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The Americanization Of The World, 1869-1922
Chicago University Press
September 2005
On Sale: September 9, 2005
Featuring: William Cody
232 pages
ISBN: 0226732428
EAN: 9780226732428
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
When it comes to the production and distribution of mass
culture, no country in modern times has come close to
rivaling the success of America. From blue jeans in central
Europe to Elvis Presley's face on a Republic of Chad postage
stamp, the reach of American mass culture extends into every
corner of the globe. Most believe this is a
twentieth-century phenomenon, but here Robert W. Rydell and
Rob Kroes prove that its roots are far deeper.
Buffalo Bill in Bologna reveals that the
process of globalizing American mass culture began as early
as the mid-nineteenth century. In fact, by the end of World
War I, the United States already boasted an advanced network
of culture industries that served to promote American
values. Rydell and Kroes narrate how the circuses, amusement
parks, vaudeville, mail-order catalogs, dime novels, and
movies developed after the Civil War—tools central to
hastening the reconstruction of the country—actually doubled
as agents of American cultural diplomacy abroad. As symbols
of America's version of the "good life," cultural products
became a primary means for people around the world,
especially in Europe, to reimagine both America and
themselves in the context of America's growing global sphere
of influence. Paying special attention to the role of the
world's fairs, the exporting of Buffalo Bill's Wild West
show to Europe, the release of The Birth of a Nation,
and Woodrow Wilson's creation of the Committee on Public
Information, Rydell and Kroes offer an absorbing tour
through America's cultural expansion at the turn of the
century. Buffalo Bill in Bologna is thus a tour de
force that recasts what has been popularlyunderstood about
this period of American and global history.
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