Book Report – Amusing the Million
Steve Ball for Dr. Mark Edwards
HIS 142 (United States Since 1877)
ORM Metro Detroit 124
Oct. 17, 2014 Book Report – Amusing the Million In John Kasson’s Amusing the Million he takes the reader on a journey through the late 19th Century into the early 20th Century focusing on the new mass culture that was developing in the United States. He uses the development and culture of New York’s Coney Island as his main catalyst to define the changes people were going through at the time. The late 1800s and early 1900s really served as a great time of change in the United States. The coherent set of values that were prevalent throughout the 1800s were beginning to change and people were beginning to …show more content…
Coney Island was one of the first definitions of “new mass culture” in my mind. Central Park and the Chicago World’s Fair were preludes to it but it wasn’t until Coney Island captured the formula of was America was looking for that the millions came. Before this time many people’s escapes from reality centered on birthday parties and holiday celebrations. During this period mass entertainment venues began to become popularized and people seemed freer to express themselves in these larger groups. This drove the growth of the “new mass …show more content…
Was it good or bad for "Christian" America? I believe the development of Coney Island was a good development for America but possibly a bad development for Christianity. Although by today’s standards the things happening in Coney Island seem mild by Christian and society’s standards of the time they were a little loose. I feel that America was changing during this time and with World War I and the approaching Great Depression having a place like Coney Island to get away and relax was important. This period signaled America’s focus on personal pleasure more than in the past also. It began a slow downward spiral of moral values when compared to Christian values and that curve has continued to grow steeper and faster since that
Steve Ball for Dr. Mark Edwards
HIS 142 (United States Since 1877)
ORM Metro Detroit 124
Oct. 17, 2014 Book Report – Amusing the Million In John Kasson’s Amusing the Million he takes the reader on a journey through the late 19th Century into the early 20th Century focusing on the new mass culture that was developing in the United States. He uses the development and culture of New York’s Coney Island as his main catalyst to define the changes people were going through at the time. The late 1800s and early 1900s really served as a great time of change in the United States. The coherent set of values that were prevalent throughout the 1800s were beginning to change and people were beginning to …show more content…
Coney Island was one of the first definitions of “new mass culture” in my mind. Central Park and the Chicago World’s Fair were preludes to it but it wasn’t until Coney Island captured the formula of was America was looking for that the millions came. Before this time many people’s escapes from reality centered on birthday parties and holiday celebrations. During this period mass entertainment venues began to become popularized and people seemed freer to express themselves in these larger groups. This drove the growth of the “new mass …show more content…
Was it good or bad for "Christian" America? I believe the development of Coney Island was a good development for America but possibly a bad development for Christianity. Although by today’s standards the things happening in Coney Island seem mild by Christian and society’s standards of the time they were a little loose. I feel that America was changing during this time and with World War I and the approaching Great Depression having a place like Coney Island to get away and relax was important. This period signaled America’s focus on personal pleasure more than in the past also. It began a slow downward spiral of moral values when compared to Christian values and that curve has continued to grow steeper and faster since that