Iconic America: A Roller-Coaster Ride through the Eye-Popping Panorama of American Pop Culture

by Tommy Hilfiger, George Lois

What is America? It’s Monopoly and Mickey Mouse, but also Sinatra and Fred Astaire. It’s the Declaration of Independence, but it’s also Barbie and Playboy, Winslow Homer and Rudi Gernreich’s topless bathing suit. This juxtaposition of images reflects America’s unique eclecticism, and the unprecedented influence that the images of America’s pop culture have had on the world. This book works as a great treasury of Americana, and as a mischievously enjoyable observation on all things truly American. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and famous adman George Lois have crafted an enlightening book, searching American history to find over 350 people, symbols, and things of import. Their iconic and iconoclastic choices are entertainingly presented through surprising visual juxtapositions. Inspired by Tommy Hilfiger’s passion for Americana and George Lois’ wit, Iconic America dramatizes the national ethos, and makes us think about who we are and what we stand for, with humor and charm.

350 pages, Hardcover

First published November 6, 2007

Reviews

[Nola Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 This is a coffee table book of 400 images and associated commentary selected by the authors to celebrate the most important people, places, and things in American pop culture--from Barbie to Martin Luther King Jr, Superman to the moon landing, Coca Cola to the Pony Express. Some shameful incidents are also mentioned. Although I'm not American, many of the iconic images were familiar to me. However, I also learned about some lesser known ones. There were some interesting snippets along the way. For example, I didn't know that Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey rather than the bald eagle, or that the original design of the weather vane was meant to remind Christians of how the Apostle Peter denied Jesus before the cock crowed.

However, while America certainly has given the world a lot of iconic things, I got a bit annoyed at some of the sweeping generalisations (e.g. that 'Citizen Kane' is the greatest movie of all-time or that 'The Honeymooners' is America's most beloved, enduring, and immortal television comedy of all-time). Although minority groups were featured in a number of places, and the book was indeed dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., I still felt the selection was a bit biased towards the preferences of the white male authors. For example, the influence of Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn' was lauded, but there was no mention of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', a book that did much to change attitudes towards slavery. Still, any author has the prerogative to choose the images for their own book and there is a good collection here. There were also a few missing images (i.e. descriptive passages referring to an image, but no image there). I assume these may have been ones that didn't get copyright clearance in time.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. If you like American pop culture, it's a good one to dip into and it got me thinking about what would be regarded as iconic in my culture. Some interesting food for thought.

[George Sotiropoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book for the living room 😊

[Marxelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some good images and examples, but I feel like there are way more examples that could be used, I had bought as a form of inspiration for design and its been pretty good but could be better

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitschy and interesting. Too bad it is the only copy in the library system and I had to return it because of the waiting list.

[Cait Lieneck]

reinvigorate your pride.