Preface
Chapter 1
On the Brink of the People's Century
Along the Midway
The People's Poet
Tales of the Heartland
Songs of the Street
The Parlor Minstrel
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 2
The Strenuous Life of Ragtime America
The Zest for Amusement
Irish and German Accents
New Immigrants
The Penny Press and the Comics
Amusing the Millions
Ragging Rhythms
Ragtime in Black and White
Vaudeville and the Blues
Ethnic Broadway
Ziegfeld's Tricksters
Birthing Hollywood
Silent Screen Heroes and Heroines
Film Comedy: Democracy's Art
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 3
Chronicles of the American Multitude, 1893-1920
Protest and Exposé
Social Uplift
Tales of the Underworld
Literary Realists
City Pavements
Urban Realists on Canvas
Fictional Regionalists
The Western
Indian Storytellers
Hispanic and Asian Sagas
The Souls of Black Folks
Bohemian Democracy
Radical Activists and the Proletariat
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 4
The Romance and Nostalgia of America's Jazz Age
Stories of the Big Town
Literary Americana
Tenement Dreams
Harlem Renaissance
Black Artistry, Blues Queens, Hot Jazz
White Jazz Heaven
Broadway Clamor
America's Opera
Hollywood Democracy
Country Roads
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 5
Documenting People's Stories: The 1930s
National Inventory
Romancing the Proletariat
The Cultural Front
American Balladeers
Hard Travelin'
The People, Yes
The Heart of Man
Other Roads
Documented Lives, People's Theater
The American Scene
Public Artists
The Camera Eye
In Praise of the People
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 6
Blue Horizons: Popular Culture as Depression Savior
Pulp Fiction
Comic Heroes, Supermen, and Cartoon Antics
Radio Days
Country Music and the Blues
Swing Time
Pennies from Heaven
Hard-Time Comedy
City Boys
Trouble in Paradise
The People, the Family, the Land
Today and Tomorrow
Common Cause
The Last Laugh
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 7
The Cultural Home Front of the People's War
Why We Fight
The People's War
G.I. Joe
Star Spangled Jive
Home Sweet Home
Your Land, My Land
Simple Gifts
Golden Skies
Jukebox Rhythms
Race Matters
Bebop Prototypes
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 8
Beyond Consensus: Making It Real in Cold War America
The Best Years
TV Families
Red River Valley
Film Noir's Fallen Angels
Force of Evil
Naked City
Underworld U.S.A.
Demonology
Day after Day
Contenders
Nightmare in Red
Them!
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 9
Subterranean Nation: The Challenge of Cultural Populism, 1945-1960
Beatific America
The Family of Man
Bronzeville to the Mountain
Hollywood on Race
The People's Music
Honky-Tonk Heroes and Angels
Lovesick Blues
Let the Good Times Roll
Rock and Roll Nation
Rockabilly Heaven
The Making of Youth Culture
Hipster Visions
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 10
Power to the People: Sixties Liberation and Popular Culture
Gates of Eden
Nothing But a Man
Race Power and Identity
Black Fire
Sweet Soul Music
Chicano Roots, Indian Traditions
Stand By Your Man
Good Times and Bad
In the Shadows
Technocracy's Children
Purple Haze
Battle Lines
Woodstock Nation
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 11
Blue Collar America and the Turbulent Seventies
Shades of Memory
Rhythm ?n' Roots
Hispanic Cadences
Asiamerican Ghosts, Native American Spirits
Bridging the Waters
The Heart of Saturday Night
One Day at a Time
Family Feuds
Staying Alive
Warriors
The Reddening of America
Desperados and Straight-Shooting Women
Born to Run
Sources and Suggested Readings
Chapter 12
The Disputed Terrain of People's Culture, 1980-2000
Iron Men
Buddies
Working Girls
Places of the Heart
So-Called Life
Tender Mercies
At the Edge of Town
Jars of Dreams
Old Shirts, New Skins
My Name Is My Own
Soul Food
Hip-hop Nation
Inside the Hood
Sources and Suggested Readings
Epilogue: In the Name of the People
Index
