American Dream, 1930-1995

Sara Stratton holds a PhD in American history from York University.

Just what is the American Dream? A city upon a hill? Life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness? Forty acres and a mule? There are probably as
many permutations of this idea as there are Americans, but one thing is
clear: the American Dream is an ideal with hints of exceptionalism,
liberty, equality, and security that resonates—for better or
worse—all over the world.

This collection explores some of the ways in which the American Dream
is manifest in our society. There are reflections on politics, the
military, the law, wealth and poverty, architecture, literature,
television, pop culture, and even drug culture. Thus, it is a
wide-ranging collection and serves as an intriguing—if at times
iconoclastic—meditation on the ideologies and assumptions of the most
powerful nation in the world.