Abstract. The article addresses the principle features of the United States’ culture, its key stages of development, the history of establishing the national educational system and its place in American cultural history. The author traces the general history of arts and visual arts in particular linked to the basic stages of shaping the national identity and American character.

Key words: cultural history of the USA, American education, American art, culture war, melting pot, American character


Shestakov Vyacheslav Pavlovich,
Doctor in Philosophy, Professor,
Head of the Department for Arts Theory,
Russian Institute for Cultural Research (Moscow),
e-mail: vpshestakov@migmail.ru