art, and hs buldngs are sculptures. The Prtzker jury complmented Gehrys rsk takng and forward vson at a tme when most were lookng backward. The jury also noted that Gehrys work s refreshngly orgnal and totally Amercan, proceedng as t does from hs populst southern Calforna perspectve.28 Thom Mayne founded hs frm Morphoss n 1972 n Los Angeles. He and hs frm have desgned buldngs all around the world. However, as the Prtzker jury ponted out, Maynes approach to archtecture s not derved from european modernsm, Asan nfluences, or even from Amercan precedents of the last century. Indeed, hs work s orgnal and representatve of the unque . . . culture of southern Calforna.29 Maynes works defy labels, but they are absolutely marrages of art, technology, and engneerng that are at one wth ther envronments and attentve to clents program objectves. Mayne and hs colleagues have desgned a number of nnovatve schools, ncludng the celebrated damond ranch Hgh school n Pomona (1999) and the scence Center school (2004), as well as offce buldngs and resdental complexes n the Los Angeles area, but ther most nterestng desgns may be yet to come. Morphoss won the competton for the olympc Vllage n New york Cty and the state of Alaskas new captol. Ths new captol buldng would ncorporate a domethe symbol of most state captols, fashoned after the U.s. Captolbut not n classcal form. Ths would be an ellptcal, translucent dome that would be lt as a beacon

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of democracy n a thoroughly contemporary settng that could domnate the cty of Juneau.
housing

There are 119,117,000 housng unts n the Unted states of Amerca. excludng seasonal housng unts, there are 116,038,000 that may be occuped year-round. The Amercan dream s to own a home, and when most Amercans thnk of ownng a home, they usually thnk of a detached snglefamly house, that s, a house whose walls stand alone and do not touch the neghbors. More than 71.5 mllon of Amercas housng unts are those dream houses. There are also some 8.2 mllon manufactured or moble home resdental unts; 670,000 unts n cooperatves; and 5.6 mllon condomnum unts. The remander of the housng unts are composed of attached structures such as apartment buldngs, row houses, and townhouses. Half of all Amercan housng unts were bult before 1969.30 only a lttle over 24.1 mllon housng unts le outsde of metropoltan statstcal areas (MsAs), whch are federally defned areas n and around large populaton centers (ctes) that are socoeconomcally nterdependent. MsAs are, then, urban areas that nclude dependent suburbs. Almost 92 mllon housng unts le nsde MsAs, but of them, only about 35 mllon are n central ctes, whereas 57 mllon are n the suburbs of those ctes. Thus nearly half of Amercas housng stock s n the suburbs.31 Amercan year-round resdences are not prmtve by any standard. Vrtually 100 percent have all plumbng facltes and heatng equpment, wth natural gas favored to electrcty 59 percent to 37 percent. over 10.5 percent of resdental unts use heatng ol. The vast majorty are ted nto publc sewer and water systems. of the housng unts, 114 mllon of them have full ktchens (snk, refrgerator, stove or range), and 67 mllon have dshwashers; 52.6 mllon have garbage dsposals nstalled n the ktchen snk, 90 mllon have washng machnes, and over 67 mllon also have clothes dryers. over 65 mllon have central ar-condtonng, but another 25 mllon unts have wndow unts. Bulders contnue to buld the homes Amercans want. In 2005, they started 2.06 mllon new housng projects, of whch 1.72 mllon, about 85 percent, were sngle-famly houses. The Amercan dream comes, however, at a prce. In 1980, the average prce of a new home was $76,400. In 2005, t was $295,100. The prces of exstng sngle-famly homes lkewse have rsen, much to the pleasure of those who stayed n them, but they were slghtly less expensve to purchase than new homes. They averaged $257,500 n 2005, and the medan was $207,300. In 2005, new home sales totaled 1.28 mllon unts, and exstng sngle-famly home sales came to 6.18 mllon.

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Affordable housng has become an ssue: 1.3 mllon Amercan households are n publc housng unts operated by 3,300 local housng agences, to whch the U.s. department of Housng and Urban development admnsters federal ad.32 Housng s also a racal ssue that s reflected n home ownershp when consderng the race of the householder. sxty-nne percent of all Amercans own ther own home. Non-Hspanc whtes exceed the natonal norm at 76 percent, but no mnorty group even meets the norm. Afrcan Amercan home ownershp stands at 49.1 percent; Hspanc home ownershp at 46.7 percent; and Asan home ownershp at 59.8 percent. one ongong survey of housng prces found that n the frst quarter of 2006, only 41.3 percent of the new and exstng homes sold that quarter could be afforded by famles whose ncome was at the natonal medan of $59,000. Among large MsAs, Indanapols, detrot, youngstown, rochester, and Buffalo were found to be the most affordable.33 These areas are not, however, where housng s expandng. The hottest housng markets n the Unted states n 2005 n terms of sngle-famly housng permts were the MsAs of Atlanta, Phoenx, Houston, dallas, and rversde, Calforna. Most of Amercas homes bult before 1969half of all homes, as noted earlersurvve. Comparng some of the features of new 1950 homes, bult durng the boom of babes and houses that followed world war II, to new 2004 homes helps to understand how Amercan houses have changed. The new home of 1950 had, on average, 983 square feet of fnshed area. In fact, 62 percent of them had less than 1,200 square feet; 19 percent had 1,200 1,599 square feet; and only 17 percent had between 1,600 and 1,999 square feet. None was larger than 2,000 square feet. The new home of 2004, however, averaged 2,349 square feet, even though the sze of Amercan famles has dwndled snce 1950. Fully 57 percent of these homes had 2,000 square feet or more39 percent had 2,400 square feet or more. Amercans want a lot of space, and wth easy credt and nnovatve mortgage packagng (nterestonly mortgages, for example), some can get t.34 The typcal new home of 1950 was one story (86%), had two or fewer bedrooms (66%), one and a half bathrooms or fewer (96%), no freplace (78%), and no garage or carport (53%). The typcal new home of 2004 was two stores (52%), had three bedrooms (51%) or four bedrooms (37%), and only 5 percent had one and a half or fewer bathrooms (39% had two, 33% had two and a half, and 24% had three). Most new homes had at least one freplace (55%) and a two-car garage (64%)19 percent had three-car garages. Nnety percent of the new 2004 homes were bult wth central ar-condtonng, whch dd not exst n 1950.35 June s natonal homeownershp month n Amerca. Amercans by and large want tradtonal houses, rather than radcally nnovatve houses that look lke they came out of a Jetsons cartoon. what

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s tradtonal vares by regon, but that does not mean that today, a Cape Cod cottage would not appear as a tradtonal house n a Chcago suburb. Contemporary reteratons of tradtonal Amercan houses contnue to be bult all over the country. The englsh brought medeval archtecture to Amerca n New england n the form of one- and two-room smple, heavy tmber cottages. Untl about 1700, the two-and-a-half-story versons of these clapboard-sded cottages, ncludng saltboxes and Garrson houses, were bult there. The saltbox was typfed by a rear extenson along the length of the house. Garrson houses had overhangng second stores, often decorated wth pendants. Both were only one room deep, had steep roofs on whch snow would be less lkely to accumulate, and central chmneys and freplaces that could warm the home n wnter. The symmetrcal two-and-a-half-story New england farmhouse, popular throughout the eghteenth century and the frst half of the nneteenth, was framed and sded wth wood and had the steep, gabled roof and central chmney of the saltboxes, but t was larger and two rooms deep. The Cape Cod cottage of the eghteenth century was a very basc, almost square, one-and-a-half-story house wth a centered chmney, steep roof, and the front door centered between four wndows. Cedar shngles are ts dstngushng characterstc. At the other end of the spectrum, New england mported Georgan archtecture durng the eghteenth century before the revoluton. These large, two-story, symmetrcal homes were the choce of well-to-do, urban New englanders, who embellshed them n varous ways. In the Md-Atlantc regon, much of the eghteenth-century resdental archtecture was qute substantal. Quakers, swedes, and Germans bult small, two-story stone houses at frst, and eventually larger stone farmhouses that, wth tme, took on Georgan themes. Greatly przed today, these houses were beng bult from the mddle of the eghteenth century untl nearly the end of the nneteenth century. The dutch n New york were also buldng stone farmhouses, noted for ther stepped gable roofs. The gambrel roof was not, however, the sne qua non of a dutch house, as t seems to be for so-called dutch colonal houses today. Two houses orgnatng n the Md-Atlantc regon were to become ubqutous n westward-expandng Amerca. one was the tall, two-story, long and narrow Md-Atlantc I house, brought to Amerca by the englsh. These symmetrcal houses were bult for more than two centures nto the twenteth century. They were made of stone, wood, brcks, and even logs. Most were qute plan, but decoraton lke a Greek temple entrance was not unheard of n the early nneteenth century. They are the old mdwestern farmhouses that pepper the cornfelds. Log houses, favored by Germans and scandnavans, also spread across the country wth new settlers. The clam to have

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been born n a log cabn became a valuable poltcal commodty n the nneteenth centuryt was proof of beng a man of the people. Contemporary log houses now have the opposte connotaton. Plantaton houses from the Vrgna tdewater southward were, of course, the homes of wealthy people, mostly of englsh extracton. The smple structures of the frst settlers were eventually replaced by vllas, often n the classcal tradton, as nterpreted by Andrea Pallado, often through englsh enthusasts. Many of these great, hstorcal Amercan homes came rght out of archtectural books and lent lttle to development of an Amercan vernacular. The seaports of Charleston, south Carolna, and New orleans, on the other hand, developed archtectures unque n Amerca. Charlestons sngle houses, whch appear to be sttng sdeways on ther narrow lots, could rse to three stores. Pazzas or porches stretch along the sdes of the houses on the frst and second floors. Around New orleans, Creole cottages on posts wth ther surroundng porches almost nvte a crawfsh bol. The same look appeared n much larger plantaton houses. Cajun houses, wth a sngle front porch, were lke the Creole cottages, bult on pers. In New orleans tself, an ndgenous archtecture grew up from French, spansh, and other nfluences when the cty was rebult after fres n 1788 and 1794. The one-and-a-half-story Creole cottage went urban (no front porch at street sde) and was expanded to a townhouse, often wth a balcony. shotgun houses, bult for a century after 1830 to house Hatans, are another specalty of New orleans. They are only one-story dwellngs that are one room wde but may extend back to two or more rooms. Anglo nfluences were quck to nvade New orleans when t became U.s. terrtory, and many of New orleanss grand homes, and even the fronts of shotgun houses, took on the hghly przed classcal desgn elements prevalent around the country. Although span owned a large part of the Unted states at one tme, from Florda to Calforna, t had lttle nfluence on the development of Amercan archtecture outsde of New orleans, the southwest, and Calforna. spansh Florda was essentally a dsconnected backwater of the spansh empre that was not heavly colonzed. Texas, New Mexco, and ponts north and west of them were, however, very connected. The early spansh houses n New Mexco were sngle-level adobe structures that could take varous shapes and even enclose a courtyard. New Mexcos later terrtoral archtecture of the mdnneteenth century wedded the adobe constructon wth modern Amercan wndow treatments and classcal decoraton. The spansh Calforna houses, often U shaped, wth porches along the nsde of the U and clay tle roofs, were also made of adobe brcks. whle regonal archtectures have perssted and been revved, Amercas search for a natonal style began after the revoluton wth classcal revvalsm

