A New Introduction to American Studies

by Howard Temperley, Christopher Bigsby

A New Introduction to American Studies provides a coherent portrait of American history, literature, politics, culture and society, and also deals with some of the central themes and preoccupations of American life. It will provoke students into thinking about what it actually means to study a culture.


Ideals such as the commitment to liberty, equality and material progress are fully examined and new light is shed on the sometimes contradictory ways in which these ideals have informed the nation's history and culture.


For introductory undergraduate courses in American Studies, American History and American Literature.

431 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[terez ₊˚ʚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

girl what the fuck

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea why I picked this up from a charity shop, but I liked it much more than I thought I would. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Native Americans, American Woman and ideas of the West.

The history-themed chapters were better than the literary-based ones. There was too much focus on male authors. If you aren't prepared to mention more than a couple of women in your chapters then there should have been a separate chapter about their contributions. How can you write a chapter about American literature and not even mention arguably the most well-known American novel of all (to non-American readers anyway) - Little Women?

On another note, I would have liked a section about musicals as this is another area in which America has been hugely influential, and certainly, to pick two obvious ones, West Side Story and Oklahoma, have much to say about American views of themselves and their society.

Overall though, I think this was a good introduction.