num_pages: 304
description: Over the past three decades America's power elite has undergone a dramatic change: WASP ancestry is no longer required for admission to the upper echelon, nor for success at the highest levels. Today, an ethnic identity can prove an asset in many areas of American life. Nowhere is this change more evident than in the 1988 presidential election. While only a generation ago John F. Kennedy's ethnic and religious background was widely perceived as a handicap, Michael Dukakis actively cultivated his image as the son of Greek immigrants as a political strength.Crashing the Gates is a wonderfully readable and comprehensive examination of this major change in America's most important and influential institutions. By charting the progressive shift away from WASP domination in such major fields of endeavor as politics, business, academia, and the media, among others, Robert Christopher gives us an accurate, up-to-date portrait of the current American Establishment.But Crashing the Gate is more than just a lively, name-dropping report on the state of ethnic relations at the top levels of American society. Christopher argues that historically America's cultural identity has always incorporated a wide variety of ethnic influences. The most important development in the United States today, he says, is the continuation and broadening of that blending process rather than the emergence, advocated by some, of a "cultural pluralism" of fragmented ethnic groups. This trend, suggests Christopher, holds out a genuine hope that members of non-white minorities will ultimately crash the gates of elite America in significant numbers.
language: English
title: Crashing the Gates: The De-WASPing of America's Power Elite
titlecomplete: Crashing the Gates: The De-WASPing of America's Power Elite
ratings_count: 4
publisher: Simon & Schuster