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An example of a Natve Amercan adobe home. Getty Images/dAJ.

n the form of the rather elegant Federal style, Jeffersonan classcsm based on roman forms, and Greek revval. By the md-nneteenth century, however, archtects were lookng elsewhere for nspraton. Tellngly for Amercan archtecture, these new styles were generally named for the Brtsh queen Vctora. Gothc style came nto vogue wth a lberatng vertcalty, n comparson to the composed block of Greek temples. Furthermore, Gothc was a Chrstan, relgous archtecture. Gothc cues appeared n resdental archtecture as tremendously artculated, large homes and also even n small, whte, wood-frame homes as wood cutout gngerbread naled to very steep gables. For large homes, Italan vlla and Italanate styles became popular. In the second half of the nneteenth century, the revtalzaton of Pars drew archtectural nterest and brought mansard roofs to Amerca n the second empre style. Archtect Henry H. rchardson went back nto Chrstan hstory to redscover romanesque archtecture, buldng massve stone houses wth turrets and sweepng arches. Before archtects tred of lookng across the sea for new deas, the Queen Anne style brefly flourshed, the style that most Amercans would call quntessental Vctoran. These houses had turrets and towers and gables and porches poppng out from everywhere. They

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were showy homes, but a bt too much for people of smple taste. shnglestyle homes, whch were very large houses wth smooth lnes of shngles and eyebrow dormers, dd emerge, also thanks to Henry H. rchardson, as an ndgenous Amercan style late n the century, but these were country and shore houses not sutable for urban envronments. By the end of the nneteenth century, and throughout much of the twenteth, the archtecture of Amercan homes returned to where t had started. The colonal revval brought back all the old styles, but n larger versons. The Georgan colonal s Amercas favored home. The twenteth century dawned on another revval of classcal resdental archtecture, Amercan style. Archtects also looked to the Italan renassance, France, and england. englsh revval houses were bult all over the naton before world war II. They are known popularly as Tudor houses. In Calforna and the southwest, msson, spansh colonal, and pueblo styles were revved. Meanwhle, however, Frank Lloyd wrght and hs compatrots n the mdwestern prare school were desgnng houses wth modern materals that would take ther occupants out of the box by openng spaces and ntegratng the ste wth the envronment. Famous as wrghts homes have become, the prare school was a complete falure. In Calforna, craftsman-style houses, characterzed by bult-n wooden structures, large hearths, nformal spaces, and nvtng front porches that transtoned from outsde n, were popular for a bref perod of about 25 years, untl 1930. whle the prare- and craftsman-style homes had lmted appeal, the bungalow, frst popularzed n Calforna, had wde appeal. These one-and-a-halfstory unassumng, rather small houses wth spacous front porches and gently slopng roofs became and reman the homes of mddle Amerca. whether gabled n front or on the sde, most Amercans are qute famlar wth the layout ether because they grew up n one or because t was grandmas house. The front door opens nto the lvng room, whch flows nto the dnng room nto a small, square hall. A door to the rear enters the ktchen, where there s a back door. To the rght of the hall there s a bathroom wth two bedrooms front and rear sdng the ktchen and dnng room. A steep set of stars off the hall leads to the upper half story, where there s storage space that many famles fnshed nto another bedroom. sears, roebuck & Company as well as others sold tens of thousands of bungalows all over the country. They were delvered on ralroad flatcars to be assembled at the buldng ste. The twenteth century also gave rse to two seemngly very dfferent archtectural expressons. Art Moderne, wth ts round, smooth stucco lnes and protrudng features, had the look of a 1956 oldsmoble. The use of glass brck s a gveaway to ths style, not to menton that t looks lke no other style. The nternatonal style that came out of Germany n the 1930s produced, and

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stll produces, houses that were, lke Art Moderne houses, not partcularly popular wth Amercans. Called contemporary houses by most people, these rather stark houses (devod of perod decoraton and conscously nonhstorcal) opened spaces and celebrated pure structure. To many Amercans, they looked lke sculptures or museums, rather than comfortable homes. Amercans concepts of tradtonal homes have changed wth new famly and socal crcumstances and ther ncreasng desre for bgger, better, and more nnovatve spaces as housng prces have rsen. They want more than a seres of boxy rooms n a boxy house lad out on a boxy grd, and they want ther dwellngs to meet ther personal needs. The U.s. housng stock has therefore become more dverse to serve the needs of sngles and older people who do not want yard work or extra bedrooms for chldren. owner-occuped condomnums ft that bll. Condomnums and townhouses began takng new shapes. even though attached lke row houses, staggerng the unts or buldng them to dfferng elevatons gave each unt a defnton, as f t were a detached house. As wth detached houses, decks and small backyards took actvty to the rear of the house. whole retrement communtes have sprung up, such as sun Cty and ts progeny n Arzona and the Vllages n Florda, along wth many others, that promse to make retrement socally actve n smaller but tradtonal houses surrounded by shuffleboard courts and golf courses. Attractve asssted lvng complexes have been bult wth central amenteslbrares, dnng facltes, socal areas, courtyardsn whch resdents have ther own lvng quarters. Before world war II, the sngle-famly detached house was the rule outsde of urban row houses. Long and rather narrow housng lots were set on rgorous grds. Houses sported front porches that promoted communal welcomng, wth detached garages, f any, n the rear at the end of drveways along the sde of the lot that led nto them. After world war II, Amercans began to want open nteror spaces, as f the faled prare school had actually succeeded n gettng at least ths pont across. whle ktchens were opened to eatng areas, starways were no longer enclosed, skylghts began to be used, and sloped, elevated celngs became popular, Amercans stll wanted nteror spacousness, wth a tradtonal exteror look. By the 1960s, however, the entre orentaton of houses had changed. Front porches went out of style, and garages were attached to the house, wth front or sde entrances and shorter drveways n favor of opened backyard patos and decks. The front yards became more formal settngs for the houses, whereas backyards became places for entertanment, relaxaton, swng sets, pools, and, of course, cookouts. Lots were now beng drawn nto more square than rectangular plots to accommodate larger backyards. Insde, master bedrooms and baths were enlarged and consderably fanced up to provde

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parents of teenage baby boomers a respte and some prvacy. A new addton, often at the expense of formal lvng rooms, was added to the Amercan home: the famly room. The gathered famly had always been a chershed Amercan deal, but n the 1960s, any pretense of formalty n home lfe was gone for good. There were also other forces helpng to change Amercan housng. The growth of planned unt developments allowed flexblty for developers to break away from grds and aggregate dfferng knds of housng n large developments wth open spaces. These knds of developments prolferated all over the country and resulted n new settngs for homes on cul-de-sacs, wndng roads, loops, and crcles. It would be unusual today to fnd a large suburb lad out on a square grd. As land sutable for buldng has become scarce and more expensve, however, the preservaton, renovaton, and restoraton of some of Amercas older structures for use as housng has occurred. old warehouses, schools, factores, apartment buldngs, and sngle homes have been preserved and rehabltated as new housng. The Unted states was slow to recognze the value of ts older and hstorcal buldngs, but the hope to preserve one of Amercas classc homes helped to get the ball rollng. The Mount Vernon Lades Assocaton, founded n 1853, s often gven credt for begettng a new

A brds eye vew of Amercan suburba. Getty Images/Photodsc.

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awareness of Amercas hstorc archtecture. The secondary effect of havng federal grants avalable for hstorc preservaton was the rebrth of craftsmanshp long lost to modern constructon. Amercan resdental buldng of the twenty-frst century, largely the provnce of real estate developers, has taken a new twst. As already noted, houses have, as a matter of fact, become bgger, and they are made to look bgger by expanded artculaton and, n large two-story houses, by a severe vertcalty. wndow extensons and dormers aboundthey add value and spacousness. New materals have often replaced tradtonal wood and brck faades. Vnyl and alumnum sdngs and brck veneers attached to wooden studs gve the appearance of soldty. even contemporary exterors that appear from a dstance to be stucco are often veneers that, when gently pressed aganst, gve way. More nterestngly, however, many new houses are mpossble to place nto the hstorcal spectrum. There are suggestons of known stylesPalladan wndows frequently are used n structures anythng but classcal. suggestons of Greek revval portcoes may be found on one-story ranch houses. An oddly placed round wndow hnts of colonal revval. so confused s resdental archtecture that developers do not call ther houses Georgan, Tudor, or Italanate, but rather names lke the Pearl, Mllstone, Avalon, Chestnut, and Prescottnames that rghtly evoke no archtectural style at all. It s a sad fact that securty has become an mportant element n the desgn of new communtes of homes. Hgh-end homes can now be found n gated developments and even on lmted-access slands. entrances to housng developments have long been defned by the suggeston of entry gates, but there was open access to the streets nsde. Today, the gates are operatve and lmt access to resdents and those they permt to enter. Protected nner courts n multunt buldngs allow safety out of doors for ther resdents. Playgrounds have been desgned on the roofs of schools for the safety of the chldren. In fact, however, a home, no matter ts value or locaton, means ownng a real pece of Amerca. Homeownersproperty ownerspay taxes and protect ther nvestment. They are good ctzens lvng the Amercan dream. In turn, the government guarantees the prncple that personal property s sacrosanct. The Foundng Fathers understood ths well, allowng only male property owners to vote n federal electons. whle ths, of course, changed wth tme, the federal government has remaned nstrumental n expandng home ownershp through governmental agences lke the Federal Housng Admnstraton and quas-governmental organzatons lke the Federal Natonal Mortgage Assocaton, whch creates a secondary mortgage market. The Government Natonal Mortgage Assocaton guarantees prompt payment of housng loans ssued by government agences lke the Federal Housng Admnstraton, the rural Housng servce, the Veterans Admnstraton, and

