Christmas wouldn't be the same without the "things". This book examines why the trees, cards, wrapping paper, toy villages and Macy's holiday parade play such an important role in the festivities. Through the medium of mass culture, Christmas is here primarily defined as a secular celebration.

Describes what Graceland, the home Elvis Presley built in Memphis, tells about the late singer's life and personality.

Looks at the works of the American painter, describing his depection of American society and how it was influenced by the events in his life.

In the split second that it took Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal to snap the shutter of his Speed Graphic, a powerful and enduring American symbol was born. Iwo Jima: Monuments, Memories and the American Hero tells the story of that icon as it appeared over the next 40 years in bond drive posters, stamps, Hollywood movies, political cartoons, and sculpture, most notably the colossal Marine Corps War Memorial outside Washington, D.C. The book is also a study of the soldiers who fought one of the bloodiest battles and of the impact of Iwo Jima on the rest of their lives.

These two studies are connected by their very different Kansas-related subject matter. "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka: Norman Rockwell's The Problem We All Live With," examines the development of Rockwell's social consciousness and its culmination in his painting of an African American child being escorted to school by U.S.

This book features a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work.

"In this book Karal Ann Marling looks at Grandma Moses as a cultural phenomenon of the postwar period and explores the meaning of her subject matter - and her astonishing fame. What did the "Greatest Generation" see in her simple renderings of people, young and old, tapping maple trees for syrup, making apple butter, gliding across snowy fields on sleighs? Why did Bob Hope, Irving Berlin, and Harry Truman all love her - and the art czars' of New York openly despise her? Through the flood of Moses merchandise - splashed across Christmas cards, dishware, yard goods, and gewgaws of every kind - Marling traces the resonances that these "primitive" images struck in an America awkwardly adjusting to a new era of technology, suburbia, and Cold War tensions.".

Discusses popular culture in the United States after the invention of the television.

In her quest for the unhistorical George Washington, Marling has examined the subculture of American life--magazine fiction, historical romances, movies, and journalism. She traces the descent of high art into such popular forms as posters, billboards, and advertising packages. 224 halftones.

Describes the histories and myths surrounding the flag of the United States of America from its revolutionary birth to the present day, and is lavishly illustrated from the archives of the Library of Congress.