KulturAmerika Reihe

Modern marches by the Ku Klux Klan may appear as relics of the past or mere acts of bigotry to many Americans. However, Kelly Baker argues that the Klan is deeply entrenched in American mainstream Protestant culture. While most studies view the KKK as a racist organization using religion superficially, Baker asserts that its justifications for hatred stem from a specific brand of Protestantism that resonated with many Americans, employing symbols like burning crosses to exclude Jews and Catholics. Focusing on the Klan's "second incarnation" in the 1920s, Baker illustrates how it rebranded itself as a "fraternal Protestant organization" advocating white supremacy, successfully establishing chapters nationwide. Through extensive research of Klan publications from that era, she uncovers how its leaders manipulated religion, nationalism, gender, and race to adapt their hate-filled ideology to changing times. This analysis reveals the Klan's views on Protestantism, church-state relations, gender roles, and its notorious 1924 anti-Catholic riot at Notre Dame University. Baker draws unsettling parallels between the Klan's rhetoric and contemporary movements, demonstrating that the Klan's message was more adeptly crafted than historians have acknowledged. This perspective highlights ongoing intolerance among some citizens who seek to uphold a mythical white Protestant nation.

The ghostly presence stands in for numerous other voices in a range of American films. In this synthesis of film and politics, Ray Pratt aims to show how such movies are deeply rooted in post-war American culture and continue to exert an enormous influence on the national imagination. schovat popis

From Detroit Red to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Malcolm X's life was marked by constant reinvention. His transformations have inspired a multitude of interpretations across books, photographs, and films, particularly following his assassination, which ignited debates among journalists, biographers, and artists about his cultural significance. This work offers a systematic examination of the imagery surrounding this iconic figure, found on everything from T-shirts to hip-hop album covers. Graeme Abernethy highlights the complex and global impact of a man depicted as both villain and hero, once labeled "the most feared man in American history" by mainstream media and later celebrated as a symbol of African American identity. Abernethy traces Malcolm's visual prominence through the civil rights movement, Black Power, and hip-hop, analyzing representations from 1960s magazines to urban murals and the evolution of his iconography, including the influence of Spike Lee's 1992 biopic. The book features a striking collection of images by renowned photographers and reveals Malcolm's awareness of the power of imagery in shaping identity. His insights into "the science of imagery" allowed him to navigate ideological representation and promote black empowerment. This work shifts the focus from biography to a richly illustrated exploration of Malcolm's cultural legacy, comparing his iconography with that of other significant African American

At the turn of the twentieth century, soybeans grew on so little of America's land that nobody bothered to track the total. By the year 2000, they covered upward of 70 million acres. How this little-known Chinese transplant turned into a ubiquitous component of American farming, culture, and cuisine is the story Matthew Roth tells in Magic Bean: The Rise of Soy in America.

The 70s witnessed economic decline in America, coupled with a series of foreign policy failures, events that created an air of unease and uncertainty. This volume examines the ways in which Americans responded to a changing world and sought to redefine themselves. číst celé