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the offce of Publc and Indan Housng. Federal bankruptcy law excludes $125,000 of the value of a home, whle the states of Texas and Florda have unlmted exclusons. Home ownershp s an elemental Amercan value. n otes
1. U.s. department of Labor, Bureau of Labor statstcs, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 20062007 ed., http://www.bls.gov. Note that these data do not nclude fne and craft artsts who may be practcng ther art n ther lesure tme but makng ther lvngs by other means. 2. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2006, http://www.census.gov. 3. Cory Arcangel, Corys web Log, http://www.begerecords.com. 4. John wetenhall, A Bref Hstory of Percent-for-Art n Amerca, Public Art Review 9 (1993), http://www.publcartrevew.org. 5. see the WaterFire web ste at http://www.waterfre.org. 6. Natonal endowment for the Arts, 2004 Annual report, http://www.nea. gov. 7. Frst Amendment Center, Case summary for Natonal endowment for the Arts vs. Fnley, http://www.frstamendmentcenter.org. 8. smthsonan Amercan Art Museum, About the Museum, http://amercanart.s.edu; Natonal Gallery of Art, About the Natonal Gallery of Art, http://www. nga.gov. 9. smthsonan Insttuton, Hstory of the Galleres: Freer and sackler Gallery, http://www.asa.s.edu. 10. smthsonan Insttuton, The Hrshhorn story, http://hrshhorn.s.edu. 11. MoCA, exhbtons, http://www.mocacleveland.org. 12. Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, exhbts, http://www.camh.org. 13. Contemporary Art Center of Vrgna, exhbtons, http://www.cacv.org; The Butler Insttute of Amercan Art, Current exhbtons, http://www.butlerart. com; san Francsco Museum of Modern Art, exhbton overvew: Matthew Barney, http://www.sfmoma.org. 14. Natonal endowment for the Arts, research dvson, Arts Partcpaton by regon, state, and Metropoltan Area, note no. 72, January 1999, http://www.nea. gov. 15. Amercan Assocaton of Museums, Museums FAQ, http://www.aam-us. org. 16. see whtney Bennal: day for Nght, http://www.whtneybennal.org. 17. U.s. department of state, ArT n embasses Program, Msson, http://aep. state.gov. 18. U.s. department of state, Bureau of Internatonal Informaton Programs, Art on the edge: 17 Contemporary Amercan Artsts: Preface, http://usnfo.state. gov. 19. Ibd.

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20. The Mennello Museum of Amercan Art, earl Cunnngham, http://www. mennellomuseum.org. 21. see rchard Longstreth, The Buildings of Main Street: A Guide to American Commercial Architecture, updated ed. (New york: Alta Mra Press, 2000). 22. Congress for the New Urbansm, Charter of the New Urbansm, http://cnu.org. 23. Carter wseman, Shaping a Nation (New york: w. w. Norton, 1998), 2224. 24. Ibd., 3637. 25. see Henry russell Htchcock and Phlp Johnson, The International Style: Architecture Since 1922 (New york: w. w. Norton, 1932). 26. Prtzker Archtecture Prze, Phlp Johnson: Prtzker Archtecture Prze Laureate, 1979, http://www.prtzkerprze.com. 27. Prtzker Archtecture Prze, robert Ventur: Prtzker Archtecture Prze Laureate, 1991, http://www.prtzkerprze.com. 28. Prtzker Archtecture Prze, Frank Gehry: Prtzker Archtecture Prze Laureate, 1989, http://www.prtzkerprze.com. 29. Prtzker Archtecture Prze, Calforna Archtect Thom Mayne Becomes the 2005 Prtzker Archtecture Prze Laureate, http://www.prtzkerprze.com. 30. U.s. Census Bureau, Amercan Housng survey for the Unted states: 2001, http://www.census.gov. 31. Ibd. 32. U.s. department of Housng and Urban development, Homes & Communtes: HUds Publc Housng Program, http://www.hud.gov. 33. Natonal Assocaton of Home Bulders, Indanapols remans Natons Most Affordable Major Housng Market for Thrd Consecutve Quarter, May 17, 2006, http://www.nahb.org. 34. NAHB Publc Affars and NAHB economcs, Housng Facts, Fgures and Trends, March 2006, http://www.nahb.org. 35. Ibd.

B iBliograPhy
Attoe, wayne, and donn Logan. American Urban Architecture: Catalysts in the Design of Cities. Berkeley: Unversty of Calforna Press, 1989. Burchard, John, and Albert Bush-Brown. The Architecture of America: A Social and Cultural History. Boston: Lttle, Brown, 1961. Causey, Andrew. Sculpture Since 1945. oxford Hstory of Art. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1998. doss, erka. Twentieth-century American Art. oxford Hstory of Art. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 2002. doublet, susan, and daralce Boles. American House Now. Contemporary Archtectural drecton. New york: Unverse, 1997. Foster, Gerald. American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home. New york: Houghton Mffln, 2004.

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Gelernter, Mark. A History of American Architecture: Buildings in Their Cultural and Technological Context. Hanover, NH: Unversty Press of New england, 1999. Handln, davd P. American Architecture. 2nd ed. Thames and Hudson world of Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. Hopkns, davd. After Modern Art, 19452000. oxford Hstory of Art. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 2000. Joselt, davd. American Art Since 1945. Thames and Hudson world of Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2003. Langdon, Phlp. American Houses. New york: stewart, Tabor and Chang, 1987. Lppard, Lucy r. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New york: Pantheon Books, 1990. Pohl, Frances K. Framing America: A Social History of American Art. New york: Thames and Hudson, 2002. Poknsk, deborah Frances. The Development of the American Modern Style. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI research Press, 1984. rfknd, Carole. A Field Guide to American Architecture. New york: New Amercan Lbrary, 1980. rfknd, Carole. A Field Guide to Contemporary American Architecture. New york: dutton, 1999. Upton, dell. Architecture in the United States. oxford Hstory of Art. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1998. wentlng, James. Designing a Place Called Home: Reordering the Suburbs. New york: Chapman and Hall, 1995.

selected Bblography

Althen, Gary, Amanda r. doran, and susan J. szmana. American Ways. 2nd ed. yarmouth, Me: Intercultural Press, 2003. Amercan socal Hstory Project, Cty Unversty of New york. Who Built America?: Working People and the Nations Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New york: worth, 2000. Ashbee, edward. American Society Today. New york: Manchester Unversty Press, 2002. Ashby, Leroy. With Amusement for All: A History of American Popular Culture Since 1830. Lexngton: Unversty Press of Kentucky, 2006. Baker, wayne e. Americas Crisis of Values: Reality and Perception. Prnceton, NJ: Prnceton Unversty Press, 2005. Buenker, John d., and Lorman A. ratner, eds. Multiculturalism in the United States: A Comparative Guide to Acculturation and Ethnicity. rev. and expanded ed. westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. Carnes, Mark C., ed. A History of American Life. rev. and abrdged ed. edted by Arthur M. schlesnger Jr. New york: scrbner, 1996. Flene, Peter G. Him/Her/self: Gender Identities in Modern America. 3rd ed. Foreword by elane Tyler May. Baltmore: Johns Hopkns Unversty Press, 1998. Fscher, wllam C., ed. Identity, Community, and Pluralism in American Life. New york: oxford Unversty Press, 1997. Gellert, Mchael. The Fate of America: An Inquiry into National Character. washngton, dC: Brasseys, 2001. Gutfeld, Arnon. American Exceptionalism: The Effects of Plenty on the American Experience. Portland, or: sussex Academc Press, 2002.

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Healey, Joseph F. Diversity and Society: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender. 2nd ed. Thousand oaks, CA: Pne Forge Press, 2007. Hughes, rchard T. Myths America Lives By. Foreword by robert N. Bellah. Urbana: Unversty of Illnos, 2003. Jones, Jacquelne, ed. Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States. 2nd ed. New york: Pearson/Longman, 2006. Kennedy, shela suess. God and Country: America in Red and Blue. waco, Tx: Baylor Unversty Press, 2007. Myares, Ines M., and Chrstopher A. Arress, eds. Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America. Lanham, Md: rowman and Lttlefeld, 2006. Nostrand, rchard L., and Lawrence e. estavlle, eds. Homelands: A Geography of Culture and Place Across America. Baltmore: Johns Hopkns Unversty Press, 2001. shumsky, Nel Larry, and Tmothy J. Crmmns, comps. American Life, American People. 2 vols. san dego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovch, 1988. wlson, Lesle, ed. Americana: Readings in Popular Culture. Hollywood, CA: Press Amercana, 2006. woods, randall B., and wllard B. Gatewood. The American Experience: A Concise History. 2 vols. Fort worth, Tx: Harcourt College, 2000.

Index

AARP Bulletin, 298 Abbot and Costello, 307 ABC. See Amercan Broadcastng Company ABC News, 266 ABCs Wide World of Sports!, 289 Abercrombe & Ftch, 223 Aborton, 78, 120 Abramoff, Jack, 62 Academy Awards (oscars), 295 Acconc, Vto, 346 Acoustic Guitar, 296 Adams, samuel, 269 Adler, dankmar, 364 Adopton, 13538 Adopton and safe Famles Act of 1997, 136 Adulthood, age of, 134 35 Aerosmth, 326 Afghanstan, 60 Afrcan Amercan churches, 72 Afrcan Amercan Methodst Churches, 85 Afrcan Amercans, 38 Afrka Bambaataa, 326 Agnew, spro, 55 383

Agulera, Chrstna, 327 Aley, Alvn, 317, 318 Ar qualty, 5 A Is for Alibi (Grafton), 255 Alaska, 2, 23, 38 Albee, edward F., 307 8 Albom, Mtch, 260 Alcoholc beverages, 201 Alexander, James, 269 Allen, Grace, 285 Allen, woody, 293 All in the Family, 287 All the Pretty Horses (McCarthy), 251 All-you-can-eat restaurants, 196 Amazing Stories, 255 Ambrose, stephen, 259 Amercan Anglcan Councl, 95 Amercan Assocaton of Museums, 356 Amercan Baptst Churches UsA, 82 Amercan Broadcastng Company (ABC), 283 Amercan Cvl war lterature, 259 Amercan cookng, 196 Amercan dance Theatre, 318 Amercan eagle outftters, 223

384 Amercan Folk Art Museum, 360 American Idol, 278, 289, 300 Amercan Indan polcy, 39 41 American Magazine, 296 Amercan Negro Ballet, 318 Amercan repertory Theatre, 311 Amercan revoluton, 269 Amsh, 107 Amusement parks, 179 80 Anderson, dawolu Jabar, 357 Andoulle sausage, 206 Angelou, Maya, 261 Anglcan Communon Network, 95 Anglcan Unon, 94 The Anmals, 323 Anmaton, 292 93 Anthony, susan B., 46, 118, 281 Ant-saloon League, 46 47 Anton, Janne, 347 Aon Centre (Chcago, IL), 364 AP. See Assocated Press Appalachan regon, 26 Apple Bottoms, 226 Apple pe, 194 Arcangel, Cory, 348 Archtects, archtecture, 363 69 Argent, Phllp, 358 Arzona, 24 25 Armstce day, 161 Arnold, eddy, 323 Art, 343 60 Art as Idea, 346 Art drectors, 344 Arthur Frommers Budget Travel, 296 Arthur M. sackler Gallery of Asan Art, 353 Artcles of Confederaton, 35 Art museums, 352 56 Asmov, Isaac, 25556 Assembles of God UsA, 92 93 Assocated Press (AP), 275 Astare, Fred, 321 Aston, Anthony, 303 Atkns, Cholly, 321

