A Background to modern America

The USA is a country that fascinates people throughout the world, particularly younger generations. It is a country that many want to know more about, many want to visit, and where many would love to study. It is a country we see almost daily on our television screens, on our computers, on our phones, on billboards in magazines or in adverts, a country that is rarely out of the news - be it good news or bad news - from one day to the next. More than any other country, it has crafted for itself a reputation for freedom, democracy and openness. Hailed since the nineteenth century as the "melting pot of nations", and more recently as the leader of the free world and the champion of diversity and civil rights, it has an image like that of no other country on Earth. But how accurate is the image, how did it come about?Rather than provide direct answers to these two questions, this book is a collection of tableaux in advanced-level English, illustrating the mix that is modern America, key people, places, lifestyles and events that have helped make the United States what they are today - in all their diversity. The balanced collection of twenty-two connected but self-contained texts constitutes an overall and rounded narrative that has been carefully written for the specific needs of students of English in schools and colleges around the world, including in the United States.
Structured thematically, not by difficulty of language or grammar, this collection of texts offers a unique approach to the teaching of cultural studies in the framework of language classes, ESL, or personal study.
Though written primarily for learners of English in high school or college, this book will also prove useful in other learning contexts, and even for general interest reading. Each unit is made up of a text, accompanied by a glossary and exercises for use in class or for private study