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Learn moreThe American Dream is one of the most familiar and resonant phrases in our national lexicon, so familiar that we seldom pause to ask its origin, its history, or what it actually means. In this fascinating short history, Jim Cullen explores the meaning of the American Dream, or rather the several American Dreams that have both reflected and shaped American identity from the Pilgrims to the present.
Cullen notes that the United States, unlike most other nations, defines itself not on the facts of blood, religion, language, geography, or shared history, but on a set of ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and consolidated in the Constitution. At the core of these ideals lies the ambiguous concept of the American Dream, a concept that for better and worse has proven to be amazingly elastic and durable for hundreds of years and across racial, class, and other demographic lines.
The version of the American Dream that dominates our own time—what Cullen calls "the Dream of the Coast"—is one of personal fulfillment, of fame and fortune all the more alluring if achieved without obvious effort, which finds its most insidious expression in the culture of Hollywood.
Jim Cullen holds a PhD in American Civilization from Brown University and teaches at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, in New York City. He is the author of Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition and The Civil War in Popular Culture: A Reusable Past, among other books.
Born and raised in Queens, NYC, Steve Menasche is a child of Egyptian and German immigrants. He completed BS studies in percussion from Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music as well as his minor in theater. He was also a student at Manhattan School of Music, Third Street Music Settlement, and American Conservatory Theatre. He has toured the world three times, was a member of New York City's American Folk Theatre for two years, narrated over 250 audiobooks, performed countless voice-overs for major brands, appeared in national commercial campaigns, and continues to perform as both an actor and musician/composer. He previously owned and taught hapkido and jujutsu in San Francisco and continues to teach when his old knees allow.