Publisher's Synopsis
In this always timely study, Charles Derber looks at societal fears like violent crime and terrorism, arguing that there are contradictions between today's American Dream and American prospects for success. The price of failure (frustration and rage) and the price of success (emptiness and fear) threaten the bonds of community and the survival of the society. This new edition of The Wilding of America further chronicles recent examples of societal illness, including the sex scandal in the Catholic Church and the greed and corruption displayed in the ENRON debacle. It also includes a study of the war in Iraq and, as we re-build their country, the questions that arise about what makes community, and society itself, possible at all. Derber shows the defences Americans have built up against this wilding epidemic and offers practical, immediate solutions to fight and cure the disease that threatens to erode the moral landscape of American society.
