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Article: Sounding the alarm on American culture.(Features)(Books)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- July 13, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PROMISE AHEAD By Duane Elgin William Morrow 224 pp., $23
THE TWILIGHT OF AMERICAN CULTURE By Morris Berman W.W. Norton 224 pp., $23.95
Duane Elgin's new book, Promise Ahead, has a hopeful sounding title and message. But the "promise" that lies ahead, Elgin warns, can be realized only if we start to think, feel, and act in a way that will enable us to move past petty, selfish, and ultimately self-destructive individualism, nationalism, industrialism, and consumerism.
This certainly sounds like a fine plan, but how might we even dare to hope such farsightedness will prevail?
Looking around at some dismaying current behavior - obsession ...