"The nine essays in this book explore a variety of events, institutions, and controversies in American culture, from the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, to American religion and the persistence of fundamentalism, and to the complex modern phenomenon of "Americanization." At the heart of each essay lies a question that the growth of mass culture and a remarkably inclusive marketplace have posed. To what degree and under what circumstances can or should Americans try to alter the impact of their present unfettered freedom to create and sell culture? Is there no territory which can or should be protected from the corrosive energy of the mass market?"--Jacket.