This volume is the first in a series dedicated to the analysis of new developments in American culture from the 1960s to the 1990s, a politically and sociologically very taxing period, in which the notion of Americanness and culture changed decisively. The fourteen contributions to this volume, which were first presented as papers at a symposium in Wuerzburg, focus on these changes from the literary and philosophical perspective of the nineties. New developments in the arts and technology are treated as well.