INdex Atlanta, GA, 15 Atlantic Monthly, 297 Atomc bomb, 51 Automoble ndustry, 47 48 Autotrader, 299 Awake!, 96 A Walk in the Woods (Bryson), 261 Azra, Maz, 222 Baca, Judth, 347 The Bachelor, 289 Backyard cookout, 2012 Badgley, Mark, 222 Ballet Negre, 318 Ballet san Jose, 319 Band of Brothers (Ambrose), 259 Bank holdays, 156 Baptst Bble Fellowshp Internatonal (BBFI), 82 83 Baquet, George, 323 Barber, samuel, 314 Bar mtzvah, 168 Barnum, P. T., 305 Barrymore, Georgna drew, 305 Baseball, 17173 Basketball, 172 73 Bauhaus, 366 BBFI. See Baptst Bble Fellowshp Internatonal BCBG, 222 Beach Boys/Geto Boys, 348 Beans, 194 The Beatles, 323 Beauty and the Beast, 293, 312 Beef, 203, 209 Beene, Geoffrey, 219 Beer, 200, 208 Beloved (Morrson), 249 Bengls, Lnda, 347 Bennett, James Gordon sr., 271, 272 Berendt, John, 262 Berle, Mlton, 285 Berln, Irvng, 307 Berln wall, 57

INdex Bernsten, Carl, 277 Berres, 213 Best-sellng books (2006), 231 Betamax vdeo cassette, 284 Better Homes & Gardens, 298 Berstadt, Albert, 344 The Big Bounce (Leonard), 254 Bll of rghts, 39 Bngham, George Caleb, 345 Bngo, 180 Bn Laden, osama, 60 Brth control pll, 119 Brthday partes, 168 The Birth of a Nation, 291 Bsque, 206 Blackberry, 299 Black-eyed pea soup, 205 Black Frday, 15758 Black Mara studo, 290 Black Muslms. See Naton of Islam Blake, eube, 321 Blass, Bll, 220 Blessed Are All the Little Fishes, 352 Blogs, 282 Blood Meridian (McCarthy), 251 Bloomers, Amela, 281 Blue jeans, 222 Blue Latitudes (Horwtz), 262 Blues musc, 46, 330 31 Bly, Nelle, 273 74 Board games, 180 Bocher, Man rousseau (Manbocher), 218 The Body (Kng), 257 Bolger, ray, 321 Bon Jov, 326 Bonnaroo Musc and Arts Festval, 333 Book of Common Prayer, 94 The Book of Discipline, 83 The Book of Mormon, 86 Booth, edwn, 305 Bootleg albums, 325 Boston baked beans, 202 Boston brown bread, 202

385

Boston Gazette, 268 Boston, MA, 10 Boston News-Letter, 268 Boston symphony orchestra, 313, 316 Bow & Arrow Hunting, 296 Bowe, davd, 325 Bowling Alone, 169 Bowlng, sarah, 104 Boxng, 176 Bradford, Andrew, 268, 296 Bradford, Mark, 357 Bradford, wllam, 268 Brady, Mathew, 272, 345 Brauntch, Troy, 357 Bread and Puppet Theatre, 310 Breakfast foods, 208 The Breast (roth), 250 Breweres, 200 Brce, Fanny, 307 Brides, 298 Brnkley, davd, 285 Brtsh Invason, 323 Brtt Festvals, 336 37 Brittle House, 359 Broadway theatres, 309 Brokaw, Tom, 285 Brooks, Terry, 256 Brown and Baley Crcus, 305 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 52 Bryson, Bll, 261 Buffalo Bll, 305 Buffalo chcken wngs, 203 Buffet restaurants, 196 Bullfnch, Charles, 363 Burden, Chrs, 346 Burdn, Anthony, 357 Burgee, John, 366 Burger Kng, 196 Burlesque, 306 7 Burns, George, 285 Burr, Aaron, 27172 Burroughs, edgar rce, 255 Burrows, stephen, 221

386 Bush, George H. w., 57 Bush, George w., 59 60, 109, 111 Butler Insttute of Amercan Art, 355 Buttermlk bscuts, 204 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, 291 Cabin in the Sky, 318 Cable News Network (CNN), 284 Cable televson, 283 84 Cajun cusne, 204 6 Calabacitas, 212 Calder, Alexander, 348 Caldwell, Graham, 358 Calforna, 2, 20 22 Callas, Mara, 314 Calvn, John, 89 90 Camboda, 277 Camp, Lauren, 358 Can Barnacles, 356 Candid Camera, 289 Canon, the, 246 50 Cantor, edde, 307 Capote, Truman, 278 Capra, Frank, 293 Card games, 180 CareerBulder, 300 Carolina Moon (roberts), 253 Carreras, Jose, 315 Carrie (Kng), 257 Carrer pgeons, 272 Carter, Jmmy, 55 Carter, shawn, 225 Caruso, enrco, 314 Cashn, Bonne, 219 Casseroles, 207 Casual dnng chans, 196 Casual style (fashon), 216 Catcher in the Rye (salnger), 249 Catch 22 (Heller), 250 Catholc Chartes, 110 Catholc Legon of decency, 295 Catholic Worker, 281 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 309 Cats, 312

INdex Cats Cradle (Vonnegut), 256 CBN. See Chrstan Broadcastng Network CBs. See Columba Broadcastng system Cell phone, 299 Cell phone cameras, 266 Censorshp, 119, 294 95 Central Conference of Amercan rabbs, 98 Central Park, 179 C. F. Baley & Companys Famous Menagere, 305 Chado ralph rucc, 222 Chakn, Joseph, 310 Chandler, raymond, 254 Charter schools, 143 Chautauqua crcut, 308 Chautauqua Insttuton, 328 Cheers, 288 Cheese, 209 Cheese fres, 204 Chez Pansse, 212 Chicago, 293, 312 Chcago Academy of Fne Arts, 354 Chcago, IL, 1819 Chcago Lyrc opera, 313 Chcago-style pzza, 206 Chcago symphony orchestra, 313 Chicos, 212 Chld abuse, 76 77 Chld labor, 134 Chld Protectve servces, 135 Chle peppers, 21112 Chnese food, 197, 213 Chnese New year, 155, 164 Chtterlngs, 205 Chrstan Broadcastng Network (CBN), 103 Chrstans, 33 34 Chrstmas, 158 60 Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt (rce), 257 Chrsty, edwn P., 306

INdex Chrysler Buldng, 364 Church, Frederc, 344 Churches of Chrst, 9596 Church of Chrst, scentst, 108 Church of england, 94 Church of God n Chrst, 88 89 Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants (Lds), 85 88 Cncnnat chl, 209 Cnco de Mayo, 163 64 Cnema, 290 302 Crque du solel, 336 City of Falling Angels (Berendt), 262 Cvlan Conservaton Corps, 48 Cvl rghts, 52 Cvl rghts Act (1964), 53 54, 123 The Civil War: A Narrative (Foote), 259 Cvl unons, 129 Cvl war, 37 Clambake, 202 The Clansman, 291 Clemens, samuel, 247 48 Cleveland orchestra, 313 Clmate, 4 5 Clnton, wllam Jefferson, 5758, 128 Clothng, 214 26. See also Fashon Clue, 180 CNN. See Cable News Network Cod fsh, 202 Cohen, Ncole, 359 Cold war, 5153, 56 57 Cole, Kenneth, 222 Cole, Thomas, 344 Colen, dan, 357 Coles, Hon, 321 Collard greens, 205 College, 146 49 The Color Purple (walker), 249 Columba Broadcastng system (CBs), 283 Columbne Hgh school, 144 Columbus, Chrstopher, 33

387

Columbus day, 163 Combs, sean, 226 Come to Me, 359 Common Sense, 270 Communsm, 52, 5556, 71 Conan doyle, sr Arthur, 253 Condments, 202 Coney Island hotdogs, 202, 209 Confrmaton, 168 Congress for the New Urbansm, 362 Consttuton, 13, 35, 39 Contemporary Arts Museum, 355 Contras, 57 Cook, Captan James, 262 Cookbooks, 258 Cooking Light, 298 Cookout, 2012 Cool whp, 207 Cooper, Alce, 325 Cooper, James Fenmore, 249 50 Copeland, Kenneth and Glora, 104 Copland. Aaron, 314 Corcoran, wllam wlson, 353 Corcoran Gallery of Art, 353 Coro, Ann, 307 Corn Belt, 19 Corn bread, 204 Cortazar, esteban, 222 The Cosby Show, 288 Cotton, wll, 359 Coulter, Catherne, 253 County fars, 15556 Courc, Kate, 285 Covered brdges, 9f Cowboy boots, 217 Cowboy hat, 217 Cowboy poetry, 334 Crab Norfolk, 205 Crabs, 204 Crags Lst, 299 Crawfsh bol, 206 Creatonsm, 142 Creole cusne, 204 6 Creole orchestra, 323

388 Crewdson, Gregory, 358 Cronkte, walter, 285 Crosby, Bng, 276 Crosby, stlls, Nash, and young, 324 Crouch, Paul and Jan, 104 Cruse, Tom, 293 Crying Doll, 348 The Crying of Lot 49 (Pynchon), 251 Cucullu, santago, 359 Cusne, 193 214 Cunnngham, earl, 359 60 Cunnngham, Merce, 317 Cunnngham, randy, 61 Current Events, 358 Cushman, Charlotte, 305 Cw network, 283 Cyrus, Jamal, 357 dach, Llly, 21718 Dallas, 288 dallas, Tx, 1718 dance, 316 22 dance Theatre of Harlem, 318 dansh coffee cakes, pastres, 208 darger, Henry, 360 dartmouth, Thomas, 320 davs, Paulna wrght, 281 dawes Act, 40 day, Benjamn, 271 day, dors, 293 day, dorothy, 281 day care, 133 34 declaraton of sentments, 118 defense of Marrage Act, 128 defct reducton Act of 2005, 111 degulo, Lucas, 356 de Koonng, wllem, 345, 351 de la renta, oscar, 220 de Lavallade, Carmen, 318 deLllo, don, 251 demanchuk, Valere, 359 de Mlle, Agnes, 317 democratc Conventon (1968), 54 dempsey, Jack, 276

