San Antonio College Library

This fast-paced and entertaining book unfolds the immense significance of the hamburger as an American icon. Josh Ozersky shows how the history of the burger is entwined with American business and culture and how the burger's story is in many ways the story of the country that invented (and reinvented) it.--publisher description.

"While usually associated with facets of commercial culture, pop culture can and must be analyzed as an important part of material, economic, and political culture. The author begins by defining popular culture, outlining criticisms, and examining the impact of globalization on pop culture. She then explores mass media and popular culture (soap operas, Egyptian melodramas, Afro-Cuban rap music, and virtual communities), artistic expression and popular...

Arguing that American culture appeals to and is populated by children and adolescents who merely appear to be adult men and women, the essays in Perpetual Adolescence examine the Jungian archetype of the "eternal youth"--The puer aeternus--as it is manifested in the arrested development of American culture. From the infantilization of the American psyche and the lionization of teenaged celebrities and bodies, to fanatical conformity, and puerile entertainment,...

"Manufacturing Desire is a study of how the mass media broadcast or spread various popular arts; further, how the media and popular arts play a major role in shaping our everyday lives." "The television shows we watch, the movies we see, the radio programs we listen to, and all the comic strips we read influence social behavior. They give us ideas about what is good and evil, about how to solve problems, and about how we should relate to others. If...

"Henry Jenkins, one of America's most respected media analysts, delves beneath the new media hype to uncover the important cultural transformations that are taking place as media converge. He takes us into the secret world of Survivor Spoilers, where avid Internet users pool their knowledge to unearth the show's secrets before they are revealed on the air. He introduces us to young Harry Potter fans who are writing their own Hogwarts tales while executives...

"Popular overview of Maya civilization. Begins with basic observations about archaeology and the Maya, then presents a synthesis of Maya history to provide the context for a topically organized characterization of the Maya cultural tradition. Essentially a streamlined version of author's The ancient Maya, though less detailed and less extensively illustrated"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

The development of American popular culture is surveyed in this undergraduate supplementary text covering the period from the end of the Revolutionary War through the Western Expansionism movement in the early 19th century. Two beginning chapters overview everyday life and youth during the period, and remaining chapters look at aspects of popular culture such as advertising, fashion, leisure activities, music, travel, and visual and performing arts....

Contending that comic strips contributed to the expansion of a mass consumer culture driven by visual images, Ian Gordon shows how, in addition to embellishing a wide array of goods with personalities, the comics themselves increasingly promoted consumerist values and upward mobility. He details how "Gasoline Alley" advocated the enjoyment of cars and how 1920s working girl Winnie Winkle became an avid seeker of a middle-class lifestyle. Documenting...

The last decade of the millennium was, in many ways, the most diverse and fascinating in the history of American culture. Alternative subcultures gained unprecedented exposure, manifest in such phenomena as grunge music, "gansta" rap, hip-hop fashion, raves, extreme sports, and the art of Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano. Twelve narrative chapters depict the United States as brought to you by Generation X--a culture busting out in new and unforeseen...

Surveys the broad themes and demographic trends of popular culture in America during the 1910s, examines the topics of advertising, architecture, fashion, food, leisure activities, literature, music, performing arts, travel, and visual arts, and includes a time line of significant cultural events and a cost comparison list of common items.