In the early nineteenth century, it was Shakespeare. In the Gilded Age, it was dime novels. In the fifties, it was television. Today, it is YouTube. Lawrence Levine defined it as the "folkways of industrial society," but that seems rather pompous. It is Ronald McDonald and Uncle Tom's Cabin, it is Saturday Night Live and the minstrel show, and it is Hello Kitty and Wolfman Jack. Popular culture is the stuff that clutters our closets, hangs on our walls, and gets lost under the couch. It is the stuff we love and the stuff
we love to hate. And perhaps it is also the material that best defines generations, offering the historian a glimpse at what mattered to people in the past.
This course explores the history of popular culture in the United States. We will examine music, plays, novels, television, film, stardom, advertising, and dance (and we may even study the toys that come in cereal boxes) with an eye to understanding how Americans have for over two hundred years defined themselves and have resisted being defined by others.
Description of Resources
Schedule of Classes and Assignments
Turnitin (for discussion and for paper submissions)
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