A Companion to American Cultural History

"The thirty bibliographies of the most influential work in American cultural history would by themselves make the hook very helpful to a wide audience. But the essays' historiographical and thematic overviews provide the most valuable contribution, for each essay is aimed squarely at the ways that the best works in the field have been in conversation with each other." (A Journal of Southern History, February 2010)

"A monumental achievement. The breadth of coverage is staggering, and the depth of insight a credit to its multifarious authors. Rarely can one book offer so much." (Reviews in History, April 2009)

“This excellent reader in US cultural history for undergraduates may also be useful to specialists as a general overview of the field as it has evolved, especially over the past four decades. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.” (CHOICE, March 2009)

"A guide for scholars and students who are interested in developments over the past quarter-century … .No reader should come away from it without a good springboard to further study. It is an apitite-whetter, a conspectus and a guide." (Reference Reviews, January 2009)

"The contributors to this indispensable volume have applied to scholarship in American cultural history the same keen imagination and appreciation for complexity that has made the field so exciting in recent years."
–Joan Shelley Rubin, University of Rochester

"This important collection of original essays provides a most useful and accessible survey of a new approach to United States history. It is not just a companion but a text in its own right, a new survey of the American past from many cultural perspectives."
–Alan Trachtenberg, Yale University

"This volume marks a major contribution to the field of American cultural history. Illuminating, accessible, and authoritative, it will indeed prove a trusty companion for students and
scholars alike."
–John Kasson, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"This well wrought collection is a must-read. Its essays do more than any other book to clarify the multiple meanings of cultural history and to document the thorough penetration of cultural approaches to all the sub-fields of American historical scholarship."
–Richard W. Fox, University of Southern California

"A comprehensive and timely overview of American cultural history, from its first pioneering examples to its most recent linguistic, visual, transnational, and performative turns. Students looking for a lucid and lively introduction to the themes, methods, and impact of the culturalist perspective on US history will find this volume indispensable."
–Jean-Christophe Agnew, Yale University

"This collection is a marvel of intelligent synthesis and concise interpretation. Karen Halttunen has assembled some of the best cultural historians in the United States and they have cast unprecedented light on their contentious field from a rich variety of chronological and conceptual perspectives. The result is an indispensable scholarly resource."
–Jackson Lears, Rutgers University