To comprehensively illustrate and describe everything that makes America great within a single volume is patently absurd, if not impossible. But that didn’t stop veteran journalist Joel Stein from attempting to assemble a sort of “U.S. Greatest Hits” across 200 pages in a new coffee table book from luxury publisher Assouline.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (Assouline/Hulton Archive/Stringer/Getty Images)
Stein’s efforts are impressive. America: The Imagination of a Nation was conceived as a reflection of the American dream, which Stein argues has made the United States the only democracy in history to survive for 250 years. Beginning with the Declaration of Independence—”the single piece of writing that began the great American Experiment”—the star-spangled tome highlights great American figures and cultural exports.
Fashion shoot with a 1965 Cadillac DeVille for Vogue US, 1964 (Assouline/Gene Laurents/Condé Nast/Getty Images)
Founders and leaders include Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural icons include Marilyn Monroe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Muhammad Ali, and Christie Brinkley. Cultural phenomena and subcultures include New York Fashion Week, MTV, Halloween, baseball, jazz, comic books/superheroes, sneaker culture, and the Beat Generation. Brands include Cadillac, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, and Apple. National symbols and milestones include the American GI, the American dollar, and the moon landing.
The launching of SS Richard Bassett (Assouline/Thomas D Mcavoy/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)
That’s but a slice of Stein’s work, which itself only scratches the surface of what comprises our great nation. Priced from $120, America: The Imagination of a Nation is available to pre-order from Assouline now.
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