American Thought and Culture in the 21st Century

by Halliwell, Martin; Morley, Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780748626014
• ISBN10: 0748626018
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-07
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Summary

Will America come to own the twenty-first century? Will its power and ideas dominate the globe? Or will the United States buckle underneath the pressure of new international challenges?This groundbreaking book looks at changing patterns of American thought and culture at the dawn of the new millennium, a time in which the world's richest nation has never been more powerful or controversial. The volume brings together eminent North American and European thinkers to investigate the crucial issues and challenges facing the United States. From the subterranean political shifts of the electoral landscape to the latest biomedical advances, from the literary response to 9/11 to the rise of reality television, this collection explores the political, social, and cultural contours of contemporary American life. It also places the United States within a global narrative of commerce, cultural exchange, international diplomacy, ideological conflict, and war. These eighteen original essays address leadership, foreign policy, propaganda, religion, health, technology, immigration, 9/11, and digital media. Locating the roots of our contemporary concerns, contributors revisit the Clinton years and even earlier periods of twentieth-century American history, while also looking forward to the potential conflicts of a global future and to the soaring possibilities of American enterprise and imagination.

Author Biography

Martin Halliwell is Professor of American Studies at the University of Leicester.

Catherine Morley is Lecturer, School of English at the University of Leicester.

Table of Contents

The Next American Century?	p. 1
Politics
American Politics in the 1990s and 2000s	p. 21
American Leadership into the New Century	p. 35
9/11 and US Foreign Policy	p. 49
Three Variations on American Liberalism	p. 65
The Rise of Postmodern Conservatism	p. 81
US Propaganda	p. 97
Society
Contemporary Social Criticism	p. 115
Religion in Post-Secular America	p. 127
The US and Globalisation	p. 145
The Future of Medicine	p. 161
Technology in the 21st Century	p. 179
America and the Environment	p. 195
Culture
Contemporary American Culture	p. 211
Cultural Pluralism and National Identity	p. 227
Writing in the Wake of 9/11	p. 245
American Ways of Seeing	p. 259
Television and Digital Media	p. 275
Animation and Digital Culture	p. 291
Bibliography	p. 307
Index	p. 318
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.