Book contents
- The Greatest of All Time
- The Greatest of All Time
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Economics of American Greatness
- 2 The Problem of the Great All-Knowing Answer Man
- 3 The Rise and Fall of the Great Changemakers
- 4 How the Babe Became the Greatest (and the Roosevelts, Too)
- 5 The Great Counterculture Conundrum
- Conclusion
- Index
Conclusion
Michael Jordan in the “Age of Lists”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2025
Book contents
- The Greatest of All Time
- The Greatest of All Time
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Economics of American Greatness
- 2 The Problem of the Great All-Knowing Answer Man
- 3 The Rise and Fall of the Great Changemakers
- 4 How the Babe Became the Greatest (and the Roosevelts, Too)
- 5 The Great Counterculture Conundrum
- Conclusion
- Index
Summary
This concluding chapter examines the phenomenon of list-making in the 1970s and beyond. In this period, Americans were no longer piqued by a single symbolic exemplar, a greatest of all time. Post-Vietnam and Watergate, Americans desired choices, not conclusions. The popularity of lists supported this cultural impulse. In this context, the cultural biography of Michael Jordan stands out as a curious exception. How Jordan served as the exception that proved the rule helps summarize the essential themes of the book.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Greatest of All TimeA History of an American Obsession, pp. 197 - 218Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025