American culture is a genuine melting pot — a mix of European, African, Latin American and Asian traditions that gave the world jazz, rock and roll, Hollywood and the internet. Music is the heart of the American soul. Jazz was born in New Orleans at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries from a fusion of African rhythms, Mississippi Delta blues and European harmonies — Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane. Blues and country gave it soul, and rock and roll (Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard) revolutionized the world in the 1950s. Motown Records in Detroit gave soul to Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross. Hip-hop was born in the Bronx in the 1970s and conquered the planet: Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé. Pop icons — Madonna, Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga — shape global trends. Nashville remains the country capital, and Coachella in California is the festival symbol of a new era. Hollywood has produced more films than any city in the world since 1910. Chaplin classics, John Ford westerns, stars Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, the breakthroughs of Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg. Today Netflix, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and A24 shape global film culture. The Oscar, awarded since 1929, remains the most coveted film prize in the world. Broadway in New York is the mecca of musical theater — from "West Side Story" to "Hamilton". American literature gave us Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck and Toni Morrison (Nobel Prize 1993). The Beat Generation (Kerouac, Ginsberg) defined 1950s counterculture. Today Stephen King, Colson Whitehead and Sally Rooney top bestseller lists worldwide. Sport is a national religion. American football (NFL) and the Super Bowl are the biggest TV event of the year. NBA basketball gave us Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant. MLB baseball is "the national pastime". NHL hockey, US Open tennis, Masters golf — everything on a grand professional scale. NCAA college leagues are as important as the pros. American holidays have a unique character. July 4 — Independence Day with fireworks. Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday of November) — a family turkey dinner giving thanks for the harvest. Halloween on October 31 — costumes, candy, jack-o'-lanterns. Labor Day and Memorial Day frame the summer. Christmas — a commercial spectacle from Manhattan's Rockefeller Center. American inventions changed the world: the light bulb (Edison), the airplane (Wright brothers), the telephone (Bell), Coca-Cola (1886), Levi's (1873), the Ford Model T (1908), the iPhone (2007), Google, Facebook, ChatGPT. The Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building and Hollywood Sign — architectural symbols of a country that keeps inventing the future.