Dog of the Decade: Breed Trends and What They Mean in America

Deborah Thompson

Nov 2021 · McFarland

About this ebook

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.

About the author

Deborah Thompson is a professor of English at Colorado State University, where she teaches literature and creative nonfiction. She has published numerous creative and critical essays.