8/12/2019 American Century
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The American CenturyAmerican Century is a characterization of
the 20th century as being largely dominated by theUnited
States in political, economic, and cultural terms. It is
comparable to the description of the 19th Century
asBritain's Imperial Century.
The term was coined byTimepublisherHenry Luce to describe what
he thought the role of theUnited
States would be and should be during the 20th century. Luce, the
son of a missionary, in a February 17,
1941Lifemagazine editorial urged theUnited States to
forsakeisolationism for a missionary's role,
acting as the world'sGood Samaritan and spreadingdemocracy.He
called upon the US to enterWorld
War II to defend democratic values.
Native American Influences:
In music: Rock, which began as rock and-roll, a music that was
first played in the 1950s. It came from
the American South, and combined black blues with the country
music of working class whites to
produce a heavily rhythmic rocking sound that appealed
especially to young people. First most knownperformers: Chuck
Berry, Little Richard (both black) and the unchallenged King of
rock-and-roll, a
young southern white named Elvis Presley who became an
international superstar.
In broadcasting:Television - as early as 1947, around 170 000
American families had television sets
flickering in their living rooms. Soon millions of people were
organizing their activities around the
programs on television that evening. Most early American
television programs were concerned with
entertainment ( comedies, game shows, stories about policemen
and detectives, adventures of fictional
western heroes like the Lone Ranger- very popular at that time).
First advertisements shown on
NBC(National Broadcasting Company) and CBS (Columbia
Broadcasting System). By the 1960s filmed
television programs had become an important American export.
Other countries found it cheaper to buy
American programs than to make their own ( Ex. I love Lucy a
1950s comedy series)
In food habits: The growing popularity of hamburgers, fried
chicken and other easily prepared fast
food spread American eating habits all over the world.
Furthermore, the convenience of buying food
from supermarkets also spread to other prosperous countries,
first in Europe and then in other parts of
the world.
In infrastructure: Tall buildings called skyscrapers became one
of the principal visual symbols of the
modern United States. Skyscrapers were the result of a need for
more working and living space in places
where the cost of land was very high. Instead of using a lot of
expensive space on the ground their
builders used the free space of the sky. New industrial
techniques, and the availability of plenty of cheap
steel, made it possible for them to do this.
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