The American Dream
David Kamp has an article in this month’s Vanity Fair about the American Dream (here). Not only is the notion of “an American Dream” relatively new (popularized in the 1930s) but it has undergone major revisions since WWII.
In particular Kamp shows how a more materialist American Dream replaced an earlier, more modest and idealistic version. He concludes the article:
The American Dream should require hard work, but it should not require 80-hour workweeks and parents who never see their kids from across the dinner table. The American Dream should entail a first-rate education for every child, but not an education that leaves no extra time for the actual enjoyment of childhood. The American Dream should accommodate the goal of home ownership, but without imposing a lifelong burden of unmeetable debt. Above all, the American Dream should be embraced as the unique sense of possibility that this country gives its citizens—the decent chance, as Moss Hart would say, to scale the walls and achieve what you wish.
Of local interest, the article is accompanied by Kodak colorama photos supplied by the George Eastman House.
I’d like to be able to post an article on the front page – is there a way that I can get access?
thanks,
James Burney
Dear James,
Yes, you can certainly get access. Here’s how: 1. sign up with WordPress and 2. send me the e-mail address you used. We can then add you (and anyone else in the class who wants) as an author.
John Capps