That Does It Desperate Reflections on American Culture

by Heinegg, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780761843931
• ISBN10: 0761843930
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-15
• Publisher: Hamilton Books

Summary

"That Does It: Desperate Reflections on American Culture is an enfilade of critical attacks on the absurdities, stupidities, and crimes of present-day American life. Its targets are dumb-but-dangerous politicians, infantile-but-invasive preachers, saccharine-but-poisonous cliches, mindless entertainment, spineless media, and a national lifestyle marked by manic consumption and extravagant wastefulness, narcissistic complacency, pseudo-patriotism, and the idiotic worship of mor idols than you could throw a verbal LED at. The book provides a handy checklist of ills, from the life threatening to the merely obnoxious, afflicting the American psyche and body politic, which it then proceeds to submerge in satirical acid. This probably doomed assault on American cluelessness is recommended to all readers who have recently found themselves snorting indignantly at the nonsense dripping out of TV sets, car radios, talk shows, cineplexes, and White House news briefings."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Peter Heinegg is a professor of English at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction: America, Love It or Lambaste It (or Both)	p. ix
Paddling Through the Deluge	p. 1
Loonyland	p. 7
Scoundrels Swarming in the Last Refuge	p. 11
A Nation of Make-Believers	p. 17
Natural Splendor, National Squalor	p. 23
Throwing Our Weight Around	p. 27
Wait, There's More!	p. 31
The Amerigun Way of Life	p. 35
From Barbarism to Decadence Without Passing through You-Know-What	p. 41
Hats Off, Guys	p. 45
The Canting of America	p. 49
It's Offal, It's Awful, It's All We've Got	p. 53
Sludge, Slime, and Saccharine	p. 57
What We're Really Good At	p. 63
"News" You Can "Use"	p. 67
Feelthy Peektures of All-American Guys and Gals	p. 71
Mothers, Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up to be Blondes	p. 75
Up Close and Personal-Yecch	p. 79
Conservatism, Face to Face	p. 83
Culture is So Over	p. 89
Wigger Nation	p. 93
American Catholics and Other Bright Lights	p. 99
Sexual Wisdom from the Horse's Ass	p. 105
Had Enough?	p. 111
About the Author	p. 119
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.