Dog of the Decade

<p> What do dogs mean in America? How do Americans make meaning through their dogs? The United States has long expressed its cultural unconscious through canine iconography. Through our dogs we figure out what we're thinking and who we are representing by proxy the things that we don't quite want to recognize in ourselves. Often it's a specific breed or type of dog that serves as an informal cultural mascot embodying an era's needs fears desires longings aspirations repressions and hopeless contradictions. Combining cultural studies with personal narrative this book creates a playful speculative reading of American culture through its canine self-representations. Looking at seven different breeds or types over the last seven decades readers will go on an intellectual dog walk through some of the mazes of American cultural mythology.</p>