Introduction: Whither the “American Dream”?

Year 2004, Issue: 19 , 5 - 8 , 01.04.2004

Laurence Raw

https://izlik.org/JA95NK88DA

Abstract

The phrase, “The American Dream” was coined by James Truslow Adams in his extremely popular 1931 book The Epic of America, and entered the language almost immediately – especially in political rhetoric.* Nowadays it is likely to be used in acceptance speeches, inaugural speeches; but it also appears frequently in book titles. Anthony Brandt has suggested that the phrase represents an American ideal of a happy and successful life to which all may aspire; coined during the Depression, the idea “represented a reaffirmation of traditional American hopes” Brandt . However, the idea if the not the phrase dates back to a much earlier period in American history – as witnessed, for instance, in De Tocqueville’s locution: “the charm of anticipated success”.

References

• Brandt, Anthony. “The American Dream”. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company (2004). Website address http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/a/a0250500.html.