INdex denshawn school, 317 department of Chldren and Famly servces, 135 desgner jeans, 222 desgner of the year award, 226 desgners, fashon, 21721 dessert, 202, 207 devled eggs, 207 dewtt, John L., 49 da de la raza, 163 da de los Muertos, 166 daghlev, serge, 317 damond, Jack, 320 dgtal vdeo dsks (dVds), 284, 294 drty rce, 204 d santAngelo, Gorgo, 219 dsney, walt, 292 93 dsneyland, 179 80 dsneyworld, 179 80 dstlled sprts, 200 201 dvorce, 127 dxe beer, 206 dKNy, 221 Doctrine and Covenants, 87 dog and Pony, 305 dollar, Kreflo, 104 domngo, Placdo, 315 donnelly, Trsha, 356 douglas, davd, 304 douglass, Frederck, 281 dow Jones, 279 The Dowling Street Martyr Brigade, Towards a Walk in the Sun, 357 dramatc fcton, 243 46 Dream Girls, 312 Dreamgirls, 293 dress codes, school, 144 drew, John, 305 dubbng, 326 Duck Soup, 311 duncan, Isadora, 317 dungeons and dragons, 180 dunham, Katherne, 318 dunham school of dance, 320

INdex dust Bowl, 43 dutch explorers, 34 dVd. See dgtal vdeo dsks dylan, Bob, 326 eakns, Thomas, 353 easter, 167 68 eatng on the go, 198 eBay, 299 ebsen, Buddy, 321 ecko, Marc, 225 eddy, Mary Baker, 108 edson, Thomas A., 290 educaton, 138 50 edwards, Benjamn, 359 eeoC. See equal employment opportunty Commsson Einstein: His Life and Universe (Isaacson), 260 eLCA. See evangelcal Lutheran Church n Amerca Elizabeths Tears, 358 ells, Perry, 220 ells Island, 42 embarcadero Center, 363 emnem, 226 empre state Buldng, 364 employment, 132 33 enchladas, 211 Endless Vacation, 298 englsh as a second language, 149 englsh colones and terrtores, 34 entertanment and sports Programmng Network (esPN), 284 Entertainment Tonight, 278 epscopal Church, 94 95 equal employment opportunty Commsson (eeoC), 123 equalty, 13132 equal rghts Amendment (erA), 56, 119 20 esPN. See entertanment and sports Programmng Network estefan, Glora, 327 touffe, 206 european exploraton, 33 35 evangelcal Lutheran Church n Amerca (eLCA), 90 92 evangelcal Protestants, 72 73 evangelcal Unted Brethren Church, 84 evans, Barnaby, 349 50 evans, Kenya A., 357 Everyman (roth), 250 Extra!, 278 Extreme Makeover, 289 Eye in the Sky, 348 Far employment Board, 51 Far Labor standards Act, 48 Falchook, Jason, 359 Famly, 130 38 Family Circle, 298 Fantasy fcton, 256 57 Fard, wallace d., 100 101 Farrakhan, Lous, 100 101 Fashon, 214 26. See also Clothng Fashon walk of Fame, 217 Fast food franchses, 196 The Fat Boys, 326 Fatburger, 213 Fathers day, 165 Fat Tuesday, 167 FCC. See Federal Communcatons Commsson Federal Communcatons Commsson (FCC), 283 Federal emergency relef Admnstraton, 48 Federal holdays, 154 The Federalist Papers, 270 Federal Marrage Amendment, 130 Federal reserve bankng system, 43 Femnsm, 119 20 Festvals, 154 Festvus, 160 Felds, w. C., 307

389

390

INdex Freedmens Bureau, 3738 Freedoms Journal, 280 Freer, Charles Lang, 353 Freer Gallery, 353 Frck Collecton, 354 Fred chcken, 204, 205 Fred fsh, 205 Fred pork chops, 205 Friends, 288 From Russia with Love, 295 Frowck, roy, 219 Frozen food, 198 99 Fuentes, dasy, 224 Fuller, Loe, 317 Full-servce restaurants, 196 Fundamentalst Protestants, 72 73 Fundng, 310 Gable, Clark, 293, 295 Galanos, James, 218 Game shows, 288 Gannett wre, 279 Gap, the, 223 Garca, Jerry, 325 Garrison, William Lloyd, 280 Ged. See General educatonal development certfcate Gehry, Frank, 368 Gender, 11825, 13132 Gender dentty dsorder, 125 General educatonal development (Ged) certfcate, 140 General Magazine, 296 Geness, 326 Genius of Universal Emancipation, 280 German sausage, 208 Gernrech, rud, 219 Gernsback, Hugo, 255 Gershwn, George, 314 Get Shorty (Leonard), 254 Getty Center, 354 GI Bll, 51 Glbert, Cass, 363 64 Gngrch, Newt, 58

Fne artsts, 344 Fnley, Karen, 351 Fire, 310 FirstFire, 350 Frst Internatonal exhbton of Modern Art, 309 First Negro Dance Recital in America, 318 Fsh bol, 209 10 Ftzgerald, F. scott, 250 The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Albom), 260 Flag for the Moon: Die Nigger Black Light #10, 347 The Flag Is Bleeding, 346 Flamingo, 348 Flanpond, 359 Flat screen TVs, 284 Fleck, John, 352 Floradora sextet, 321 Florda, 2 Florda key lme pe, 204 Folk art, 359 60 Food consumpton per capta, 195 Football, 169 72 Foote, shelby, 259 Ford, Gerald, 55 Ford, Harrson, 293 Ford, Henry, 47 Ford, John, 293 For Carl Andre, 347 For One More Day (Albom), 260 Forrest, edwn, 304, 305 Fortune, 297 Foster care, 135 Fox Broadcastng, 283 Fox News, 278 Foxwoods, 180 Frankln, Benjamn, 268, 296 Frankln, James, 268 Frederick Douglass Self-Defense Manual Series, Infinite Step Escape Technique #1: Hand Seeks Cotton, 357 Fred Otts Sneeze, 290

INdex The Girlfriend, 321 Gleason, Jacke, 307 Gober, robert, 347 Godey, Lous, 297 Godeys Ladys Book, 297 Golf, 176 77 Gone with the Wind, 292, 295 Goodbye Columbus (roth), 250 Good Housekeeping, 298 Goodman Theatre, 311 Goodwn, dors Kearns, 260 61 Gorbachev, Mkhal, 57 Gore, Al, 59 Gorman, r. C., 347 Grafton, sue, 255 Graham, Martha, 317 Graham, reverend Blly, 103 Grand Canyon, 25 Grandma Moses, 359 Grandmaster Flash, 326 Grand ole opry, 331 Grand Theft Auto (GTA) seres, 181 Grand Travelng Museum, Menagere, Caravan and Crcus, 305 Grant, Cary, 293, 295 Grapes of Wrath (stenbeck), 248 The Grateful dead, 324, 325 Gravitys Rainbow (Pynchon), 251 Grease, 295 Great Awakenng, 79 Great depresson, 48, 118 Great Lakes, 2 Great overland, 305 The Great Gatsby (Ftzgerald), 250 The Great Railway Bazaar (Theroux), 262 The Great Train Robbery, 291 Great Wall of Los Angeles, 347 Greeley, Horace, 271, 272 The Green Mile (Kng), 257 Greenwich Village Follies, 317 Grffth, d.w., 291 Grnders, 203 Grocery store, 198 Grogan, John, 260 Gropus, walter, 366 Grotjahn, Mark, 357 GTA. See Grand Theft Auto seres Guggenhem Museum, 354, 365 Guiding Light, 288 Gulf Coast, 17 Gullah rce, 205 Gumbel, Bryant, 285 Gumbo, 206 Gunsmoke, 288 Guns N roses, 326 Guthre, sr Tyrone, 311 Guthre Theatre, 311 Guy, edna, 317, 318

391

Haggard, Jack, 61 Haght-Ashbury, 325 Hairspray, 311 Hale, sarah, 297 Hallan, Lews sr., 304 Hallmark holdays, 156 Halloween, 166 Halston, 219 Hamburger Helper, 198 Hamburgers, 196 97, 213 Hamlton, Alexander, 270, 27172 Hamlton, Andrew, 269 Hamlet, 311 Hammett, dashell, 254 Hancock, Trenton doyle, 359 Hanks, Tom, 293 Hanukah, 159 Harlow, Jean, 295 Harpers Monthly, 297 Havens, rche, 324 Hawa, 22, 3839 Hawthorne, Nathanel, 247, 298 Haynes, Cornell, 226 Hays, wllam H., 295 Hays Code, 295 HdTV. See Hghdefnton TVs Health clubs, 17778 Hearst, wllam randolph, 273 74

392 Heart Garfunkel, 348 Heath Anthology, 247 Henz Poll summer dance Festval, 319 Held, Anna, 307 Heller, Joseph, 250 Hendrx, Jm, 323 Henr, robert, 345 Hermans Hermts, 323 Heron, Matlda, 305 Hckey, Marlyn, 104 Hcks, edward, 360 Hgh-defnton TVs (HdTVs), 284 Hgher educaton, 146 49 High School Musical, 312 Hgh schools, 140 Hijab, 216 Hlfger, Andy, 226 Hlfger, Tommy, 221 Hll, Anta, 123 Hnes, Gregory, 320 Hnes, Maurce, 320 Hnn, Benny, 104 Hp hop, 326 27 Hroshma, Japan, 51 Hrshhorn, Joseph, 353 Hrshhorn Museum and sculpture Garden of the smthsonan Insttuton, 353 The Historian (Kostova), 25758 Hstorcal costume dramas, 305 Htchcock, Alfred, 293 Hoages, 203 Hobbes, 182 83 Holdays, 154 69 Holmes, sherlock, 253 Holt, Nancy, 347 Hombre (Leonard), 254 Home schoolng, 145 46 Homosexualty, 78, 80, 85, 90, 92, 95, 98, 128 Hope, Bob, 308 Hopper, edward, 345 Horror fcton, 25758

INdex Horwtz, Tony, 261 62 Housng, 369 79 Houston, Tx, 1718 Howard, wlle, 307 Huckleberry Fnn, 247 48 Hudson, rock, 293 Hughes, Holly, 35152 Humphrey, dors, 317 Humphrey, Hubert H., 54 Hungry Hungry Hppos, 180 Huntley, Chet, 285 Huntley-Brinkley Report, 285 Hurrcane Katrna, 61 Hush puppes, 204 Hussen, saddam, 57, 59, 60 Idaho, 20 Ids Center, 366 I. F. Stones Weekly, 281 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Angelou), 261 I Love Lucy, 287 Immgrant populatons (1900), 41 Immgraton, 41 43 In Cold Blood, 278 Income, 132 Independence day, 156 Indan Gamng regulatory Act, 180 Indan removal Act (1830), 40 Indan reorganzaton Act. See wheeler-Howard Act Indan reservatons, 25 Indan Terrtory, 40 Indian with a Beer Can, 347 Inge, wllam, 309 In God we Trust, 71 Inner Harbor, 363 Innocents Abroad (Twan), 261 In-N-out Burger, 213 In Old California, 291 The Insider, 278 Intellgent desgn, 142 Interior Scroll, 346 Internatonal News servce, 275

