The twilight of common dreams
Subtitle: why America is wracked by culture wars
By: Todd Gitlin.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 294
Subjects: Pluralism (Social sciences) -- United States; Multiculturalism -- United States; Culture conflict -- United States; United States -- Social conditions -- 1980-
Description: In The Twilight of Common Dreams, Todd Gitlin places the debates of the moment in a sweeping historical context and - sparing no sides - he argues that these highly charged conflicts are a sideshow, obscuring a seismic transformation in American political life. The Left, which once stood for universal values, has come to be identified with the special needs of distinct "cultures" and select "identities." The Right, long associated with privileged interests, now claims to defend the needs of all.

The consequences are clear: since the late 1960s, while the Right has been busy taking the White House, the Left has been marching on the English department.

With dazzling range and acuteness, Gitlin's analysis moves through American history and modern thought, from academic squabbles to the crisis in the Democratic party, from embattled school boards to the right-wing exploitation of those scarlet letters, "PC." In the end, he maintains, the culture wars are evasions of America's deepest trauma - inequality - and he eloquently contends that America is lost unless its obsession with cultural differences can be transcended in the name of the common good.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-281) and index.