The twilight of American culture
Subtitle: Morris Berman.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Norton
Published: 2000
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 205
Subjects: Popular culture -- United States; Corporations -- United States -- Sociological aspects; Mass society; Monastic and religious life -- Europe -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500; Education, Humanistic -- United States -- Philosophy; United States -- Civilization -- 1970-; United States -- Social conditions -- 1980-
Description: "Whether examining the corruption at the heart of modern politics, the "Rambification" of popular entertainment or the collapse of our school systems, Berman's analysis makes it clear that there is little we can do as a society to stave off the relentless momentum of the mass-mind culture that grows with each gargantuan corporate merger. Our only recourse, he argues, is cultural preservation, which is a matter of individual conscience, including a refusal to base our lives on profit or consumerism. The possibility for long-term cultural renewal lies in the emergence of a "new monastic individual" not unlike the movement that developed during the early Middle Ages, and that managed to preserve a few precious treasures in anticipation of a new cultural dawn. Twilight of American Culture is a provocative reflection on present dilemmas and future possibilities."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-193) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The American crisis; title: Collapse, or Transformation?; title: The monastic option; title: Intermezzo: The testimony of literature; title: The dialectic of enlightenment; title: The monastic option in the Twenty-First Century; title: Alternative visions.