“We are all middle class now”
Routledge History publishes “provocative” history of America’s white-collar workers
Why are we so obsessed with our rightful place in society – and even more so with the rightful place of others?
For over 100 years, historians of American society have explored the creation of social structures against the backdrop of land ownership, industrialization, ethnic minority communities and economic prosperity. Yet very few have agreed on what the middle class is and what it means to the society it holds together. The American middle class has lacked its own definitive history – until now.
In The American Middle Class: A Cultural History (Routledge, June 2013), Lawrence R. Samuel charts the rise and fall of the American middle class from its triumphant emergence in the post-World War II years to the struggles of the present day. Drawing on a rich array of voices from the past half-century, the author explores how the middle class, and ideas about it, have changed over time, and shows how the roots of middle-class troubles reach back to the cultural upheaval of the 1960s.
Bryant Simon, author of Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks, said: “The middle class is as American as apple pie. What is so surprising, then, is how little we actually know these people... That is until now. Lawrence R. Samuel’s at once brisk and broad cultural reinterpretation of postwar America charts the rise and fall of the great American middle and why their story is important to our own times.”
About the Author
Lawrence R. Samuel is founder of Culture Planning, a consultancy offering cultural insight to Fortune 500 companies. He holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota, was a Smithsonian Institution Fellow, and is the author of several books.
Lawrence will be giving a talk on his new book at the New York Public Library on July 24th 2013. Join him from 6:30pm on the 6th floor of the Mid-Manhattan branch.
Partnership Manager, Routledge Humanities
Tel: 44 (0)207 017 7960 | Email: ilaria.parodi@tandf.co.uk
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