Download or read book Understanding American Icons written by Arthur Asa Berger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-06-16 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This brief, student-friendly introduction to the study of semiotics uses examples from 25 iconic locations in the United States. From Coney Island to Las Vegas, the World Trade Center to the Grand Canyon, Berger shows how semiotics offers a different lens in understanding locations taken for granted in American culture. He recasts Disneyland according to Freud, channels the Mall of America through Baudrilliard, and sees Mount Rushmore through the lens of Gramsci. A seasoned author of student texts, Berger offers an entertaining, non-threatening way to teach theory to undergraduates and that will fit ideally in classes on cultural studies, American studies, social theory, and tourism.
Download or read book American Icons 3 volumes written by Dennis R. Hall and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-06-30 with total page 937 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do Madonna, Ray Charles, Mount Rushmore, suburbia, the banjo, and the Ford Mustang have in common? Whether we adore, ignore, or deplore them, they all influence our culture, and color the way America is perceived by the world. In this A-to-Z collection of essays scholars explore more than one hundred people, places, and phenomena as they seek to discover what it means to be labeled icon. From the Alamo to Muhammad Ali, from John Wayne to the zipper, the American icons covered in this unique three-volume set include subjects from culture, law, art, food, religion, and science. By providing numerous ways for the reader to engage in the process of interpreting these images and artifacts, the work serves as a unique resource for students of American history and culture. Features 100 illustrations. What do Madonna, Ray Charles, Mount Rushmore, suburbia, the banjo, and the Ford Mustang have in common? Whether we adore, ignore, or deplore them, they all influence our culture, and color the way America is perceived by the world. This A-to-Z collection of essays explores more than one hundred people, places, and phenomena that have taken on iconic status in American culture. The scholars and writers whose thoughts are gathered in this unique three-volume set examine these icons through a diverse array of perspectives and fields of expertise. Ranging from the Alamo to Muhammad Ali, from John Wayne to the zipper, this selection of American icons represents essential elements of our culture, including law, art, food, religion, and science. Featuring more than 100 illustrations, this work will serve as a unique resource for students of American history and culture. The interdisciplinary scholars in this work examine what it means when something is labeled as an icon. What common features do the people, places, and things we deem to be iconic share? To begin with, an icon generates strong responses in people, it often stands for a group of values (John Wayne), it reflects forces of its time, it can be reshaped or extended by imitation, and it often breaks down barriers between various segments of American culture, such as those that exist between white and black America, or between high and low art. The essays contained in this set examine all these aspects of American icons from a variety of perspectives and through a lively range of rhetoric styles.
Download or read book Understanding American Politics written by Stephen Brooks and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition provides a very strong introduction to political institutions and includes a new chapter on public opinion. The entire book has been revised throughout, taking into account the dramatic changes that have emerged since the 2010 congressional elections, as well as incorporating the results of the 2012 presidential election. it also pays close attention to what is seen as the irreversible decline in America's global influence."--Pub. desc.
Download or read book An American Icon in Puerto Rico written by Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2022-02-11 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on multigenerational Puerto Rican women and girls, Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez masterfully illustrates how Barbie dolls impact femininity, body image, and cultural identity. Since her debut in 1959, Barbie has transcended boundaries and transformed into a global symbol of femininity, capturing the imaginations of girls all around the world. An American Icon in Puerto Rico offers a captivating study of that iconic influence by focusing on a group of multigenerational Puerto Rican women and girls. Through personal narratives and insights, author Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez unveils the emotional attachment that these women and girls have formed with the doll during their formative years. This connection serves as a powerful lens to explore the intricate relationships girls have with their Barbie dolls and the complex role Barbie plays in shaping their identities. Aguiló-Pérez boldly confronts the challenges and contradictions that arise, offering a compelling analysis of how playing with Barbie dolls can impact a girl's perception of femininity, body image, race, and even national identity. Through these nuanced explorations, she unearths the potential pitfalls of these influences, encouraging readers to reflect on their own relationships with the iconic doll. By weaving together personal anecdotes, historical context, and sociocultural analysis, Aguiló-Pérez masterfully illustrates how these women and girls navigate the diverse landscapes of femininity, body image, and cultural identity, with Barbie serving as both a facilitator and a reflection of their growth. In doing so, she redefines the significance of Barbie in the lives of Puerto Rican women and girls, prompting readers from all around the world to reevaluate their perceptions of femininity and embrace a more inclusive understanding of beauty, body image, and self-expression.
