Buffalo Bill in Bologna

by Rydell, Robert W.; Kroes, Rob

• ISBN13: 9780226007120
• ISBN10: 022600712X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-11-28
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

When it comes to the production and distribution of mass culture, no country in modern times has come close to rivaling the success of America. From blue jeans in central Europe to Elvis Presley's face on a Republic of Chad postage stamp, the reach of American mass culture extends into every corner of the globe. Most believe this is a twentieth-century phenomenon, but here Robert W. Rydell and Rob Kroes prove that its roots are far deeper. Buffalo Bill in Bolognareveals that the process of globalizing American mass culture began as early as the mid-nineteenth century. In fact, by the end of World War I, the United States already boasted an advanced network of culture industries that served to promote American values. Rydell and Kroes narrate how the circuses, amusement parks, vaudeville, mail-order catalogs, dime novels, and movies developed after the Civil Wartools central to hastening the reconstruction of the countryactually doubled as agents of American cultural diplomacy abroad. As symbols of America's version of the "good life," cultural products became a primary means for people around the world, especially in Europe, to reimagine both America and themselves in the context of America's growing global sphere of influence. Paying special attention to the role of the world's fairs, the exporting of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show to Europe, the release of The Birth of a Nation, and Woodrow Wilson's creation of the Committee on Public Information, Rydell and Kroes offer an absorbing tour through America's cultural expansion at the turn of the century. Buffalo Bill in Bolognais thus a tour de force that recasts what has been popularly understood about this period of American and global history.

Author Biography

Robert W. Rydell is Professor of history at Montana State University-Bozeman. He is the author of six books, including All the World's a Fair and World of Fairs, both published by the University of Chicago Press. Rob Kroes is professor of American studies at the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of eleven books, including, most recently, If You've Seen One, You've Seen the Mall, Them and Us: Questions of Citizenship in a Globalizing World, and Photographic Memories: Private Pictures, Public Images, and American History.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
American Mass Culture Takes Form	p. 14
Harbingers of Mass Culture: World's Fairs	p. 47
The Expanding Frontiers of American Mass Culture	p. 73
"The Americanization of the World"?	p. 97
The Triumph of American Mass Culture	p. 120
Debating American Mass Culture in the United States and Europe	p. 142
Conclusion	p. 170
Bibliographical Essay	p. 175
Notes	p. 189
Index	p. 205
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