Accounts of political debates, economic developments, and military conflicts are all staples of our history, but there is much more to the American story. This appealing book fills in another dimension by tracing the evolution of American popular culture over the past two centuries. In a lengthy chronology of landmark events, and ten chapters, each revolving around the lives of two remarkable individuals who are in some way emblematic of their times, Icons of American Popular Culture provides an intriguing window on the social, economic, and political history of our democracy from the antebellum period to the present.

The book begins with "Democratic Showmen: James Gordon Bennett and P.T. Barnum," who helped to democratize American popular culture in the very period when democracy emerged, and ends with "American Dreamers: Michael Jordan and Jennifer Lopez," who ultimately took their popular celebrity into the business world. The stories of these twenty heroes and heroines, entertainers and teachers, role models and cultural entrepreneurs embody the nation's history and represent its collective dreams. They are both products and shapers of an ever-changing American society, and the accounts of their individual lives and endeavors offer perspective on their times at precisely the points of development and change.