INdex Internatonal style, 366 Internet, 282 Internment camps, 49 50 Interview with a Vampire (rce), 257 IPod, 299 Iran, 5557 Iraq, 57, 60 61 Isaacson, walter, 260 Islam, 99 102 Italan cusne, 197 Itnerant preachers, 102 3 Its a Wonderful Life, 293 IUd, 119 Jackson, Andrew, 43 Jacobs, Marc, 221 Jacobs Pllow, 318 James, Charles, 218 Jamson, Judth, 318 Japanese-Amercans, 49 50 Jaws, 293 Jay-Z (Carter, shawn), 225 Jazz Aspen snowmass, 334 Jazz musc, 46 The Jazz Singer, 292 J.C. Penny stores, 223 Jefferson, Thomas, 35, 270 Jefferson Arplane, 324, 325 Jehovahs wtnesses, 96 97 Jeopardy!, 288 Jersey Boys, 312 Jm Crow laws, 38 Joffrey, robert, 317 John, elton, 323 John Adams (McCullough), 259 John Hancock Center, 364 Johns, Jasper, 346, 351 Johnson, Andrew, 38 Johnson, Betsey, 220 21 Johnson, Bll, 323 Johnson, James, 318 Johnson, Joshua, 360 Johnson, Lyndon B., 53 54 Johnson, Phllp, 366 The Johnstown Flood (McCullough), 258 Jolson, Al, 276, 308 Jopln, Jans, 323, 324 Jordan, robert, 256 57 J. Paul Getty Museum, 354 Judasm, 9799 Kamal, Norma, 220 Kansas Cty barbeque, 209 Kaprow, Allen, 346 Karan, donna, 221 Kean, Thomas, 304 Keth, Benjamn Frankln, 307 8 Kellogg, Harvey, 201 Kelly, Gene, 321 Kennedy, John F., 53 Kennedy, robert, 54 Kennedy assassnaton, 277 Kent state, 54, 277 Keppard, Fredde, 323 Kesey, Ken, 325 Kmbell Art Museum, 354 Kndergarten, 139 Kng, Martn Luther, Jr., 52 54 Kng, stephen, 257 Kng George III, 35 The Knks, 323 Kss, 325 The Kiss, 290 Klen, Anne, 219, 221 Klen, Calvn, 219 20 K-Mart stores, 223, 224 Knghts of Columbus, 77 Knghts of Peter Claver and Lades Auxlary, 77 Knox, John, 89 Kohls stores, 224 Kojak, 288 Kornfeld, Arte, 324 Kors, Mchael, 222 Kostova, elzabeth, 25758 Kosuth, Joseph, 346 Krasner, Lee, 345

393

394 Krystal hamburgers, 205 Kwanzaa, 159 60

INdex Life, 297 Lily, 281 Lndbergh, Charles, 276 Lne of demarcaton, 35 The Lion King, 293 Lteracy rate, 13839 Lterary fcton, 250 51 Lterature, 231 64 Lttle ensten, 316 The Little Tramp, 292 The Living Newspaper, 309 Lombard, Carol, 293 London Company of Comedans, 304 Look, 297 Lopez, Jennfer, 226, 327 The Lord of the Rings (Tolken), 256 Los Angeles, CA, 21 Louisiana Hayride, 323 Lousana Purchase, 35 Lousana red beans and rce, 204 Loving v. Virginia, 126 Lowe, Uncle Jm, 320 Luau, 214 Luca Luca, 222 Lucas, George, 293 Luks, George, 345 Lunchtime, the Best of Times, 359 Lundy, Benjamn, 280 Lutefsk, 2089 Lutheran Church-Mssour synod, 92 Lutherans, 90 92 Macdonald, ross, 254 Madson, James, 270 Magazne Publshers of Amerca, 296 Magaznes, 296 301 Magnet schools, 141 Mahler, Gustav, 313 Mad-rte restaurants, 210 Manbocher, 218 Mane lobster, 202 Malcolm x, 100 The Maltese Falcon (Hammett), 254 Manhattan clam chowder, 202

Labor day, 161 Labor unons, 45 Ladies Home Journal, 298 Ladys Book, 297 Lakes, szes of, 2 L.A.M.B., 226 Land, 2 3 Lane, wllam, 320 Lang, Mchael, 324, 325 Lang, Pearl, 317 Lapnsk, Lsa, 356 Larner, Lz, 358 The Last of the Mohicans (Cooper), 250 Latina Magazine, 224 Latnas, 224 Latrobe, Benjamn, 363 Lauren, ralph, 219 Law & Order, 288 Lawrence v. Texas, 128 Lds. See Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants Lee, Gypsy rose, 307 Lee, Harper, 248 49 Lee, spke, 293 The Left Hand of Darkness (Le Gun), 255 Legally Blonde, 311 Legos, Bela, 295 Le Gun, Ursula K., 255 Legumes, 201 Lesure, 169 92 Lent, 167 Leonard, elmore, 254 Lerner and Loewe, 309 Lev strauss (jeans), 222 Levy, stacy, 359 Lewnsky, Monca, 58 The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 346 Liberator, 280 Lberty Place, 363 Lchtensten, roy, 346, 351

INdex Manumission Intelligencer, 280 Marcus Welby, M.D., 288 Mard Gras, 155, 167, 332 33 Maron, dante, 359 Marley and Me (Grogan), 260 Marrage, 12530 Marshall, Carma, 221 Marshall, Penny, 293 Martn, Agnes, 345, 351 Martn, rcky, 327 Martn Luther Kng day, 162 Marx Brothers, 295, 311 Maryland, 12 Maryland crab cakes, 203 Matlock, 288 Mayne, Thom, 367 McCalls, 298 McCardell, Clare, 218 McCarthy, Cormac, 251 McCarthy, Joseph, 52 McCartney, Paul, 326 McClures, 297 McClure, samuel, 297 McCullough, davd, 25859 Mcdonalds, 196 Meda, 26590 Medical Center, 288 Meet the Press, 285 Mellon, Andrew w., 352 Melodrama, 305 Melvlle, Herman, 250 Memoral day, 161 Mennontes, 106 Mens clothng, 215 Methodsts, 83 85 Metropoltan Museum of Art, 353 Metropoltan opera, 313 Mexcan, 197 Mexcan fsh taco, 212 Mexcan war (1848), 36 Meyer, Joyce, 104 MGM (move studo), 292 Mam, FL, 1516 Miami Herald, 300

395

Mam sound Machne, 327 Md-Atlantc regon, 10 14 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (Berendt), 262 Mdwest, 1819, 330 31 Mes van der rohe, Ludwg, 366 Mgraton, 41 43 Mller, Arthur, 309, 311 Mller, Tm, 352 Mllhone, Knsey, 255 Mllon Famly March, 100 Mllon Man March, 100 Mnsky Brothers, 307 Mnstrel shows, 306 Mschka, James, 222 Miss Innocence, 307 Msssspp rver, 2 Mssour rver, 2 Mxed greens, 205 Mzrah, Issac, 224 Mobil Travel Guide fve star ratng, 196 Moby Dick (Melvlle), 250 Moby Grape, 325 Mold Garden, 359 Monahan, Matthew, 357 Monopoly, 180 Monroe, James, 39 Monster.com, 299 Montana, 2, 20 Monterey Jazz Festval, 333 34 Monterey Pop Internatonal Pop Festval, 333 34 Montessor method, 145 46 Montcello, 361 A Moral Dialogue, 304 Morgan, J. P., 44 Mormons. See Church of Jesus Chrst of Latter-day sants Morning Journal, 274 Morphoss, 368 Morrson, Ton, 249 Morse, samuel, 271 Mosley, walter, 254 55 Mothers day, 165

396

INdex Natonal Collegate Athletc Assocaton (NCAA), 173 Natonal endowment for the Arts (NeA), 350 52 Natonal Fnals rodeo, 176 Natonal Gallery of Art, 352 53 Natonal Insttute, 352 Natonal Labor relatons Board (NLrB), 48 Natonal Mssonary Baptst Conventon of Amerca, 82 Natonal organzaton for women (Now), 56 Natonal parks, 179 Natonal Poetry Gatherng, 334 Natonal woman suffrage Assocaton, 46 Natonal youth Admnstraton, 48 Naton of Islam (NoI), 100 102 Naton of Peace. See Naton of Islam (NoI) Natve Amercans, 33 35, 37, 180 81 Native Son (wrght), 250 Natural dsasters, 5 6 Naturalzaton, 149 50 NBC. See Natonal Broadcastng Company NCAA. See Natonal Collegate Athletc Assocaton NCLB. See No Chld Left Behnd Act NeA. See Natonal endowment for the Arts Negro dance Company, 318 Network televson, 283 Nevada, 25 New Amsterdam, 34 New deal, 44 New england clam chowder, 202 New-England Courant, 268 New England Journal of Medicine, 299 New england regon, 810 New France, 34 New Hampshre, 2 New Jersey, 2

Motherwell, robert, 345 Moton Pcture Assocaton of Amerca ratng system, 295 Moton Pcture Producers and dstrbutors of Amerca, 295 Mount Vernon, 361 Mr. Interlocutor, 306 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 293 Muckrakng, 274 Muhammad, eljah, 100 Muhammad, wallace Fard. See Fard, wallace d. Multmeda (20th century), 274 80 Multmeda artsts, 344 The Murders n the rue Morgue (Poe), 253 Murray, walter, 304 Murrow, edward r., 285 Museum of Contemporary Art, 355 Museum of Fne Arts, 354 Musc, 312 16 Muscals, 304 Muslm head scarf (hijab), 216 Muslms. See Islam The Mutation Show, 310 Mystery fcton, 253 55 NAACP. See Natonal Assocaton for the Advancement of Colored People Nagasak, Japan, 51 Nanny 911, 289 Naper, Mark, 348 Narrative history literature, 258 NAsCAr. See Natonal Assocaton for stock Car Auto racng Natonal Assocaton for stock Car Auto racng (NAsCAr), 174 76 Natonal Assocaton for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 52 Natonal Assocaton of the Moton Pcture Industry, 294 95 Natonal Broadcastng Company (NBC), 283

