In search of America Book

Like America itself, this book is completely schizo. It spends an entire chapter on the virtues of capitalism, celebrating our use of the brightest minds to sell potato chips to all the cultures of the world (instead of their traditional lintels and tofu), then in another section lamenting our poor diets and the loss of local cuisine. It talks about the travesty of mandates to include "non-whites" in public school history books ("who is this Sanchez fellow? I haven't heard of him!"), but then concludes with a thoughtful essay on the complex issue of immigration. But it is undeniably a book about the masculine experience. Aside from a touching profile on an illegal worker supporting her family in Utah, the most prominent references to women are about beauty pageants and historical societies the extol the accomplishments of menfolk.

Also, the authors have some really disturbing ideas on what it means to be liberal. After 67 pages of extolling the all-American virtues of the conservative right, they offer up this description of someone on the left: "McIntyre was among the many young professionals who came to Washington in the early 1970s to work against the Vietnam War, for civil rights, for environmental protection, for consumer rights - in other words for a strong federal presence in the lives of all Americans." Right. So his diabolical objective is to promote Big Government just to piss off Republicans. And not to, you know, make sure our children have clean air to breath or have protections against unfair work environments or anything. But rather to shove Uncle Sam down your throats!! Seriously. I almost threw the book at the wall when I read that.