Title: American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality : NPR
Headings: American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality
American Dreams: Then And Now
American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality
Uniquely American
A Long History Of Optimism
Around the Nation
We Want To Know: What Is Your American Dream?
Skepticism Grows

Content: This crisis of confidence is not just because the economy is bad. In fact, the American Dream flowered at a time when the economy was at its worst. "If you go back to the Great Depression where the American Dream originated as a concept, strikingly enough, there was still hope and optimism about the future," White says. A Long History Of Optimism
In 1931, author James Adam wrote a book with the working title The American Dream. Ultimately it was retitled The Epic of America. Historians say that text marked the American Dream's emergence into the spotlight. Yet the underlying themes had been bubbling up through the American psyche for much longer. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald opened his iconic novel The Great Gatsby with these lines: In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.