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Reading Between the Lines

American Dreams

This series is focused around books that explore the idea of the "American Dream" and how it has changed and evolved over time. Each session centers on a book selected by Jeremy Saucier, a graduate student in the History Department of the University of Rochester.

 

The series opens with a discussion of The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea by Jim Cullen, which sets the context for the other discussions by exploring the aspirations at the heart of our national identity.


 
This session focuses on The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America, historian John Bodnar's study of the dreams and ideals of the immigrants who came to the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

 
A discussion of Helen and Scott Nearing's' The Good Life, an exploration of the "simple life" version of the American Dream as told by two of its foremost practitioners.

 
The series concludes with a conversation about Diners, Bowling Alleys and trailer Parks: Chasing the American Dream in Postwar Culture by Andrew Hurley, which looks at the way the notion of the American Dream changed in the years after World War Two.