Modular America: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Emergence of an American Way

by John G. Blair

Overview

While the attempt to understand Americanness in terms of our beliefs and mentality is all too familiar, Blair's approach to the origins of American culture opens up previously unexplored perspectives. Focusing on the uniquely American tendency to organize cultural artifacts out of component parts rather than structured wholes, he looks at the emergence of this phenomenon as it has affected cultural domains as diverse as manufacturing, architecture, education, and jazz. The significance of modularity opens new perspectives on American culture as a whole.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313263170
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/02/1988
Series:	Contributions in American Studies , #92
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.44(d)
Lexile:	1570L (what's this?)

About the Author

JOHN G. BLAIR is Professeur Ordinaire of American Literature and Civilization in the Department of English at the University of Geneva.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Modularity in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Education: The College Curriculum
Industry: "The American System of Manufactures"
Architecture: The Skyscraper
Literature: Whitman's Poetry
Music: Blues and All That Jazz
Sports: Football in America
Law: Property, Alienation and Women
Religion: Disestablishment
Endings: Historical Explanations and American Ideology