American Dream: Home

There is no better way to understand America than by understanding the cultural history of the American Dream. Rather than just a powerful philosophy or ideology, the Dream is thoroughly woven into the fabric of everyday life, playing a vital role in who we are, what we do, and why we do it. No other idea or mythology has as much influence on our individual and collective lives. Tracing the history of the phrase in popular culture, Samuel gives readers a field guide to the evolution of our national identity over the last eighty years. Samuel tells the story chronologically, revealing that there have been six major eras of the mythology since the phrase was coined in 1931. Relying mainly on period magazines and newspapers as his primary source material, the author demonstrates that journalists serving on the front lines of the scene represent our most valuable resource to recover unfiltered stories of the Dream. The problem, Samuel reveals, is that it does not exist; the Dream is just that, a product of our imagination. That it is not real ultimately turns out to be the most significant finding and what makes the story most compelling.

"The American Dream" is one of the most familiar and resonant phrases in our national lexicon, so familiar that we seldom pause to ask its origin, its history, or what it actually means. In this fascinating short history, Jim Cullen explores the meaning of the American Dream, or rather theseveral American Dreams that have both reflected and shaped American identity from the Pilgrims to the present. Cullen notes that the United States, unlike most other nations, defines itself not on the facts of blood, religion, language, geography, or shared history, but on a set of ideals expressedin the Declaration of Independence and consolidated in the Constitution. At the core of these ideals lies the ambiguous concept of the American Dream, a concept that for better and worse has proven to be amazingly elastic and durable for hundreds of years and across racial, class, and otherdemographic lines. The version of the American Dream that dominates our own time--what Cullen calls "the Dream of the Coast"--is one of personal fulfillment, of fame and fortune all the more alluring if achieved without obvious effort, which finds its most insidious expression in the culture ofHollywood. For anyone seeking to understand a shifting but central idea in American history, The American Dream is an interpretive tour de force.

With college debts levels skyrocketing and a tough job market, many young people are putting off home ownership and are unable to enter the middle class. Is the economy killing jobs? Is it geared against young workers? Is immigration helping or hurting the American Dream? Does Affirmative Action ensure equal access to the American Dream? This anthology interrogates these questions from diverse angles, grounding abstract policy arguments in real life events. Gain greater insight into the state of the American Dream in the new century and how it might still be attainable. Features previously published material from figures such as Barack Obama, Rupert Murdoch, and Laurie A. Johnson.

An examination of the growing inequality gap from the bestselling author of Bowling Alone: why fewer Americans today have the opportunity for upward mobility. Central to the very idea of America is the principle that we are a nation of opportunity. But over the last quarter century we have seen a disturbing “opportunity gap” emerge. We Americans have always believed that those who have talent and try hard will succeed, but this central tenet of the American Dream seems no longer true or at the least, much less true than it was.

This volume will explore the sturdiness of the idea of The American Dream in 2018. Is the American Dream of upward mobility accessible in a society so fragmented and economically unequal? Does the American Dream still exist in a country experiencing an anti-immigration trend? Have economic policies had an impact on American striving? The volume will explore the relationship between education and jobs, technological displacement of workers, downward mobility among certain groups, labor mobility and home ownership as indicators of the health of the idea of the American Dream.

Provides prices paid for various goods and services in the U.S. in a given year, including average salaries for several occupations and professions. Covers food and beverages, housing, apparel, public and private transportation, medical care, entertainment, and a miscellaneous goods and service group.