100 Days

Cultural historian Harlan Lebo is a senior fellow at the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. His previous books include Citizen Kane, Casablanca: Behind the Scenes, The Godfather Legacy, and Citizen Kane: A Filmmakers Journey. He resides in Los Angeles.

• ContentsFour events that shaped America, with only 100 days from first to lastAuthor’s NotePart I: MoonChapter 1: Challenging the ImpossibleChapter 2: More than Bold PredictionsChapter 3: That Irresistible CharismaChapter 4: The Sight of Whizzing FlashesChapter 5: BeepChapter 6: A Dull ThudChapter 7: Three Steps ahead of a Pack of HoundsChapter 8: No Choice but to be PioneersChapter 9: GoChapter 10: A Magnificent SightChapter 11: A Sense of PossibilitiesCounterculturePart II: MansonChapter 12: Like Moths to a FlameChapter 13: MesmerizedChapter 14: A Carnival Ride to the ApocalypsePart III: WoodstockChapter 15: Grasshoppers in the Grain FieldsChapter 16: Overtaken by the FeelingChapter 17: Coming from a DreamPart IV: InternetChapter 18: Color and FlashChapter 19: “LO”Chapter 20: How to Move the World from the Right PlaceChapter 21: Gaining MomentumChapter 22: On HoldChapter 23: Pumpkins and MiceChapter 24: All the Heavy LiftingChapter 25: Dissolving ContainersEpilogueAcknowledgementsResourcesBibliographyNotesAbout the Author

Correlating a series of vignettes under four topical headings—"Moon," "Manson," "Woodstock," "Internet"—Lebo (cultural historian, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism) attempts to reveal how four events “transformed the American experience.” Looking at each event from a cultural historian's perspective, Lebo exposes the technological progress of a nation challenged, the greatest and worst of humanity, and the frightening yet exhilarating change new modes of socialization and e-commerce have wrought. What makes this narrative unique and worthy of study is the temporal setting in which all four events took place—a mere 100 days. More important than the exposure of four events is the exposure of cultural bases of the events. The connectivity is exemplified by bringing together various programs in response to a presidential challenge, an accomplishment that has become, as Lebo writes in chapter 11, "so commonplace that it is no longer noticed.” Both the worst of individuals (Manson) and the best of gatherings (Woodstock) have become integral to the US vernacular and individualized iconic symbols. Such seemingly disconnected events reveal the necessity of returning to Crevecoeur’s 18th-century question: What is an American?”