Readers flag Elvis, Dylan and the iPhone as missing from America's cultural canon

The Washington Post Style feature presents a 25-item, decade-by-decade list of America’s most influential cultural works, chosen with constraints (one pick per decade since founding and a cap of five shortlists per decade). Readers debated notable omissions and offered alternatives—calling out Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and the first iPhone, and suggesting additions like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Kind of Blue—highlighting a lively, ongoing conversation about what counts as America’s cultural canon.