St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. K-O

Sara Pendergast, Tom Pendergast9781558624009, 1-558-62400-7, 1-558-62401-5, 1558624023, 1558624031, 155862404X, 1558624058

Popular culture, of course, is not an American invention, and it has a vibrant life in many contemporary societies. But in few, if any,of those societies has it been as central to a notion of national character at home as well as abroad. For better or worse, it is throughicons like McDonald’s (the quintessential American cuisine), the Western (a uniquely American narrative genre), and OprahWinfrey (a classic late-twentieth century embodiment of the American Dream) that this society is known—and is likely to beremembered.