Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character
4/5
()
About this ebook
Our nation began with the simple phrase, “We the People.” But who were and are “We”? Who were we in 1776, in 1865, or 1968, and is there any continuity in character between the we of those years and the nearly 300 million people living in the radically different America of today?
With Made in America, Claude S. Fischer draws on decades of historical, psychological, and social research to answer that question by tracking the evolution of American character and culture over three centuries. He explodes myths—such as that contemporary Americans are more mobile and less religious than their ancestors, or that they are more focused on money and consumption—and reveals instead how greater security and wealth have only reinforced the independence, egalitarianism, and commitment to community that characterized our people from the earliest years. Skillfully drawing on personal stories of representative Americans, Fischer shows that affluence and social progress have allowed more people to participate fully in cultural and political life, thus broadening the category of “American” —yet at the same time what it means to be an American has retained surprising continuity with much earlier notions of American character.
Firmly in the vein of such classics as The Lonely Crowd and Habits of the Heart—yet challenging many of their conclusions—Made in America takes readers beyond the simplicity of headlines and the actions of elites to show us the lives, aspirations, and emotions of ordinary Americans, from the settling of the colonies to the settling of the suburbs.
Claude S. Fischer
Claude S. Fischer is Professor of the Graduate School in Sociology, and the author of To Dwell among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City (1982) and The Urban Experience (1984).
Read more from Claude S. Fischer
Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Made in America
Related ebooks
Capital Intentions: Female Proprietors in San Francisco, 1850-1920 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sixties: From Memory to History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Cultural Turn in U. S. History: Past, Present, and Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuburban Dreams: Imagining and Building the Good Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Creed: Philanthropy and the Rise of Civil Society, 1700-1865 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Reconstruction of American Liberalism, 1865-1914 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Debating Race, Ethnicity, and Latino Identity: Jorge J. E. Gracia and His Critics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoverning America: The Revival of Political History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Struggle for Equality: Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction - Updated Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Desegregating the Past: The Public Life of Memory in the United States and South Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFree the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Activism and the Olympics: Dissent at the Games in Vancouver and London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Revolution of ’28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOld Dominion Industrial Commonwealth: Coal, Politics, and Economy in Antebellum America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSunbelt Capitalism: Phoenix and the Transformation of American Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGermany as a Culture of Remembrance: Promises and Limits of Writing History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5C Wright Mills An American Utopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Road to Mobocracy: Popular Disorder in New York City, 1763-1834 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stupid Liberals: Weird and Wacky Tales from the Left Wing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hard Country and a Lonely Place: Schooling, Society, and Reform in Rural Virginia, 1870-1920 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Origins of Neoliberalism: Modeling the Economy from Jesus to Foucault Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStaging Democracy: Political Performance in Ukraine, Russia, and Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFree People, Free Markets: How the Wall Street Journal Opinion Pages Shaped America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdentity in Democracy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Triumph of the Ordinary: Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema, 1949-1989 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Birmingham Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Congress and the First Civil Rights Era, 1861-1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWaging War: The Clash Between Presidents and Congress, 1776 to ISIS Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S. History 101: Historic Events, Key People, Important Locations, and More! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White Album: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Made in America
4 ratings0 reviews