Seventy-five years after he was born, Superman remains America's most enduring hero. In this first full-fledged history of the Man of Steel, New York Times bestselling author of Satchel Larry Tye shows how Superman has tapped into the American psyche in a way that reveals something essential not just about him but about us.
It was on Superman's muscle-bound back that the comic book and the very idea of the superhero took flight. He helped give America the guts to wage war against Adolph Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan. He remains an intimate to kids from Boston to Bel Air and has adult devotees who parse his every utterance. For each era in America's history, Superman zeroed in on the threats that scared us most. Each change undergone by our hero offered a Rorschach test of that time and its dreams and sewed him deeper into the fabric of America.
     Tye takes us back to Superman's birth at the hands of his young, nerdy creators. He introduces readers to the cast of characters who played a role in the superhero's life, painting a picture of America through one of its most famous and recognizable symbols. Superman's story is both surprising and fun--it will reel back aging devotees, draw in new ones, and reveal why the Man of Tomorrow is timeless as well as ageless--but this is not only the tale of an American icon. Tye uses Superman as a lens through which we can understand our best selves and aspirations.