Synopses & Reviews
The United States is in transit from an industrial to a postindustrial society, from a modern to postmodern culture, and from a national to a global economy. In this book Richard Harvey Brown asks how we can distinguish the uniquely American elements of these changes from more global influences. His answer focuses on the ways in which economic imperatives give shape to the shifting experience of being American.
Drawing on a wide knowledge of American history and literature, the latest social science, and contemporary social issues, Brown investigates continuity and change in American race relations, politics, religion, conception of selfhood, families, and the arts. He paints a vivid picture of contemporary America, showing how postmodernism is perceived and felt by individuals and focusing attention on the strengths and limitations of American democracy.
Review
"On this dark subject Richard Brown has given us a masterpiece."—Ronnie Dugger, cochairman and founder of the Alliance for Democracy and founding editor of
The Texas Observer Review
“An impressive and important book in which Richard Brown deals with American society in a holistic, synthetic, interdisciplinary, and original way.”—Manfred Stanley, Syracuse University
Synopsis
In this wide-ranging book, Richard Harvey Brown demonstrates how an increasingly global economy interacts with American culture to shape ideology, religion, identity, families, arts, and concepts of space and time. He paints a thought-provoking picture of contemporary America, focusing on the strengths and limitations of our democracy.
About the Author
An influential social thinker, the late Richard Harvey Brown was professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and the author of Toward a Democratic Science: Scientific Narration and Civic Communication, published by Yale University Press.