INdex New Mexco, 24 New Mexco green chl, 212 New Playwrghts Theater, 310 Newport JVC Jazz Festval, 329 Newport Musc Festval, 329 Newsday, 279 Newspapers, 26774 Newsweek, 296 The New Yorker, 278 New urbansm, 362 New world, dscovery of, 33 34 New years day, 160 New York Call, 281 New york Cty Ballet, 318 New york Cty, Ny, 10 11, 215, 217 New York Daily News, 275, 279 New York Evening World, 273 New York Herald, 271, 272 New York Journal, 274 New York Morning Chronicle, 272 New york Phlharmonc, 313, 314, 315 New York Post, 270, 275, 279 New York Sun, 271 New York Times, 266 67, 279 New york Tmes News servce, 279 New York Tribune, 271, 272 New York Weekly Journal, 268 Ney, Bob, 61 62 Ncholson, Jack, 294 Nckelback, 326 A Night at the Opera, 311 Nightstand, 356 Njnsky, Vaslav, 317 19th Amendment, 118 Nxon, rchard, 54 55, 27778 NLrB. See Natonal Labor relatons Board No Chld Left Behnd (NCLB) Act, 141 42 NoI. See Naton of Islam No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II (Goodwn), 260

397

Norell, Norman, 218 North by Northwest, 293 The North Star, 281 Northwest ordnance (1787), 35 Norton Anthology, 247 Nouvelle cusne, 196 Now. See Natonal organzaton for women odonnell, rose, 298 Of Mice and Men (stenbeck), 248 oho Ballet, 317, 318 oKeefe, Georga, 351 oklahoma Terrtory, 40 oldenberg, Claes, 346 oldenburg, Claes, 351 old Globe Theatres, 311 old Post offce, 363 olsen, Mary-Kate and Ashley, 223 Omnibus, 314 oMo (on My own), 220 oNell, eugene, 309 On the Twentieth Century, 321 O, Oprah Magazine, 298 opera, 312 16 operaton desert storm, 57 Operation Shylock (roth), 250 oprah wnfrey Book Club, 23132 oregon, 22 23 oregon shakespeare Festval, 337 orland, Luca, 222 oscar (Academy Award), 295 otabenga Jones & Assocates, 356 57 Our Miss Brooks, 287 oursler, Tony, 347 outcault, rchard, 274 outdoor amphtheaters, 326 Overseer, 357 ozarks, 26 Pacfc Northwest regon, 22 23 Pac-Man, 181 Pane, Thomas, 270 Palao, James, 323

398 Pancs, 44 Paralympcs, 178 Paramount (move studo), 292 Parents, 298 Parker, Colonel Tom, 323 Parochal schools, 144 45 Passover, 167 Pauley, Jane, 285 Pavarott, Lucano, 315 Pawnee Bll, 305 P. dddy (Combs, sean), 226 Peanut butter and jelly sandwch (PB&J), 201 Peanuts, 201 Pearl Harbor, 48 49 Pearl Jam, 325 Pearl of Great Price, 87 Pe, Ieoh Mng, 367 Pennsylvania Gazette, 268 Pennsylvana Museum and school of Industral Art, 353 Pentagon Papers, 54 55 Penzol Place, 366 People (U.s.), 26 33 People Weekly, 278 Perera, wllam, 367 Performng arts, 303 39 The Perils of Pauline, 292 Perry, rck, 121 Perry Mason, 288 Personal computer, 299 Person to Person, 285 Phantom of the opera, 312 Phat Farm Fashons, 225 Phladelpha, PA, 1112, 203 Phladelpha Museum of Art, 353 Phladelpha orchestra, 313 Philanthropist, 280 Phllps, Amm, 360 Phllps Collecton, 354 Phlly cheesesteak, 203 Phoenx, AZ, 25 Photography, 272 Pgs n a blanket, 207

INdex Pilgrims Progress, 274 Png, Mary, 222 Pinocchio, 293 Pper, Adran, 347 Pirates of the Caribbean, 294 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest, 294 Pt barbeque, 204 Pzza, 197 Pzza Hut, 196 Playstaton, 299 Poboy sandwch, 205 Poe, edgar Allen, 253, 298 Poetry, 232 43 Po, 214 Poker, 180 The Polce (band), 323 Poll, Henz, 317, 318 Pollock, Jackson, 345 Pong, 181 Popular fcton, 25158. See also Lterature Popular musc, 322 30. See also Musc Popular nonfcton, 258 62. See also Lterature Populaton, 2728, 35, 41 Portnoys Complaint (roth), 250 Posen, Zac, 222 Post-Industral revoluton, 118 Potato salad, 208 Potluck dnner, 206 Power, 309 Praise the Lord, 104 Predestnaton, 89 Presbyteran Church, 89 90 Preschool, 139 Preservaton Hall, 333 Presdents day, 162 Presley, elvs, 323 Pretzels, 208 The Price is Right, 288 Prmary schools, 139 Prtzker Archtecture Prze, 367 Prvate schools, 138, 144 45

INdex Proctor & Gamble, 276 Progressve Natonal Baptst Conventon, 82 Prohbton, 46 47 Pro-Keds sneakers, 225 Protestant churches, 72 73 Provncetown wharf Theatre, 309 Prutt, robert A., 357 Publc art, 34850 Publc educaton system, 29 Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick, 267 Publc schools, 138 Pultzer, Joseph, 273 74 Pumpernckel bread, 208 Pumpkn pe, 202 Purtansm, 247 The Purloned Letter, 253 Purpose Driven Church, 105 Purpose Driven Life, 105 Putnam, robert, 169 Pynchon, Thomas, 250 51 Quahog clams, 202 Quakers. See relgous socety of Frends Quckslver Messenger servce, 325 Quinceaera, 168 racal dscrmnaton, 51 racsm, relgon and, 72 rado, 276 Raiders of the Lost Ark, 293 ralroads, 43 rap, 326 27 rauschenberg, robert, 346, 351 rea, olver, 311 Readers Digest, 29899 ready-to-wear (rTw), 215 reagan, ronald, 56 57 realty televson, 289 The Real World, 289 Rear Window, 293 reconstructon, 38

399

Redbook, 298 red scares, 46 reeves, Keanu, 293 regatta, 224 regonal cusne, 202 14 regonal performances, 32738; Mdwest, 330 31; North, 32730; Northwest, 336 38; south, 33133; west, 333 36 regons, 6 26; Appalachans, 26; Calforna, 20 22; Hawa, 22; MdAtlantc, 10 14; Mdwest, 1819; New england, 810; ozarks, 26; Pacfc Northwest, 22 23; south, 14 18; southwest, 23 26; west, 19 20 relgon, 69 112 relgous rght, 103, 109, 111 relgous socety of Frends, 106 republcbank Center, 366 requred readng, 246 50 restaurant revenues, 195 restaurant spendng, 195 reuters, 279 Revolution, 281 revolutonary war, 35 rhode Island Johnny Cakes, 202 rce, 204, 208 rce, Anne, 257 rgney, James, 256 57 rnggold, Fath, 346 rnglng Bros. and Barnum & Baley Crcus, 305 6 ro Grande rver, 2, 23 24 Riot, 348 rsk, 180 Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (Kng), 257 The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps), 317 rKo (move studo), 292 roarng Twentes, 46 robb, J. d., 252 roberts, John, 324

400 roberts, Nora, 252 53 robertson, Pat, 103 robnson, Bll, 321 robnson, edward, 295 rocawear, 225 rockwell, Norman, 345 rodeo, 176, 33536 rodrguez, davd, 22122 rogers and Hammersten, 309 rogers, Gnger, 321 rogers, wll, 307 Rolling Stone, 282 The rollng stones, 326 roman Catholc Church, 74 78 romance novels, 252 53 roosevelt, Frankln, 44, 48 Rosemarys Baby, 295 rosenman, Joel, 324 rosenqust, James, 346 rosh Hashanah, 159 Rosie, 298 roth, Phllp, 250 rothko, Mark, 345 Royal American Magazine, 296 rTw. See readytowear rubensten, Arthur, 314 rucc, ralph, 222 run d.M.C., 327 rush, 325 russell, Charles, 345 russell, Morgan, 345 russa, 5153, 57 ruth, Babe, 276 saar, Betye, 346 saddleback Church, 104 5 st. dens, ruth, 317 st. Lawrence rver, 2 St. Louis PostDispatch, 273 st. Ncholas (st. Nck), 158 st. Patrcks day, 163 st. Valentnes day, 165 66 salnger, J. d., 249 salle, davd, 347

INdex salsa, 327 salt-cured Vrgna country ham, 204 salt N Pepa, 327 same-sex couples, 129 30 san Antono, Tx, 1718 sandnsta regme, 57 san Francsco, CA, 2122 San Francisco Examiner, 274 san Francsco Museum of Modern Art, 355 san Francsco symphony orchestra, 316 santa, Carlos, 327 santa Claus, 158, 159 santana, 324 sarnoff, davd, 283 satellte rado, 299 Saturday Evening Post, 296 97 sauerkraut, 208 savages, 33 savannah red rce, 204 The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne), 247 Schindlers List, 293 schnabel, Julan, 347 schneemann, Carolee, 346 scholder, Frtz, 346 school safety, 144 Science and Health with Key to the Scripture, 108 scence fcton, 25556 sCLC. See southern Chrstan Leadershp Conference scopes, John, 143 scopes Monkey tral, 275 scorsese, Martn, 293 scrabble, 180 scrapbookng, 183 seafood, 213 seagram Buldng, 363 69 sears, roebuck and Co., 215, 224 sears Tower, 364 seasde, FL, 362 secondary schools, 139 40

INdex SecondFire, 350 second Great Awakenng, 96 second Lfe, 182 securtes and exchange Commsson, 48 See It Now, 285 segregaton, 140 41 Seinfeld, 287 selectve servce Act, 45 selena, 327 self-help books, 258 sennett, Mack, 292 separaton of church and state, 69 70 september 11, 2001, 60 serra, rchard, 349 700 Club, 103 Seven Sisters, 298 1776 (McCullough), 259 seventh Avenue, 217 sexual harassment, 123 sexualty, 119, 125 sexually transmtted nfectons (sTIs), 120 21 shabazz, 100 shady, Ltd., 226 shawn, Ted, 317 sherman, Cndy, 346 Shirts2, 357 shoofly pe, 204 shook, Karel, 318 sdekck, 299 slvers, Phl, 307 sm Cty, 181 smmons, russell, 225 The Simpsons, 287 sms, The, 181 82 Singin in the Rain, 293 sngle parenthood, 136 sssle, Noble, 321 sstahs Harlem New york, 221 stcoms, 287 88 The $64,000 Question, 288 skateboardng, 177 skelton, Thomas, 317, 318

401

Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut), 256 slavery, 37 Sleeping Beauty, 293 slyders, 210 smth, Anna Ncole, 278 smth, Howard K., 285 smth, Joseph, 85 86 smth, Kk, 347 smth, wll, 220 smthson, robert, 347 smthsonan Amercan Art Museum, 352 53 smthsonan Castle, 352 snowboardng, 177 Snow Crash, 182 snow, dash, 357 snow, Hank, 323 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 292 soap operas, 276, 288 socal creed, 84 85 socal securty Act, 43 socety of st. Vncent de Paul, 77 sod, Thala, 224 sokolow, Ann, 318 solomon, Gus, 318 Some Golden States, 352 A Song Flung Up to Heaven (Angelou), 261 sony Buldng, 366 The Sopranos, 283 sorel, Felca, 318 soul food, 204, 205 The Sound of Music, 293 The south, 14 18 south Coast repertory, 311 southern Baptst Conventon, 78 80 southern Chrstan Leadershp Conference (sCLC), 52 53 Southern Living, 298 south street seaport, 363 The southwest, 23 26 southwest Lousana Zydeco Musc Festval, 333 sovet Unon, 5153, 57

