Jerry Garcia

San Francisco, CA

What other band in American history had a bigger following then the Grateful Dead?

Dallas

Asbury Park

Asbury Park, NJ

It's about finding identity, relevance, meaning. It's about a place buffeted by the ebb and flow of economic plenty and indifference. It's about race relations and our seemingly never ending struggle to reconcile the white-brown divide. It's about international and local cultural icons -- Tillie, the carnival barker; Madame Marie; Bruce Springsteen -- in retrograde (sorry, Bruce). It's about naive anticipation and dreams deferred. And I love it.

Meg

The Wire

baltimore maryland

It shows the dark side of america, the side which is all to frequently either forgotten or vilified. The systemic poverty which by no means is a sexy topic is brought to the forefront in this series , and invites the viewer to take a deeper look at what it means to be "poor" in the states.

George

Playboy Magazine

Los Angeles/Chicago?

I don't have a file of my icon but I would nominate Playboy Magazine. Someone may have already put Playboy into nomination but I think it is definitely an American icon.

Edward

Walden - the book and pond

Concord, MA

Because Walden the book captures the American ideal. Some fans and teachers of Thoreau argue he lived the American dream. Thoreau made Walden pond, an icon for American conservation. green living. for living a principled moral soul searching life.

Chad

the banjo

everywhere

goes without saying

Robert

Catcher in the Rye

Local library

The novel engages/has historically engaged the unengaged and alienated. I've never read it with the aim of analyzing how Salinger managed to accomplish this with such a wide (and international) audience, particularly since Holden's world is rather small, and now, even a relic of the past. To what extent would Holden's world ever need to be re-designed to suit another culture/era given Salinger's demonstrated ability to make any such differences disappear?

Brenda

National Geographic

Washington, DC

So many of us here in the US grew up with it; it's shown us our own and other cultures through an American lens.

Elizabeth

Canticle for LIebowitz

novel by Walter Miller

More on my plug for A Canticle for Liebowitz, in the mid 50, when eniac was state of the art computer, Miller had people arguing with a desk top computer, debating euthanasia and the validity of science itself and it's use for good or ill, and travelling in space, and living alongside mutant life on earth. We are today doing all of that. It is called science fiction, but it was prophesy.

Jeffrey

A Canticle for LIebowitz

book by Walter Miller

Miller imagined a nuclear holocaust triggered by exactly the sort of arms race we are witnessing today, twice. In doing so he explores the nature of good and evil, if there is a difference, of God as active or passive participant, and human nature, and he does it with humor and profound irony. And this book does have a cult following in America.

Jeffrey

Our Town by Thorton Wilder

Grover's Corners

Mike

Our Town (play)

NH

'Our Town' by Thornton Wilder invokes a more innocent, more primal America.

Everything about the play seems simple, the theme, the dialogue, the characters yet it is alive with the truths of the human condition.

The play is full of warmth, humour and human compassion. And even marriage seems so simple then-unlike now. The language is clean, plain, simple like fresh-churned rural butter. Thanks for allowing me to recommend this play!

Norberta

The Charleston

New York, 1920's

Because it set the rhythm for the Great Big Party to celebrate the end of "The war to end all wars." that was the 1920's; and, written by an African American "East Coast Ragtime" (later called "Stride Piano") composer, James P. Johnson, it firmly established blacks as actual composers of, not just influencers of, a vast array of popular music to come. Note: if you do this story, PLEASE consult with me, as I have friends who are the TOP players of, and authorities on, this genre in the world!

Gordon

Dune series by Frank Herbert

Madison, WI

I would like to suggest the Dune series by Frank Herbert and his son for a program.

Bob

Sunday in the Park With George

New York, NY

This musical changed my life from the moment I saw it on Broadway many years ago. It is a transformative and immersive experience in art and all its meaning; visual and aural. It reveals so much about the creative process, and also led me into the world of Stephen Sondheim.

Karen

Ball Four

Stockbridge, MA

Ball Four was the first of the tell-all memoirs that removed the rose-colored glasses when it comes to sports heroes. Ever since then, for better or worse, athletes have been trying to one-up with tales of substance abuse and debauchery.

I wrote a couple of pieces on the legacy of Ball Four:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-kaplan/the-legacy-of-ball-four_b_709682.html

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/240033-jim-bouton-still-crazy-after-all-these-years

Ron

Pete Seeger

USA

You didn't say we could choose people.
But if we can, I would choose Pete Seeger or the work of.

Whether or not you agree with his messages, he lives/embodies the old American spirit/ethos of motivation, creativity, hard work, dedication, forthrightness, connectedness.

Stephen

The Railroads

USA

The engineering, production, building and use of this vast, useful, efficient network embodies all that is good and bad (to simplify things) about people. Particularly Americans.

(See my nomination of the Brooklyn Bridge)

Stephen

Brooklyn Bridge

NYC

The designing, engineering, production, building and use of this grand and beautiful structure embodies all that is good and bad (to simplify things) about people and particularly Americans.

It is a timeless story about connecting, reaching, bridging, involving immense drive, ingenuity, hard work, politics, corruption, engineering, medicine, immigration....

Stephen

Norman Lear

Los Angles, CA

He so dramatically changed the face of entertainment television with Good Times, Archie Bunker, Maude and the Jeffersons. The drama, issues and characters depicted in these shows were explosive, sympathetic and way beyond anything that gluts our airways today on network television. Our society probably wouldn't have developed as much tolerance for each other if it wasn't for him depicting it on the little screen, let alone something as progressive as the Soprannos.

wyndham