American Civilization (5th Edition) uploaded by Shakir Khan

This book deals mainly with central structural features of American (US) society, such as politics and
government, the law, the economy, social services, the media, education and religion. Chapters on the
country and the people are also included in order to emphasize the geographical and human diversity of
US civilization. Each chapter attempts to assess the attitudes of Americans to the social and cultural
structures in which they live and operate.
Methodologically, the book combines descriptive and analytical approaches within a historical
context. Each chapter has its own historical perspectives and provides information on debates and recent
developments in the USA. The book is intended to allow students to organize their own responses to
American society and to encourage discussion. Essay and term exercises at the end ofeach chapter can be
adequately approached from material contained in the text. Information may be also found in relevant web
sites, ‘Further reading’ and a recommended dictionary for terms (Alicia Duchak, 1999, A-Z of Modern
America. London: Routledge).
A book of this type is indebted for many of its ideas, facts and statistics to a range of reference
sources, which cannot all be mentioned here, but to which general acknowledgement is made (see also
‘Further reading’ in each chapter). Particular thanks are due to public-opinion poll sources and media,
such as Gallup, Harris, Polling Report, Pew, the Roper Center, The Economist/YouGov, CNN, USA
Today, Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC, Newsweek, Time, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the
Washington Post.
The term billion in this book follows the internationally approved standard, i.e. l,000,000,000.