User:ProfDEH/Icons of American Culture



Icons of American culture encompass many kinds of cultural expression. Iconic status is hard to define but readily recognized as symbolizing the culture, history and heritage of the United States. Images, music, historic events and legends, vehicles, places and ideas may all be symbolic of the American way of life, its roots and the contemporary national identity. Icons deal not just with nostalgia, although that is an important component. The United States developed as a melting-pot of different cultures, and symbols of the new nation played a vital part in developing a sense of unity as a nation. In the twentieth century, regardless of political reality, American culture influenced every country in the world by exporting powerful symbols of unity and gratification: a comfortable life with many desirable possessions. In the modern world iconic images remain hugely important.

Themes
This article is not a list of icons, but an outline for expansion.

External references
Extract from Robert Johnson, Mythmaking and Contemporary American Culture (Music in American Life) by Patricia Schroeder (Hardcover - 31 Aug 2004) ISBN: 978-0252029158. "For Emerson, representative characters are model citizens who embody cultural ideas"]
 * Online essay on American icons (extract)
 * [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dvag7r4d5K4C&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=icons+of+american+culture&source=bl&ots=OtL-1InyUy&sig=33jr0lESd1dYZDUGNtp8l6i1yP4&hl=en&ei=Cet5SrOOE4XT-Qaam9nIBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false
 * [http://hss.fullerton.edu/amst/thesisabstracts.asp California State University, Fullerton: Synopsis of thesis on cars as icons in American culture.
 * [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,219864,00.html Fox News, Mecca-Cola and other versions of iconic products.
 * American Icons: An Encyclopedia of the People, Places, and Things that Have Shaped Our Culture by Susan Grove Hall (Editor), Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated. ISBN: 9780275984212.
 * The Hamburger: A History (Icons of America), by Josh Ozersky, Yale University Press 2008. ISBN: 978-0300117585.