Download or read book American Schism written by Seth David Radwell and published by Greenleaf Book Group. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An enlightened exploration of history to unite a deeply divided America The political dialogue in America has collapsed. Raw and bitter emotions such as anger and resentment have crowded out any logical debate. In this investigative tracing of our nation’s divergent roots, author Seth David Radwell explains that only reasoned analysis and historical perspective can act as salves for the irrational political discourse that is raging at present. Two disparate Americas have always coexisted, and Radwell discovered that the surprising origin of these dual Americas was not an Enlightenment, but two distinct Enlightenments that have been fiercely competing since the founding of our country. Radwell argues that it is only by embracing Enlightenment principles that we can build a civilized, progressive, and tolerant society. American Schism reveals • the roots of the rifts in America since its founding and what is really dividing red and blue America; • the core issues that underlie all of today’s bickering; • a detailed, effective plan to move forward, commencing what will be a long process of repair and reconciliation. Seth David Radwell changes the nature of the political debate by fighting unreason with reason, allowing Americans to firmly ground their differing points of view in rationality.
Download or read book Media and Communication Research Methods written by Arthur Asa Berger and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2014 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Employing his signature style--a practical focus, the use of numerous illuminating examples, an easy to follow step-by-step approach, and engaging humor that makes the material approachable--Arthur Asa Berger updates and enhances his best-selling introductory text with the third edition. He combines insightful discussions of qualitative and quantitative media and communication research methods as he covers each topic thoroughly in a fun-to-read style. Ideal for beginning research students at both the graduate and undergraduate level, this proven book is clear, concise, and accompanied by just the right number of detailed examples, useful applications, and valuable exercises that are sure to get your students to want to understand, and master, media and communication research.
Download or read book The Social Psychological and Cultural Significance of Westerns written by Arthur Asa Berger and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2023-04-26 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about cowboy Western books and two important Western films, Shane and High Noon. Its focus is on the psychological, social, and cultural significance of Westerns, a narrative genre of major importance in American popular culture. What you will find, as you read this book, is that while the stories may have relatively simple plot lines, compared to classic novels, and are based on certain formulas, their psychological significance and cultural importance is a very complicated matter. Fans of Westerns read them to entertain themselves but, as will be shown—in considerable detail—there’s more to reading Westerns, or any novel, than meets the eye. This text presents the idea that people read Westerns because these stories provide certain psychological and social pleasures, payoffs, and benefits.
Download or read book Gizmos or The Electronic Imperative written by Arthur Asa Berger and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-11-05 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gizmos or: The Electronic Imperative offers a concise series of analyses on the transformative impact of digital devices on American society. With approaches ranging from semiotic theory to psychoanalytic theory, sociological theory to personal reflection, Berger taps the span of knowledge from his prolific career to help readers better understand the role digital devices play both in their technologic, economic, and common-use forms. Using accessible, conversational language and numerous illustrations, Berger deconstructs familiar objects and media for readers ranging from field specialists to everyday cultural consumers alike.
Download or read book American Nietzsche written by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you were looking for a philosopher likely to appeal to Americans, Friedrich Nietzsche would be far from your first choice. After all, in his blazing career, Nietzsche took aim at nearly all the foundations of modern American life: Christian morality, the Enlightenment faith in reason, and the idea of human equality. Despite that, for more than a century Nietzsche has been a hugely popular—and surprisingly influential—figure in American thought and culture. In American Nietzsche, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen delves deeply into Nietzsche's philosophy, and America’s reception of it, to tell the story of his curious appeal. Beginning her account with Ralph Waldo Emerson, whom the seventeen-year-old Nietzsche read fervently, she shows how Nietzsche’s ideas first burst on American shores at the turn of the twentieth century, and how they continued alternately to invigorate and to shock Americans for the century to come. She also delineates the broader intellectual and cultural contexts within which a wide array of commentators—academic and armchair philosophers, theologians and atheists, romantic poets and hard-nosed empiricists, and political ideologues and apostates from the Left and the Right—drew insight and inspiration from Nietzsche’s claims for the death of God, his challenge to universal truth, and his insistence on the interpretive nature of all human thought and beliefs. At the same time, she explores how his image as an iconoclastic immoralist was put to work in American popular culture, making Nietzsche an unlikely posthumous celebrity capable of inspiring both teenagers and scholars alike. A penetrating examination of a powerful but little-explored undercurrent of twentieth-century American thought and culture, American Nietzsche dramatically recasts our understanding of American intellectual life—and puts Nietzsche squarely at its heart.
