Story Archives of 'Culture'

America had a name long before it had a culture. Amerige, the land of Americus, was tagged in 1507 when a poet and a cartographer pieced together a map of the Mundus Novus, including the vast land that Amerigo Vespucci stumbled upon on his way to the indies. It was America’s first invention: itself.

That creation begins A New Literary History of America edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors. It’s a collection of pivotal ideas, influential writings and eurkea! moments that shaped a nation. We get Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the invention of the blues. The Declaration of Independence and Linda Lovelace.

The anthology takes up films, speeches, love letters, country songs, paintings, comic strips, supreme court decisions, and rock n’roll. All made in America and all looked at with fresh eyes in two hundred essays commissioned and written for this book. Co-editor Greil Marcus, joins us from New York to tell us more about A New Literary History of America.

The Harvard Crimson: New American Lit. Vol. Sparks Debate

Los Angeles Times: 'A New Literary History of America' by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors

(Photo by Josh Kellogg via Flickr/Creative Commons)

As head of the State’s Department of Cultural Resources, McLeod oversees the Council of Arts, the Television and Film Office, the State Library, and the Division of Historical Resources. With major cuts to state cultural programs and resources, McLeod is hoping to set up a series of roundtables and discussions to figure ways to not only ride out the recession but find new opportunities. On September 11th, in response to President Obama’s call for Americans to recommit to the unity and compassion that brought us together eight years ago, McLeod plans to call on state cultural organizations to launch their own service campaigns. We talk with Van McLeod about the challenges his department faces, and his call to the cultural community.

Guest

• Van McLeod, Commissioner for the New Hampshire Department of Cultural Resources

The Mariposa Museum in Peterborough is a window into the cultures of the world. Nancy Drogy brings her Temple Elementary students to the museum to experience those cultural wonders.

Have Americans become too obsessed with wealth and status? Former New Hampshire state senator Jim Rubens has written a new book claiming society has lifted the definition of success to near impossible heights – achieving fame, having the body of a supermodel or joining the ranks of the super rich - and that it's resulted in the collapse of our ethical standards and made Americans increasingly unhappy and dissatisfied with their day-to-day lives. We’ll talk with Jim Rubens about how “Over-Success" came to be and what can be done to stop it.

Guest

• Jim Rubens, former New Hampshire state senator, member of the Granite State Angels at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and consultant for the Union of Concerned Scientists

In our latest installment of our 25 in 25 series, Yankee Magazine Editor-in-Chief and New England icon Jud Hale joins us. Born in Boston, raised in Maine and a longtime New Hampshire resident, Hale’s as Yankee as they come. We’ll look back at his fifty-year publishing career and how his magazine’s portrayal of a “New England Yankee Ideal” has changed over the past quarter century.

Guest

• Judson Hale, editor-in-chief of Yankee Magazine and editor for The Old Farmer’s Almanac