Italy in the American Imagination

In this comprehensive study, Ian J. Bickerton explores the fluid and multi-dimensional interactions Americans have with Italian culture and society, offering a new and novel way of considering the influence of Italy upon the United States. Bickerton argues that a true understanding of the United States, must begin with an examination of how its citizens imagine themselves. He demonstrates that throughout U.S. history, America has been deeply tied to the Italian imaginary. Ian J. Bickerton is the author of many books, including John F. Kennedy, A Reference Guide to his Life and Times (2019), A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (9th. ed. 2022), and The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East (2015). It is almost impossible to imagine the United States without making reference to Italy. There is scarcely any aspect of American culture untouched by Italy—its history, art, architecture, fashion, film, music, the mafia, or even more viscerally its food. Italy occupies a space of near mythical proportion in the American imagination. When many Americans think of, or dream about and imagine, the good life, how and where they would like to live, they think most often of Italy; the beauty, the life-style, the romance, the excitement and sense of adventure that Italy offers. By looking at the fluid and multi-dimensional imaginative interactions Americans have with Italian culture and society, this comprehensive and robust volume offers a new and novel way of exploring the influence of Italy upon the United States. University of New South Wales historian Ian James Bickerton argues that if we wish to understand the United States, and how Americans define themselves and their nation, it is vital to examine how they imagine themselves, and he demonstrates that throughout U.S. history one of the most powerful stimulants shaping the imaginary world of Americans has been Italy.