402

INdex Sunset Boulevard, 311 Sun Tunnels, 347 super Bowl, 170 71 super Bowl xLI (2007), 289 Super Mario Clouds2005 Rewrite, 348 supermarket, 198 supreme Court, 123 24 Survivor, 290 sweetface Fashon, 226 The Sword of Shannara (Brooks), 256 szell, George, 314 Tacos, 211 Talban, 60 Tampa, FL, 16 17 Tap dancng, 320 22 Tarantno, Quentn, 293 Tarbell, Ida, 297 Target stores, 224 Tarzan, 293 Tasso sausage, 206 Taylor, James, 315 TBN. See Trnty Broadcastng Network T. B. walker Foundaton, 311 Team of Rival: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Goodwn), 261 Ted Mack Amateur Hour, 289 Tejano, 327 Telegraph, 271 Televangelsts, 103 6 Televson, 27778, 282 90 Temple, shrley, 321 Tennessee Valley Authorty, 48 Tenns, 176 77 Terra Firma (Dry Land), 359 Texaco Star Theatre, 285 Texas, 2, 36, 212 Tex-Mex, 212, 327 Thanksgvng, 154, 156 57 Theatre, 303 12 Theatre Unon, 310 Theroux, Paul, 262

Space Invader, 348 spansh-Amercan war, 45 spansh explorers, 33 34 specal olympcs, 17879 specal supplemental Nutrton Program for women, Infants, and Chldren (wIC), 135 spelberg, steven, 293 spllane, Mckey, 254 The Spiral Jetty, 347 sports, 288 89 Sports Illustrated, 297 standardzed testng, 147 stanton, elzabeth Cady, 46, 118, 281 Starbucks, Seattle: Compression, 359 Star Wars, 293 state fars, 15556 state parks, 179 Stations, 347 statutory rape, 124 25 steam press, 270 71 steel, danelle, 253 steel, Hllary, 358 stefan, Gwen, 226 steffens, Lncoln, 297 stenbeck, John, 248 stella, Frank, 345 stephenson, Neal, 182 stewart, Jmmy, 293 stewart, Martha, 183 sTI. See sexually transmtted nfectons stock market crash, 44, 48 stone, I.F., 281 stone, olver, 293 storyvlle, 331 stowe, Harret Beecher, 298 strasshem, Angela, 357 strategc defense Intatve, 57 A Streetcar Named Desire, 309 Stretch Marks, 352 stuart, Glbert, 344 submarne sandwch, 205 sullvan, Lous, 364 summer stock, 308

INdex The Thirty-nine Steps, 293 This Do in Remembrance of Me, 357 Thomas, Clarence, 123 The Three Tenors, 315 Through the Night Softly, 346 Tffany & Co., 225 Tilted Arc, 349 Tmberlake, Justn, 226 Time, 296 Ttle VII, Cvl rghts Act of 1964, 123 Tvo, 299 The Today Show, 285 To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee), 248 49 Tolken, J.r.r., 256 Torah, 99 Track and feld, 173 74 Trademarks, 346 Transamerca Pyramd, 367 Traylor, Bll, 360 Treaty of Pars, 35, 39 Trgre, Paulne, 218 Trnty Broadcastng Network (TBN), 104 Trval Pursut, 180 Tropics and Le Jazz Hot, 318 Truman (McCullough), 259 Trumbull, John, 344 Tuesdays with Morrie (Albom), 260 Tulsa Phlharmonc, 315 Tunney, Gene, 276 Turtle soup, 203 Twan, Mark, 247 48, 261 20th Century Fox (move studo), 292 Twenteth century, 43 62 Twenty-one, 288 Uncle Toms Cabin, 305 Underground newspapers, 281 82 Unform Monday Holday Act of 1968, 161 Unforms, school, 144 Untaran Unversalst Assocaton, 108 Unted Bookng Artsts, 308 Unted Methodst Church, 83 85 Unted Press Internatonal (UPI), 275, 279 Unted synagogue of Conservatve Judasm, 9899 UPI. See Unted Press Internatonal Up in Honeys Room (Leonard), 254 UPN network, 283 Urban, Joseph, 307 USA Today, 279 U.S. News and World Report, 297 Utah, 20 Valentnes day, 165 66 Van Impe, Jack, 104 Vaudevlle, 304, 307 8 Vaudevlle Managers Assocaton, 308 VCr. See Vdeo cassette recorder Ventur, robert, 367 Vertigo, 293 Veterans day, 161 VHs vdeo casette, 284 Vdeo cassette recorder (VCr), 284, 294 Vdeo games, 181 Vetnam war, 54 55, 277, 286 Village Voice, 282 Vola, Bll, 347 Vokal, 226 Von Grona, eugene, 318 Vonnegut, Kurt Jr., 256 Votng rghts Act of 1965, 54 Voucher systems, 143 wAAC. See womens Auxlary Army Corps wahoos, 212 13 wanwrght Buldng, 364 waldorf schools, 145 46 walken, Chrstopher, 321 walker, Alce, 249 walker, Kelley, 357 wallace, dewtt, 29899

403

404 Wall Street Journal, 279 wal-Mart stores, 223 24 walters, Barbara, 285 warhol, Andy, 346 warner Brothers (move studo), 292 war relocaton Authorty (wrA), 50 warren, rck, 105 6 washngton (state), 22 23 washngton, dC, 12 13 washngton, George, 35 Washington Post, 27778 washngtons Brthday, 162 Watch Tower, 96 WaterFire, 349 watergate, 277 water qualty, 5 waters, Alce, 212 water Tower Place, 363 wayne, John, 293 wB (warner Brothers) network, 283 wCTU. See womans Chrstan Temperance Unon webber, Carmen, 221 weber, Max, 345 weblogs, 282 web stes, 299 300 weddngs, 168 wedman, Charles, 317 We Keep Our Victims Ready, 351 wendys, 196 wesselmann, Tom, 346 The west, 19 20 west, Benjamn, 344 western style (fashon), 217 West Side Story, 309 wheeler-Howard Act, 40 Wheel of Fortune, 288 White Butterfly, 357 whte Castle, 210 whte House offce of Fath-based and Communty Intatves, 111 White Noise (deLllo), 251 whoope pe, 204 The who, 326

INdex Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, 288 wIC. See specal supplemental Nutrton Program for women, Infants, and Chldren Wife Swap, 289 The Wild Blue (Ambrose), 259 wld rce, 208 wld west, 217, 305 wllam rast, 226 wllams, dudley, 318 wllams, Tennessee, 309 wllams, wlson, 318 wllwear, 220 wlson, woodrow, 45 Window Drop #1, 358 wne, 199 200, 213 wnfeld, Hemsley, 318 wnfrey, oprah, 23132 The Wiz, 311 The Wizard of Oz, 292 wNBA. See womans Natonal Basketball Assocaton womans Chrstan Temperance Unon (wCTU), 46 womans clothng szes, 215 Womans Day, 298 Womans Journal, 281 womans Natonal Basketball Assocaton (wNBA), 174 women n poltcs, 124 womens Auxlary Army Corps (wAAC), 50 womens rghts, 36, 46 woodstock, 324 woodward, Bob, 277 woolworth Buldng, 364 workers drama League, 310 workers Theater, 310 works Progress Admnstraton (wPA), 48 world seres, 171 world seres of Poker, 180 world war I, 45 world war II, 48 49

INdex World without End, 352 wPA. See works Progress Admnstraton wrA. See war relocaton Authorty wrestlng, 176 wrght, Frank Lloyd, 365 wrght, rchard, 250 wyomng, 20 The X-Factor, 325 yasgur, Max, 324 Yellow journalism, 274 yellowstone Park, 179 yom Kppur, 159 Young Peoples Concerts, 314 youTube, 266 yo-yo Ma, 315 yukon rver, 2 Zesler, Peter, 311 Zenger, John Peter, 268 Zegfeld, Florenz, 307 Zegfeld Folles, 307 Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 325 The Zombes, 323 The Zulu Naton, 326 Zweback, 208 Zworykn, Vladmr, 282

405

406

About the edtor and Contrbutors

BeNJAMIN F. sHeArer receved hs Phd n the hstory of deas from st. Lous Unversty and hs MsLs from the Unversty of Illnos at UrbanaChampagn. He has wrtten and edted several reference books, ncludng Home Front Heroes (Greenwood Press, 2007), The Uniting States (Greenwood Press, 2004), and State Names, Seals, Flags and Symbols (3rd ed., Greenwood Press, 2002). eLLeN BAIer s an ndependent scholar and wrter who s actve n theater and natonal tour productons. In 2004, Frankln & Marshall College awarded her ts wllamson Medal. she s also a major contrbutor to Home Front Heroes: A Biographical Dictionary of Americans during Wartime (Greenwood Press, 2007). weNde VyBorNey FeLLer, Phd, s a corporate consultant and freelance wrter. A graduate of the Unversty of Mnnesota, she has taught at a varety of unverstes, ncludng, most recently, n the executve MBA program at the College of st. Mary n Moraga, Calforna. Among her academc presentatons are papers n Japanese and Amercan war rhetorc at the concluson of world war II. she lves n Phoenx, Arzona, and s workng on her frst novel. AGNes HooPer GoTTLIeB s the dean of Freshman studes and specal Academc Programs at seton Hall Unversty. she also holds the rank of
407

408

ABoUT THe edITor ANd CoNTrIBUTors

professor n the Communcaton department. she s the coauthor of 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium and the author of Women Journalists and the Municipal Housekeeping Movement, 18681914, from the edwn Mellen Press. she has wrtten dozens of artcles and book chapters on journalsm hstory. she also wrtes a monthly advce column for the parents of seton Hall Unversty students. PAMeLA Lee GrAy s an ndependent scholar who holds a Phd n Amercan hstory from the Unversty of southern Calforna. Her wrtten work ncludes over 100 academc artcles and several books on local hstory. Her currculum desgn work teaches hstory usng ethnography and hstorcal vsual mages. wILLIAM P. ToTH teaches wrtng at Hedelberg College and has been publshed n both the Unted states and england. Hs hstorcal and lterary wrtng has appeared n African American National Biography, Back Home in Kentucky, Bend in the River, Chronicles of the Old West, Encyclopedia of African American History, SuperReal: The British Journal of Surrealism, and others.