The American dream: a short history of an idea that shaped the nation

Jim Cullen

Oxford University Press, 2004 - History - 214 pages

"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 the several 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 expressed in 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 other demographic 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 of Hollywood.
For anyone seeking to understand a shifting but central idea in American history, The American Dream is an interpretive tour de force.

What people are saying

Review: The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation

User Review - Goodreads

This was to support my research for my thesis on the Great Gatsby. It was helpful, but a bit repetitive for such a short book. Cullen did a great job presenting his information on the American Dream in an organized and accessible manner.

Review: The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation

User Review  - Rasma - Goodreads

Highly intelligent yet accessible, even to one who avoided (by hook or crook) history in high school.

Contents

• A DREAM COUNTRY: 3
• DREAM OF THE GOOD LIFE I THE PURITAN ENTERPRISE: 11
• DREAM CHARTER THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: 35
• DREAM OF THE GOOD LIFE II UPWARD MOBILITY: 59
• KING OF AMERICA THE DREAM OF EQUALITY: 103
• DETACHED HOUSES THE DREAM OF HOME OWNERSHIP: 133
• DREAM OF THE GOOD LIFE III THE COAST: 159
• EXTENDING THE DREAM: 185
• NOTES ON SOURCES: 191
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 201
• INDEX: 205

About the author

Jim Cullen holds a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University and teaches at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, in New York City. He is the author of Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition and The Civil War in Popular Culture: A Reusable Past, among other books.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The American dream: a short history of an idea that shaped the nation
• Author: Jim Cullen
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004
• ISBN: 0195173252, 9780195173253
• Length: 214 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / General