American culture, American tastes
Subtitle: social change and the 20th century
By: Michael Kammen.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
Subjects: Popular culture -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Social change -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Aesthetics -- Social aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Consumption (Economics) -- Social aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.
Description: "Americans have a long history of public arguments about taste, the uses of leisure, and what is culturally appropriate in a democracy that has a strong work ethic. Michael Kammen surveys these debates as well as our changing taste preferences, especially in the past century, and the shifting perceptions that have accompanied them."--BOOK JACKET.

"Focusing on our own time, Kammen discusses the use of the fluid nature of cultural taste to enlarge audiences and increase revenues, and reveals how the public role of intellectuals and cultural critics has declined as the power of corporate sponsors and promoters has risen.

As a result of this diminution of cultural authority, he says, definitive pronouncements have been replaced by divergent points of view, and there is, as well, a tendency to blur fact and fiction, reality and illusion."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-303) and index.