My review of Morris Berman's book, A Question of Values

Yesterday, Truthdig posted a review that I did of Morris Berman's latest book, A Question of Values:

"“A Question of Values” is an alternately sobering and inspiring collection of essays by noted historian and cultural critic Morris Berman. Berman pulls no punches in laying bare the truths about who we are, not just as a nation, but also as individuals wrapped up in the destructive pursuit of material excess. In the unswerving style of his other writings, he rips apart the national illusion of greatness.

The book is divided into four sections: “Lament for America,” “Mind and Body,” “Progress True and False” and “Quo Vadis?” (Where are you going?). Each part examines the American identity from a historical, spiritual, technological and alternative future perspective, respectively. Taken together, they ask the imperative questions: How did we get to this point, and how do we get out? Or will we? (Here being a country caught in a societal malaise of promoting external accumulation over internal compassion.) Taken together, the sections inspect our inner and outer fabric as a nation."

Like Berman's other books, this one will definitely make you think.

You can read the rest of the review on Truthdig.

Comments

[Warren]

Thanks for posting your wonderfully detailed and illuminating review!

Although I haven't read the book, am not familiar with Berman, and don't know anything about the topic, I'll pontificate briefly. These failings have never stopped me from spouting bullshit before, so why start now? :-D

A "cultural critic" makes his living by promoting himself. If there is consensus on something (or common sensus...com sentire) he has to take a controversial position and pump out a BS book about it. The more you study psychology and biology and the more people you meet, the more you realize that we're pretty much the same. A dog in Canada is not very different from a dog in China. Same goes for H. sapiens.

Follow the money. People act in their self-interest at that moment. You don't need overarching geopolitical explanations to rationalize history. Put a Pakistani or a Botswanan in the American politician's shoes and he would do the same. People don't consider 200 years of history and case law in Congressional votes. They think about the Hawai'i vacation they promised their wife or the cost of their kids' year at Harvard. They're not bad people; they're just human.

[LarryP]

"He discusses how the “post-election euphoria in the United States over Barack Obama was nothing more than a bubble, an illusion, because the lion’s share of the $750 million he collected in campaign contributions” came from Wall Street. Thus, the fact that Obama proceeded to promise to rein in Wall Street’s excesses lay in stark and rather public contrast to his own connections with the banks."
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As soon as he tapped Bob Rubin as the chief economic advisor for his campaign I knew it was all over but the crying as far as his promises to rein in Wall Sreet.

But the members of the Obama nation were for the most part oblivious to this glaring conflict of interest. The illusion of what they wanted him to be was too much for them to resist. So they ignored the obvious and focused on the bullshit artist with the really well honed Neuro Linguistic Programming technique.

Nonetheless, the core problem with America is generational.

I highly recommend this book to anyone (including Mr. Berman) who wants to understand why.

"Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069"