Let’s begin this introduction with a few words about the title of our book. I use Anglo-American as an adjective to refer to both the United Kingdom and the United States. Why cover both the UK and the US? Especially since a book of this size would often just be able to skim the surface of such a big subject. It’s always a question of what’s better: cover a lot more by surfing the surface or dive into the waves like a deep sea diver at the cost of not seeing enough of the whole. I hope you’ll find it satisfying to see more of the surface and then use this UTB Basics book as a springboard to take your deep sea dives in places that you hadn’t thought of before.

I’ve written this book for different audiences. If you’re pursuing a degree in English that requires knowledge about the United Kingdom and the United States, you can read any of the chapters in Part I for an overview, which will help you prepare for examinations on American and British life. I’m also writing for interested people with a German background who want to understand aspects of American and British life that they find puzzling. I assume that you’re not interested in reading a tourist guide that only emphasizes positive things about both countries. While I hope that my enthusiasm is contagious, I’ll also try to encourage you to develop a critical perspective and deeper understanding of things American and British.

And what about the Cultural Studies part of the title? The subject called cultural studies has become very popular in publishing, teaching, and in research at universities in Britain and in the US since the 1960s and now too in other parts of the world. In Part II we’ll be looking at some of the same information covered in Part I from a different perspective, giving you the chance not only to review the “facts” but also to see how newer ways of looking at culture have changed our attitude towards these facts. In Part II we’ll be seeing how key words like identity and power and gender can lend a new light on things British and American. I hope that students doing degrees in English or sociology at German universities will find Part II useful as a springboard for a deeper exploration of cultural studies. I hope you’ll find both parts informative and entertaining.

A few words about terminology. When you read the US (without the periods) or America, think of the United States although it makes up only about a third of the area of the continent of North America. Even noting that almost 75 % of the population of the entire continent lives in the United States wouldn’t justify ignoring Canada and Mexico. Perhaps another English noun will gradually come to be used as a substitute for America in the meaning of the United States. If Spanish continues to gain in importance, a new term will come into existence to clearly indicate the US without offense to Latin Americans. Estadounidense would be accurate but a bit long.

The terminology connected with Britain is so complicated that it deserves its own subchapter as you’ll see in just a few pages. But for now use Britain to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which currently includes Scotland and Wales. We’ll know by the next edition of this book if Britain has shrunk and perhaps needs a new name. Instead of always saying the British, I’ll sometimes use the very informal Brits, which is of course meant without any derogatory touch. But what about Anglo in the title, you might ask as an alert reader who thought Anglo referred to English? Well, Anglo-American as an adjective can refer to the US and the UK. A few big-name politicians have used it exactly in this sense. The term can be problematic, but it takes up less space than a more accurate version: Area Studies and Cultural Studies of the United States of America and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

You’ll perhaps be surprised about the style of writing, which – while startlingly informal (see Brits above) in comparison to academic books in Germany – is actually not so uncommon in the cultural studies part of the Anglo-American academic world. Perhaps you’re used to reading academic books in German in which the author is supposed to be invisible and the reader is not addressed – a way of feigning objectivity. But the author always chooses the material he or she thinks is relevant and important, and simply avoiding “I” wouldn’t make the choice any more objective. Since subjectivity and identity play a very important role in cultural studies, I’ve taken the liberty of making my identity more explicit for reasons that I hope to make clearer in the course of our book.

You’ll have also noticed that I address you the reader in the 2nd person. By addressing you directly I hope to encourage as much of a dialogue as is possible. I’ve also used contractions throughout in order to set an informal tone. Those who are aware of some of the differences between American and British English will also notice that I’ve almost always chosen the American equivalent.

You may ask yourself about which sources I’ve used. First of all: Almost nothing in this book is original except the way it’s written and my combination of Landeskunde facts in Part I with cultural studies approaches in Part II in one volume. Since UTB Basics are intended as an introduction for students, my goal isn’t to overload you with quick facts but to present fairly common basic knowledge about specific topics in Britain and America in addition to an introduction to the exciting world of cultural studies. If you wish to search for specific terms, you can easily use the search function in the digital version of this book and thus we can use all pages for real reading. Instead of a bibliography at the end, I’ve included recommendations at the end of the chapter in a special section called morsels & more.

If you find this book to be thought-provoking enough to continue your own exploration of things American and British, then I will have achieved one goal. If you also discover subversive ways of approaching Anglo-American cultural studies, then we’ll both have succeeded. “Subversive?” you might ask. But let’s take one step at a time.

Fig. 0.1 4 Barbras (The Jewish Jackie Series).
Look at this example of American art, a painting by Deborah Kass of Barbra Streisand, both of whom we’ll be meeting again.

Now take my hand

For the greatest journey

Heaven can allow

Starting love

Starting...