Download or read book Student Activism Politics and Campus Climate in Higher Education written by Demetri L. Morgan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-08 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Student Activism, Politics, and Campus Climate in Higher Education presents a comprehensive, contemporary portrait of political engagement and student activism at postsecondary institutions in the United States. This resource explores how colleges and universities are experiencing unrest and in what ways broader sociopolitical conflicts are evident on-campus, ultimately unpacking the political dimensions of student engagement within campus climates. Chapter authors in this book critically synthesize relevant research, illuminate interdisciplinary perspectives, and interrogate how current issues of power and oppression shape participatory democracy and higher education at large. A go-to resource for researchers, faculty, administrators, and student affairs professionals, this text addresses the most intractable challenges facing society and its institutions of higher education.
Download or read book Using Developmentally Appropriate Practices to Teach the Common Core written by Lisa S. Goldstein and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using Developmentally Appropriate Practices to Teach the Common Core: Grades PreK–3 provides current and prospective primary grade teachers with an understanding of the CCSS-ELA and CCSS-M that highlights their compatibility with developmentally appropriate practices (DAP), the instructional approach generally preferred by teachers of young children. The book begins by framing the CCSS as a distinct improvement over lengthy lists of academic content standards and as a carefully conceptualized and DAP-friendly set of curriculum guidelines. Next, the CCSS-ELA and CCSS-M for Grades K–3 are unpacked, analyzed, synthesized, and cross-referenced to key features of DAP. Finally, several "hot topic" issues—differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all learners, ensuring equitable access to the curriculum for English Language Learners, addressing assessment and accountability expectations, and educating parents and families about the CCSS and DAP—are prioritized and examined in depth. Using Developmentally Appropriate Practices to Teach the Common Core: Grades PreK–3 is a highly useful guide for both pre-service and in-service early childhood education teachers.
Download or read book The Making of a Counter culture Icon written by Maria R. Bloshteyn and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At first glance, the works of Fedor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) do not appear to have much in common with those of the controversial American writer Henry Miller (1891-1980). However, the influencer of Dostoevsky on Miller was, in fact, enormous and shaped the latter's view of the world, of literature, and of his own writing. The Making of a Counter-Culture Icon examines the obsession that Miller and his contemporaries, the so-called Villa Seurat circle, had with Dostoevsky, and the impact that this obsession had on their own work. Renowned for his psychological treatment of characters, Dostoevsky became a model for Miller, Lawrence Durrell, and Anais Nin, interested as they were in developing a new kind of writing that would move beyond staid literary conventions. Maria Bloshteyn argues that, as Dostoevsky was concerned with representing the individual's perception of the self and the world, he became an archetype for Miller and the other members of the Villa Seurat circle, writers who were interested in precise psychological characterizations as well as intriguing narratives. Tracing the cross-cultural appropriation and (mis)interpretation of Dostoevsky's methods and philosophies by Miller, Durrell, and Nin, The Making of a Counter-Culture Icon gives invaluable insight into the early careers of the Villa Seurat writers and testifies to Dostoevsky's influence on twentieth-century literature.
Download or read book American Popular Music The age of rock written by Timothy E. Scheurer and published by Popular Press. This book was released on 1989 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with the emergence of commercial American music in the nineteenth century, Volume 1 includes essays on the major performers, composers, media, and movements that shaped our musical culture before rock and roll. Articles explore the theoretical dimensions of popular music studies; the music of the nineteenth century; and the role of black Americans in the evolution of popular music. Also included--the music of Tin Pan Alley, ragtime, swing, the blues, the influences of W. S. Gilbert and Rodgers and Hammerstein, and changes in lyric writing styles from the nineteenth century to the rock era.
Download or read book What Objects Mean written by Arthur Asa Berger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arthur Asa Berger is back with the second edition of his popular, user-friendly guide for students who want to understand the social meanings of objects.
