Embassy of the United States Zagreb, Croatia

U.S. society is defined by its diversity. Our population is an extraordinary mix of nearly every ethnic group and race found on earth. Each group has brought its own language, customs, traditions, music, dance, food, and religion -- all of which enrich a society originally defined by our indigenous Native American heritage and the European values imported by the original immigrants in the 1600s.

U.S. music reflects African-American rhythms, Native American myths, the blossoming of gospel, bluegrass, jazz, and rock and roll. We have produced composers such as Joplin, Gershwin, Copeland, and Prince, performers from Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong to Elvis Presley, and singers such as Billie Holiday, Bonnie Raitt, Frank Sinatra, Beverly Sills, and Beyonce. Our dance culture is highlighted by the soaring talents and legacies of Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, and Twyla Tharp, and our comedians range from Mark Twain to Tim Allen and Ray Romano. American authors including Hemingway and Poe, architects Maya Lin and Philip Johnson -- all have left their mark. Our symphony orchestras are world-class performers of American standards as well as European classics. Our film industry sets the bar high for all others in the business. Artists such as Voulkos, Nevelson, O'Keeffe, and Warhol have left behind extraordinary treasures and thought-provoking images. Television, musical theater, Las Vegas glitz and glitter -- they all contribute to an always-evolving American "culture", fed by immigrants and native-born Americans alike.

Our society is as varied as our geography, our political life as vibrant as our artistic creativity and athletic prowess, our communities as bound by convention as they are progressive in thought. Americans and America are constantly on the move, restless and inventive, imaginative and enthusiastic, always drawn by the possibility of discovery and what might be "next".

Though diverse, we are united by basic values and a democratic system that has stood the test of time. We are bound together by the fundamentals and democratic principles outlined in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Individual rights and responsibilities, rule of law, government by and for the people. We continue to grow and evolve as a society and democracy. We are opinionated and argumentative, but we are still one -- one nation, with liberty and justice for all.

Dance

• American Ballet Theatre, http://www.abt.org/
• Ballet Companies on the Web, http://www.dancer.com/dance-links/ballet.htm - links to several ballet dance companies
• Cyberdance - Ballet on the Web, http://www.cyberdance.org/ - a collection of over 3,500 links to classical ballet and modern dance resources on the Internet
• Dance Links, http://www.dancer.com/dance-links/ - links to dance related sites from ballet to modern dance and dance schools
• New York City Ballet, http://www.nycballet.com

Museums

• The Art Institute of Chicago, http://www.artic.edu/aic/
• Art Museum Network, http://www.amn.org/ - Some of the world's largest and most prestigious art museums collaborate on AMN to provide information about their collections, exhibitions, and news.
• Guggenheim Museum, http://www.guggenheim.org
• International Spy Museum, http://www.spymuseum.org, Washington, D.C.
• American Association of Museums
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org, New York City
• MoMA, http://www.moma.org - The Museum of Modern Art, New York City
• MuseumLink: U.S. Museums by State, http://www.museumlink.com/states.htm
• Museum of Fine Arts, http://www.mfa.org, Boston
• Museum of Jewish Heritage, http://www.mjhnyc.org, New York City
• Museum of Tolerance, http://www.wiesenthal.com/mot/, Los Angeles
• Museums in the U.S.A., http://www.museumca.org/usa/index.html - links to hundreds of American museums. See also http://www.museumstuff.com
• National Air and Space Museum, http://www.nasm.si.edu, Washington, D.C.
• National Gallery of Art, http://www.nga.gov, Washington, D.C.
• New York Museums, http://www.cityinsights.com/nymuseum.htm - CityInsights
• Smithsonian Institution, http://www.si.edu, Washington, D.C.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, http://www.ushmm.org, Washington, D.C.
• Worldwide Arts Resources - Online Exhibitions, http://wwar.com/categories/Online_Exhibitions/Countries/USA/

Opera

• Boston Lyric Opera, http://www.blo.org
• Houston Grand Opera, http://www.houstongrandopera.org
• Lyric Opera of Chicago, http://www.lyricopera.org
• The Metropolitan Opera, http://www.metopera.org/home.html, New York City
• The Metropolitan Opera Guild, http://www.metguild.org/
• Opera Glass, http://opera.stanford.edu/main.html - an opera information server on the World Wide Web
• San Francisco Opera, http://www.sfopera.com
• US Opera, http://www.usopera.com - web page dedicated to opera by American composers
• The Washington Opera, http://www.dc-opera.org/main.htm, Washington, D.C.

Theater

• American Musical and Dramatic Academy, http://www.amda.edu/
  Broadway.com, http://www.broadway.com/
• Internet Broadway Database, http://www.ibdb.com/ - IBDB provides a comprehensive database of shows produced on Broadway, including all title page information about each production. IBDB also offers historical information about theatres and various statistics and fun facts related to Broadway.
• Internet Public Library - Theater, http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/ent85.00.00/
• Tony Awards, http://www.tonys.org/ - The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards® are the American theatre's most coveted honor