The ‘Mother Road’ has long symbolized freedom and reinvention. But its history reveals a more complicated story shaped by migration, segregation and the highways that eventually circumvented it.
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Springsteen initially hated the album so much that he tossed a test pressing into a pool. But its operatic tracks about freedom and fate, triumph and tragedy, continue to resonate today.
With blockbuster films costing hundreds of millions of dollars, the way two musical notes manipulate tension in ‘Jaws’ serves as a reminder that less can be more.
In 1984, the album was atop the charts, and Ronald Reagan, running for reelection, told a New Jersey audience that he and the Boss shared the same American dream. Springsteen vehemently disagreed.
The son of the director has argued that Americans are still too squeamish about sex to fully appreciate the film. A porn scholar disagrees.
Just five days before the first pitch of the 1947 World Series, a deal was struck to air the Series on television.
Losing a loved one in traumatic circumstances can lead to persistent grief that does not ease over time.
Despite the fact that many of its elements were alien to American audiences, the film became a sensation.
In an interview, scholar Alyssa Collins explains how her time spent plumbing the sci fi writer’s papers left her stunned by the breadth of her interests and the depth of her scientific knowledge.
Regularly topping lists for ‘greatest song of all time,’ the former Beatle’s classic 1971 song is taken by many as an atheistic anthem.
An ex-minister named John Lyford arrived at the nascent colony hoping for a fresh start. But he couldn’t escape his past.
Descendants from the Pilgrims were keen to highlight their ancestors’ role in the country’s founding. But their sanitized version of events is only now starting to be told in full.
Unbridled ambition and bruised egos created an irreparable fissure.
In commemorating firefighters as heroes, we can fall into the danger of overstating their ability to control fires, absolving ourselves of responsibility.
The Broadway hit offered an escape from the anxieties of World War II. But the America it portrayed – unified, patriotic and white – rings hollow today.
Don’t believe these 10 common myths about the 1918 Spanish flu.
To succumb to conspiracy is to be human.
His films made more than US$2 billion, but did they do him justice?
How has the first generation of kids to grow up with the iPhone been affected?
In 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving were arrested in Virginia for the crime of being married. The couple helped spark an effort to strike down laws against interracial marriage in the United States.
Top contributors
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Executive Director of the Center for Media & Social Impact, Assistant Professor, American University School of Communication
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Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Huddersfield
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Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University
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Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
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Professor of Media Arts, University of South Carolina
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Instructor in Communication, Villanova University
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Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature, University of South Carolina
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Professor, University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director for Journalism, Emerson College
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Associate Professor and Chair of Music, Colorado College
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James Walker is a Friend of The Conversation.
Emeritus Professor of Communication, Saint Xavier University
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Professor and Knight Center Chair in Media & Religion, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
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Course Director, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology, Swinburne University of Technology
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Garry Stevens is a Friend of The Conversation.
Program Director in Humanitarian and Development Studies, Western Sydney University
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Distinguished Professor and Professor of the Humanities, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences