This quarter will be all about you—or rather, why “you” have become the symbol of an electronic democratic culture. How did this celebration of the individual come about, and how is it different from the past? What are the implications for thinking about “you” as the ultimate arbiter in matters of taste, social trends, and policy? And what is the relationship between “you,” as the vaunted savvy user of electronic media, and the United States’ military entanglements abroad? Topics to be covered: celebrity culture, spectacle, travel literature, and blogging. Expect to complete your own project about the place of “you” in American culture by quarter’s end. Some of the books we will be reading this quarter are: David Shields’ Remote; Miranda July’s Nobody Belongs Here More Than You; Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love; and Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30).