The public sphere-an idea with deep roots in the European enlightenment-has always been a
contested concept in American culture and society. American intellectuals artists politicians
and activists have stressed the non-unitary diversified and oppositional dynamics of all
things public. From the early days of the American republic competing interest groups and
commercial mass media (first newspapers novels and the theater then radio television and
the internet) have worked to pluralize public speech and public action-and ultimately the
notion of publicness itself.This essay collection explores the public sphere in North America
as a multi-agential commercially embattled highly mediated and ultimately trans-nationalized
aggregate of publics and counterpublics. The contributors present innovative theoretical and
historical assessments of American counter publics across an array of fields including social
activism political communication literary discourse andcontemporary mass media.
