THE PURSUIT OF LONELINESS: American Culture at the Breaking Point

by Philip Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 1970

Mr. Slater, a professor of sociology at Brandeis (and co-author of The Temporary Society--1968) attempts to find a ""viable social context""--one of the muzzier professional phrases--in a society which has veered from its fear of Communism to a fear of radicalism. And of course violence (in the interesting section--""Kill Anything That Moves"") which represents a new threat while camouflaging a formerly acceptable activity. It's just a question of who is violent and why. Much of Slater's commentary swings from analogues to paradoxes: thus in the part dealing with ""Women and Children First,"" you will find that the American housewife is a ""nobody,"" deprived, although omnipresent and lending herself to maternal magnification. The intergenerational gap leads on to sex, and its emphasis today; and in the final section there's a rundown of the priorities, incentives, and lacunae in the old (bland) culture versus the new with Mr. Slater definitely opting for the latter and its hope for a ""cooperative communal world."" And individualism must go. . . . With Lorenz and Marcuse alongside of Shelley Berman or Tom Lehrer, a protean, mobile, discomfiting but arrantly sharp discussion. You may talk back more than once but you'll certainly think twice.

Pub Date: April 15, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Beacon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION