The Epic of America

The Epic of America

Author: James Truslow Adams

Publisher: Simon Publications

Published: 2001-10-01

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 9781931541336

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A beautifully written story of America's historical heritage, by one of the country's greatest historians.


Epic in American Culture

Epic in American Culture

Author: Christopher N. Phillips

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2012-05

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 1421404893

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This book investigates the concept of what it means to be 'epic' and its form in American life, literature, and art from the country's early days.


American Epic

American Epic

Author: Bernard MacMahon

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-05-02

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1501135627

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The companion book to the groundbreaking PBS and BBC documentary series celebrating the pioneers and artists of American roots music—blues, gospel, folk, Cajun, Appalachian, Hawaiian, Native American—without which there would be no jazz, rock, country R&B, or hip hop today. Jack White, T. Bone Burnett, and Robert Redford have teamed up to executive produce American Epic, a historical music project exploring the pivotal recording journeys of the early twentieth century, which for the first time captured the breadth of American music and made it available to the world. It was, in a very real way, the first time America truly heard herself. In the 1920s and 1930s, as radio took over the pop music business, record companies were forced to leave their studios in major cities in search of new styles and markets. Ranging the mountains, prairies, rural villages, and urban ghettos of America, they discovered a wealth of unexpected talent—farmers, laborers, and ethnic minorities playing styles that blended the intertwining strands of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. These recordings form the bedrock for modern music as we know it, but during the Depression many record companies went out of business and more than ninety percent of the fragile 78 rpm discs were destroyed. Fortunately, thanks to the continuing efforts of cultural detectives and record devotees, the stories of America’s earliest musicians can finally be told. Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty, who directed and produced the documentary with American musician Duke Erikson, spent years traveling around the US in search of recollections of those musical pioneers. Their fascinating account, written with the assistance of prize-winning author Elijah Wald, continues the journey of the series and features additional stories, never-before-seen photographs, and unearthed artwork. It also contains contributions from many of the musicians who participated including Taj Mahal, Nas, Willie Nelson, and Steve Martin, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the incredible journey across America. American Epic is an extraordinary testament to our country’s musical roots, the transformation of our culture, and the artists who gave us modern popular music.


The American Dream

The American Dream

Author: Jim Cullen

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0195173252

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Cullen particularly focuses on the founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence ("the charter of the American Dream"); Abraham Lincoln, with his rise from log cabin to White House and his dream for a unified nation; and Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of racial equality. Our contemporary version of the American Dream seems rather debased in Cullen's eyes-built on the cult of Hollywood and its outlandish dreams of overnight fame and fortune.


The Bridge

The Bridge

Author: Hart Crane

Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation

Published: 1970

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13:

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Like Whitman, Hart Crane strove in his poetry to embrace America, to distill an image of America.


Explore North America

Explore North America

Author: Molly Aloian

Publisher: Crabtree Publishing Company

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9780778730750

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An introduction to the geography, climate, animals, plants, people, natural resources, and tourist spots of North America.


American Epic

American Epic

Author: Garrett Epps

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-07-29

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0199974764

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In 1987, E.L. Doctorow celebrated the Constitution's bicentennial by reading it. "It is five thousand words long but reads like fifty thousand," he said. Distinguished legal scholar Garrett Epps--himself an award-winning novelist--disagrees. It's about 7,500 words. And Doctorow "missed a good deal of high rhetoric, many literary tropes, and even a trace of, if not wit, at least irony," he writes. Americans may venerate the Constitution, "but all too seldom is it read." In American Epic, Epps takes us through a complete reading of the Constitution--even the "boring" parts--to achieve an appreciation of its power and a holistic understanding of what it says. In this book he seeks not to provide a definitive interpretation, but to listen to the language and ponder its meaning. He draws on four modes of reading: scriptural, legal, lyric, and epic. The Constitution's first three words, for example, sound spiritual--but Epps finds them to be more aspirational than prayer-like. "Prayers are addressed to someone . . . either an earthly king or a divine lord, and great care is taken to name the addressee. . . . This does the reverse. The speaker is 'the people,' the words addressed to the world at large." He turns the Second Amendment into a poem to illuminate its ambiguity. He notices oddities and omissions. The Constitution lays out rules for presidential appointment of officers, for example, but not removal. Should the Senate approve each firing? Can it withdraw its "advice and consent" and force a resignation? And he challenges himself, as seen in his surprising discussion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in light of Article 4, which orders states to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of other states. Wry, original, and surprising, American Epic is a scholarly and literary tour de force.


Iran's Epic and America's Empire

Iran's Epic and America's Empire

Author: Mahmoud Omidsalar

Publisher: eBooks2go, Inc.

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0985498102

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The Shahnameh is Iran's national epic. It is a compendium of Iranian myths, legends, and history. Unlike other Indo-European epics, it is not about a war, like the Iliad, or an individual, like the Odyssey, Beowulf, or the Ramayana. The central character of the Shahnameh is Iran, which it glorifies both as subject and hero. Unlike other classical Indo-European epics, the Shahnameh is not in a dead language. It is intelligible to every speaker of Persian in Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.