The American century

Days before the last US election, Lynn Nottage’s play Sweat opened off-Broadway – telling a story of working-class disaffection that was supremely on-the-money, writes Alexis Soloski.

As the stars of the critically acclaimed TV series reunite to urge Americans to vote, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong looks back at the legacy of the show’s earnest optimism

Toni Morrison’s masterpiece told the truth about race, family, slavery and memory in the United States. Stephanie Powell Watts explores what the novel means to her – and to the world.

Thirty-five years ago, Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart told of another US epidemic, the Aids crisis – and denounced the indifference to it. Jack King reflects on its power.

Forty-five years ago, Robert Altman offered a vision of the US centred on the home of country music. It’s a tale of disorder and denial still relevant now, writes Christina Newland.

A Change Is Gonna Come was a smooth soul tune that became the unofficial anthem of the US civil rights movement. Greg Tate looks at the song of ‘plaintive aspirational optimism’.

A lesser-known artist created the image that summed up an era, writes Kelly Grovier.

Inclusive and patriotic, with its roots in the radical left, Woody Guthrie’s enduring 1940s folk song offers an expansive vision for all Americans, writes Dorian Lynskey