DescriptionSister Carrie is about a young country girl who moves to the big city, where she begins to realize her own American Dream by embarking on a life of sin rather than hard work and perseverance. At the time of its first publication, the novel caused a minor scandal, and Dreiser had difficulty finding a publisher for it. This was due to its blurred division between good and bad and the fact that, at the end, Carrie is rewarded rather than punished for her immoral life. (Although Dreiser's moralizing narrator does assert that, despite the fame and the money she has amassed, Carrie will not be able to achieve peace of mind.)…
DescriptionThis poignant and poetic 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play captures 1929 Florida at a time when cigars are still rolled by hand and "lectors" are employed to educate and entertain the workers. The arrival of a new lector is a cause for celebration. But when he reads aloud from Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropics, and The American Dream prove a volatile combination. Starring (in alphabetical order): Alma Martinez as Ofelia Jonathan Nichols as Palomo/Eliades Winston Rocha as Santiago Onahoua Rodriguez as Marela Adriana Sevan as Conchita Herbert Siguenza as Cheche Jimmy Smits as Juan Julian Also includes an interview with Jimmy Smits.
DescriptionTopanga Canyon is home to two couples on a collision course. Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacker lead an ordered, sushi-and-recycling existence in a newly gated hilltop community: He is a sensitive nature writer, she an obsessive realtor. Mexican illegals Candido and America Rincon desperately cling to their vision of the American Dream as they fight off starvation in a makeshift camp deep in the ravine. From the moment a freak accident brings Candido and Delany into intimate contact, these four and their opposing worlds gradually intersect in what becomes a tragicomedy of error and misunderstanding. Winner of the Prix Medicis Etranger and now a major motion picture.
DescriptionAloft offers a reexamination of the American dream from the inside out. Jerry Battle's favorite diversion is to fly his small plane solo, slipping away for quick flights over his Long Island home or to the coastal towns of New England. Then a famil…
DescriptionThe astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street. At the age of 20, Chris Gardner arrived in San Francisco to pursu…
