Just Finished Reading: American Cultural History – A Very Short Introduction by Eric Avila (FP: 2018) [126pp] 

American culture has dominated the world throughout most of the 20th century and beyond with movies, music and other media being instantly recognisable in country after country despite cultural and language barriers. Part of the reason for such a wide appeal has been the cultural melting pot in the US itself aided by the original mix of cultures from England, Spain and France as well as local Native culture and the, no doubt unintentional, importation of African culture from the slave population. 

With the arrival of newspapers, the railroads and increased immigration the culture of America both exploded and diversified across the continent along with the waves of migration westwards supported by ideas of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the idea of the Frontier. The following ‘Gilded Age’, fuelled in no small part by the philanthropy of Robber Barons resulted in some of the iconic architecture still standing today as well as the rise of advertising, magazine culture and lavish events such as World’s Fairs.  

The post-WW2 suburbanization of American culture produced Film Noir, TV and Disney. But it also produced The Twilight Zone and the House Committee on Un-American Activities and shopping malls – to say nothing of Motown music and Las Vegas gambling.  

Covering this and much else – I don’t intend to precis the entire (if short) book – this is a fast, high-level and broad brush look at American culture from its earliest days to the edge of the 21st century. For those paying attention I don’t think you’ll learn much new here. We’ve been drowning in American culture, from Coca-Cola to Hollywood blockbusters for generations now. But this does provide some structure to the outpouring and, as is often the case, a more than decent Bibliography to dig deeper into the subject if so desired. As both a long-time fan, and long-time critic, of American culture I shall be doing just that. More to come. Reasonable.