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Matthew Weiner´s Emmy-winning series Mad Men has earned wide critical acclaim in its seven seasons. What is it about these impeccably dressed men and women of midcentury Madison Avenue that fascinates us? Decades later, when Weiner´s iconic characters seem as much a thing of the past as the workday martini, why is it so easy for modern viewers to commiserate with the reserved but ambitious Peggy Olson, to jeer at Pete Campbell, and to cheer on Don Draper in his often indecorous struggles? We are drawn to Mad Men´s dapper cast of characters, argues Elisabeth Bronfen, because, although the series has drawn praise for its depiction of the 1960s and ´70s, it speaks equally well to cultural concerns of the present. The prototypical con man, Don makes a precarious journey from poverty to fame and prosperity that maps the pursuit of moral perfectionism that features prominently throughout American cultural history. Yet a lingering sense of dissatisfaction hints that the lifestyle Don strives for may be a mere manifestation of the illusory American dream-cemented in the same collective desires Don draws on to advertise cigarettes and luxury cars by day. "Mad Men," Death and the American Dream takes readers through the cultural fantasies that underlie characters´ motivations in this sophisticated and immensely popular television series, showing how-then as now-we turn to fantasy in the face of conflicts that cannot be resolved in political reality. Fascinating and full of accessible insights, the book will appeal to the show´s many fans, as well as anyone interested in American studies, media studies, or cultural history.

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Matthew Weiner´s series Mad Men is more than a resonant time capsule. Elisabeth Bronfen´s claim is that the show not only thrives on a significant double voicing, reviving the literature, film, music and fashion of the past within and for the cultural concerns of the present. With Don Draper an embodiment of the prototypical con man, his precarious journey from poverty to fame and prosperity can also be seen as a continuation of the moral perfectionism so key to the American tradition. His fall and spiritual recovery is as much an individual story as a comment on the state of the nation. Mad Men reflects on the role television has come to play in this work of the cultural imaginary, both fragile and fruitful. We identify and sympathize with the people in this series not despite but because they are fictional representations, different yet also a mirror of ourselves.

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7 - 26 The American Dream-A Game of Confidence (Elisabeth Bronfen)27 - 74 Pitching America (Elisabeth Bronfen)75 - 100 Beyond the Happiness Principle (Elisabeth Bronfen)101 - 126 The Elevator-A Heteropia (Elisabeth Bronfen)127 - 146 National Hauntings (Elisabeth Bronfen)147 - 160 The Moon Belongs to Everyone (Elisabeth Bronfen)161 - 180 Going Commercial (Elisabeth Bronfen)

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Bronfen, Elisabeth
Elisabeth Bronfen ist Professorin für English and American Studies an der Universität Zürich und seit 2007 Global Distinguished Professor an der New York University. 1990 habilitierte sie sich mit einer Arbeit über die Ästhetisierung toter Frauen durch männliche Künstler. Sie hat zahlreiche Bücher in den Bereichen Gender Studies, Psychoanalyse, Film und Kulturwissenschaften veröffentlicht, arbeitet derzeit an einem Buch über Shakespeare und die Gegenwartskultur und schreibt über Frauen als Kriegsberichterstatter.

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