Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-310) and index.

From the proliferation of novels written by white women in the late eighteenth century to the rise of rap music composed by black men in the late twentieth, popular culture has been a powerful force in the United States, resonating within the society as a while and at the same time connecting disparate and even hostile constituencies. In this fascinating history written for the general reader, Jim Cullen traces the development of this culture over two centuries. The novels of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the theater and minstrel shows of the mid-nineteenth century, the movies and television of the twentieth century are the building blocks that Cullen uses to demonstrate the boundaries of form (embracing novels, theater, films, music, and television) and geography (from the Mississippi Delta to the Great Plains to the streets of New York's Lower East Side). Synthesizing a huge amount of scholarship, much of it published within the last ten years, Cullen shows how unique and vibrant popular cultural forms have overcome initial resistance from the elites and enabled historically marginalized groups to gain access to the fruits of society and recognition from mainstream. -- Back cover

SACFinal081324