03-22-2007 This annual volume of essays combines research and critical works from many disciplines to explore aspects of American society and the American character. Each volume includes some 15 to 20 lengthy essays, many on literary works or on such writers as Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Other essays explore slave narratives, nineteenth-century novels, modern consumerism, and propaganda. Articles on art, music, and photography are included on such topics as African American music, vaudeville, and race in art. Still other articles relate to historical events and social issues, such as the Quaker legal system, Polish American identity, and Black Power and masculinity. Prospects is an excellent yearly volume of essays on American culture. (Schwartz, Vanette)