American Dreams
Visions of a successful life in the U.S. and abroad
Why the American Dream Will Never Die
Over the next two months, The Atlantic will explore many different visions of the American dream, in stories, videos, and photo essays.
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Reuters How the World Perceives the New American Dream
And why today’s dream doesn’t export as well as the original
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American Dream Does America Still Want the American Dream?
Twelve years after work began on a $2 billion entertainment complex in New Jersey, is another giant mall still an appealing vision?
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Mike Blake / Reuters Can There Be a Less Materialist American Dream?
The scholar and cultural critic Juliet Schor argues that the once-niche opposition to hyper-consumerism is becoming more mainstream.
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COD Newsroom / Flickr Should Immigration Require Assimilation?
Every year, unique people—each with their own cultural history—become new citizens of the United States. Must they leave their own heritage behind?
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Danny Ghitis Caught in the American Daydream
A portrait of a region
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Mike Segar / Reuters The Downsizing of the American Dream
People used to believe they would someday move on up in the world. Now they’re more concerned with just holding on to what they have.
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American Suburbia, Refurbished
A short film about a realty company in Levittown, Pennsylvania
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Mike Blake / Reuters The American Dream House Only Worked in Dreams and Commercials
Leisure and domestic bliss never seemed to materialize as promised. But over the years people have found ways to break down the standard designs and craft spaces of their own.
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Chris Arnade Who Still Believes in the American Dream?
Portraits of a nation in search of a better life
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Reuters The World According to Xi Jinping
China’s president has staked his reputation on fulfilling the “Chinese Dream.” Here’s what he envisions.
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The 'Too Good' Life
In an interview with Politico earlier this week, the Senate majority leader made his views on America’s labor market plain…
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Thomas Allen Why I Put My Wife’s Career First
The well-being of children, the status of women, and the happiness of men will depend on whether more fathers are willing to take on primary parenting roles.
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Chewie Pug / Flickr Unions 30 Years Ago Are Somehow Making People Richer Today
People whose parents were in the labor movement decades ago are earning more today than those whose parents were not. Why?
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Diana Saverin The Terror and Tedium of Living Like Thoreau
When you’re alone in a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness, the simplest question becomes the most complicated: How do you fill a day?
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Jonathan Ernst / AP As White Americans Give Up on the American Dream, Blacks and Hispanics Embrace It
A poll finds a split between those who fear the nation’s best days are behind it, and those who still believe better days lie ahead.
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In Green / Shutterstock How America Lost Track of Ben Franklin’s Definition of Success
According to Franklin, what mattered in business was humility, restraint, and discipline. But today’s Type-A MBAs would find him qualified for little more than a career in middle management.
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Calla Kessler / EchoSight / The Atlantic Photographing the American Dreamers
When we asked Atlantic readers to show us what a successful life looks like, we received hundreds of submissions from around the country. Then, we smashed them up.
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From Dishwasher to Award-Winning Restaurateur
Hugo Ortega's journey from undocumented Mexican immigrant to owning three of Houston's top restaurants
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters The Life and Death of the American Lawn
Grasses—green, neatly trimmed, symbols of civic virtue—shaped the national landscape. They have now outlived their purpose.
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Jacquelyn Martin / AP Do Americans Still Dare to Dream Together?
As 2016 draws near, most report being satisfied with their own lives, but not with the direction of the country.
