The American Culture Wars

by Nolan, James L.

• ISBN13: 9780813916972
• ISBN10: 0813916976
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Virginia Pr

Summary

Even though the majority of Americans hold moderate views on issues such as abortion, homosexual rights, funding for the arts and public broadcasting, and multicultural education, extremists tend to dominate public debate. James Davidson Hunter explained this polarization of American politics and political discourse and popularized the term culture wars in his best-selling book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America.The eleven contributors to The American Culture Wars analyse these and other heatedly contested issues. In addition, they examine new developments in the culture wars. Together the chapters of this book illuminate current cultural conflicts and offer clues as to where the next American culture wars may be waged.

Table of Contents

Contributors	vii	(2)
Preface	ix
James L. Nolan, Jr.
I. FIELDS OF CONFLICT	3	(152)
The Battle of the Books at Berkeley: In Search of the Culture Wars in Debates over Multiculturalism	3	(32)
David Yamane
Teachers and Preachers: The Battle over Public School Reform in Gaston County, North Carolina	35	(26)
Kimon Howl
Sargeant
Edwin L. West, Jr.
Public Television and the Culture Wars	61	(28)
William Hoynes
Cultural Conflict and Art: Funding of the National Endowment for the Arts	89	(26)
Beth A. Eck
The American Abortion Debate: Culture War or Normal Discourse?	115	(18)
Michele Dillon
Same Sex Politics: The Legal Controversy over Homosexuality	133	(22)
J. David Woodard
II. THE CULTURE WARS AND BEYOND	155
Contrasting Styles of Political Discourse in America's Past and Present Culture Wars	155	(34)
James L. Nolan, Jr.
Crossing Cultural Divides: Moral Conflict and the Cairo Population Conference	189	(24)
Joseph E. Davis
Truth, Not Truce: "Common Ground" on Abortion, a Movement within Both Movements	213	(30)
James R. Kelly
Reflections on the Culture Wars Hypothesis	243
James Davison Hunter