Download or read book Understanding the Founding written by Alan Gibson and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first edition of Alan Gibson's Understanding the Founding is widely regarded as an invaluable guide to the last century's key debates surrounding America's founding. This new edition retains all of the strengths of the original while adding a substantial new section addressing a major but previously unaddressed issue and also significantly revising Gibson's invaluable conclusion and bibliography. In the original edition, which was built upon his previous work in Interpreting the Founding, Gibson addressed four key questions: Were the Framers motivated by their economic interests? How democratic was the Framers' Constitution? Should we interpret the Founding using philosophical or strictly historical approaches? What traditions of political thought were most important to the Framers? He focused especially on the preconceptions that scholars brought to these questions, explored the deepest sources of scholars' disagreements over them, and suggested new and thoughtful lines of interpretation and inquiry. His incisive analysis brought clarity to the complex and sprawling debates and shed new light on the institutional and intellectual foundations of the American political system. Gibson has now added a path-breaking new chapter entitled "How Could They Have Done That? Founding Scholarship and the Question of Moral Responsibility," which reprises and critiques on of the most important and vexing contemporary debates on the American founding. The new chapter focuses on how the men who fought a revolution in the name of liberty and declared to the world that "all men are created equal" could have supported the institution of slavery and even owned slaves themselves, accepted the legal and social subordination of women, and been responsible for Indian removal and genocide against Native Americans. Efforts to criticize or defend the Founders on these issues now constitute a daunting body of scholarship addressing what David Brion Davis has called the "dilemmas of slaveholding revolutionaries." Gibson's astute and fair-minded analysis of this scholarship offers keen insights into how we might move toward more mature and responsible evaluations of the Founders.
Download or read book American Icon written by Bryce G. Hoffman and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inside story of the epic turnaround of Ford Motor Company under the leadership of CEO Alan Mulally. At the end of 2008, Ford Motor Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed the taxpayer lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, Ford had already put together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations, transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a dysfunctional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. It was an extraordinary risk, but it was the only way the Ford family—America’s last great industrial dynasty—could hold on to their company. Mulally and his team pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in business history. As the rest of Detroit collapsed, Ford went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the most profitable automaker in the world. American Icon is the compelling, behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround. In one of the great management narratives of our time, Hoffman puts the reader inside the boardroom as Mulally uses his celebrated Business Plan Review meetings to drive change and force Ford to deal with the painful realities of the American auto industry. Hoffman was granted unprecedented access to Ford’s top executives and top-secret company documents. He spent countless hours with Alan Mulally, Bill Ford, the Ford family, former executives, labor leaders, and company directors. In the bestselling tradition of Too Big to Fail and The Big Short, American Icon is narrative nonfiction at its vivid and colorful best.
Download or read book The Illuminating Icon written by Anthony Ugolnik and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 1989 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. "In Christ there is no East or West," claims a familiar hymn. But the truth is that American Christians know little about Russian Orthodox Christians and harbor many misconceptions about them. In this revealing book Anthony Ugolnik shows how the thousand-year-old Russian Orthodox tradition actively shapes the life of contemporary Russian Christians, and he points out how Russian Orthodoxy can inform and enrich American Christianity. Ugolnik speaks from a unique perspective: of Russian descent, he is an American Christian who has a strong and genuine personal bond with Russian Christians. Ugolnik begins his discussion by exploring the alienation between Russians and Americans - a cultural and religious alienation that is still very strong today, despite changing rhetoric and glasnost. Americans tend to picture Russian Christians as "cowed and ragged masses"; on the contrary, says Ugolnik, they are "a stalwart, strong community." American Christians also tend to be suspicious about the role of icons in Russian Orthodox worship. But Ugolnik points out that icons are not idols; rather, they are religious objects that "image forth" the majesty of God. This powerful sense of the holy that pervades Russian Orthodoxy could reinvigorate American Christianity. Indeed, the Russian Orthodox have much to offer American Christians, according to Ugolnik. They place a much greater emphasis on community in their life and worship -- an emphasis that could help transform the individualistic faith of many American Christians. Similarly, the Orthodox emphasis on historical and spiritual continuity -- in contrast to the imagery of restoration and revival in Reformation Christianity -- could strengthen the worship and witness of American Christians. And the Orthodox sense of the beautiful -- born of a complex aesthetics that undergirds Russian faith and culture -- could enrich the foundation as well as the expression of American Christianity. In the end, American and Russian Christians share the common dilemma of how to relate to the secular world around them, and the Russian Orthodox emphasis on dialogue and engagement could vitalize the way American Christians live out their faith. In this multifaceted book Ugolnik weaves personal experiences with richly developed explorations of Russian and American belief and incisive observations that draw on the literature, philosophy, theology, and history of both cultures. With both passion and compassion Ugolnik urges Russian and American Christians to look to "the illuminating icon of our incarnate God" for guidance: "Let that icon draw us deep into the mystery of a shared life in the Spirit."
