American Identities: An Introductory Textbook - Paperback

by Lois P. Rudnick (Editor), Judith E. Smith (Editor), Rachel Lee Rubin (Editor)

American Identities is a dazzling array of primary documents and critical essays culled from American history, literature, memoir, and popular culture that explore major currents and trends in American history from 1945 to the present.

• Charts the rich multiplicity of American identities through the different lenses of race, class, and gender, and shaped by common historical social processes such as migration, families, work, and war.
• Includes editorial introductions for the volume and for each reading, and study questions for each selection.
• Enables students to engage in the history-making process while developing the skills crucial to interpreting rich and enduring cultural texts.
• Accompanied by an instructor's guide containing reading, viewing, and listening exercises, interview questions, bibliographies, time-lines, and sample excerpts of students' family histories for course use.

Back Jacket

American Identities is a dazzling array of primary documents and critical essays culled from American history, literature, memoir, and popular culture that explore major currents and trends in American history from World War II to the present. The textbook charts the rich multiplicity of American identities as refracted through the different lenses of race, class, and gender, and shaped by common historical social processes such as migration, families, work, and war. Rather than simply teaching history, American Identities actively engages students in the history-making process while developing the skills crucial to interpreting meaningful and enduring cultural texts.

Substantial editorial matter and the accompanying instructor's guide provide resources for classroom use and for student projects, including:

• Headnotes and study guide questions for each reading
• Exercises for individual and group reading and viewing
• Timelines
• Interview questions
• Bibliographies to guide students into becoming readers of American culture and historians of their families.

Author Biography

Lois P. Rudnick is Professor of English and American Studies and Director of the American Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Judith E. Smith is Professor of American Studies and Director, Graduate Program in American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Rachel Lee Rubin is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.