The Fate of America

by Gellert, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781574884715
• ISBN10: 1574884719
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-01
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc

Summary

The Fate of America examines the national character of the United States against the backdrop of its history, popular culture, and media. Michael Gellert suggests that the deterioration of America's "heroic ideal," the heart of its national character, is responsible for the country's deepening social ills and the erosion of its vital institutions. He calls for a spiritual and intellectual renaissance and a renewed sense of national purpose in order to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Author Biography

Michael Gellert is director of training at the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles. He was formerly a humanities professor at Vanier College, Montreal, and taught religious studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
America's Heroic Ideal
Prelude: The Aspiration Toward Greatness	p. 2
Two Souls Within the Human Breast	p. 9
The Spirits of Youth and Authority	p. 9
One Plus One Equals Three	p. 12
America's Alternating Current	p. 15
America's Bias	p. 17
The Fallout from Falling Out of Balance	p. 21
A Big Bang	p. 25
The American Heroic Ideal, Yesterday and Today	p. 27
The Revolutionary	p. 29
A Distant Galaxy	p. 29
The Recognition of Necessity	p. 32
The Cultivation of Character	p. 35
The Frontiersman	p. 39
The Backwoods Boasters	p. 39
The Quintessential American Hero	p. 43
The Mysterious Indianization of the American People	p. 46
Contemporary Heroic Idealism	p. 50
The Continuing Saga of the Cowboy	p. 50
A Simple Problem	p. 52
The Heroism of Sports	p. 53
The Divided Hero	p. 56
The Divided Society	p. 59
The Diffusion of the Heroic Ideal	p. 62
The High Life
Prelude: The Metaphor of Height	p. 66
The Commercialism of America's Heroic Ideal	p. 71
The Cult of Prosperity	p. 71
The Fantasy of Unlimited Possibilities	p. 76
The Culture and Economics of Excess	p. 78
A Healthy Ability to Say "No": A Gift of Depression	p. 84
Heroic Mania	p. 87
The Cult of Motion and Speed	p. 87
The Dangers of Motion and Speed	p. 93
The Imitation of Heroism	p. 100
The Cult of Celebrity	p. 100
Heroic Tunnel Vision	p. 107
The Cults of Fundamentalism	p. 107
The Trappings of Fundamentalism	p. 114
Religious Mediocrity	p. 119
The Escape from Heroism	p. 122
Getting High: The Cult of Passion	p. 122
The Meaning of the Drug Epidemic	p. 127
The Metaphor of Depth	p. 133
The Heart of the Matter	p. 133
The Underside of Innocence
Prelude: The Style of Innocence	p. 144
The Historical Roots of American Innocence	p. 149
The American Vision	p. 149
The American Vision as a Paradigm of Innocence	p. 154
The Innocence of Humanism	p. 162
Jefferson's Bastards	p. 166
The Diffusion of the American Vision	p. 166
The Cult of Novelty	p. 168
The Cult of Freedom	p. 172
The Cult of Happiness	p. 180
The Idolization of an Ephemeral Self	p. 183
The Land of the Overrated Child	p. 187
The Cult of Childhood	p. 187
The Madness of Child Abuse	p. 192
Divorce and the Long Reach of Childhood	p. 197
The Pro-Life Movement and the Cult of Childhood	p. 200
The Cry for Initiation	p. 201
The Puerile Society	p. 204
The Metaphor of the Eternally Young Hero	p. 209
The Language of Images and the Imagination	p. 209
The Myth of JFK and the Conspiracy Theory	p. 210
Why Elvis Presley Won't Die	p. 215
Rock 'n' Roll and the Dionysian Death	p. 217
Death-Heroes and the Wish for Transformation	p. 219
The Explosion of Innocence	p. 221
War and Imperialism, American Style	p. 221
America's Messianic Complex	p. 226
Violence as the Fist of Innocence	p. 232
The Metaphor of America's Darkness	p. 238
The Roots of American Racism	p. 238
The Infantilization of the African-American	p. 244
The Rage of the Disesteemed	p. 249
The Infatuation with the African-American	p. 254
The Meaning of Integration	p. 258
The Implosion of Innocence	p. 264
The Ossification of Authority	p. 264
The Cult of Cynicism	p. 270
The Sacrifice of Innocence	p. 276
The Journey of the Hero and Beyond	p. 276
The Fate of America
Prelude: The Unpredictable Nature of History	p. 284
America in the Third Millennium	p. 287
Opportunity Repeats, History Knocks	p. 287
The American Vision as a Paradigm of Integrity	p. 290
The Canvas of History	p. 296
Conclusion	p. 306
Notes	p. 309
Acknowledgments	p. 343
Index	p. 347
About the Author	p. 368
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