20th Century American History - Social Aspects - Post World War II, Dictatorship, Authoritarianism & Totalitarianism, U.S. Politics & Government - 1945 - 1989, U.S. Politics & Government - 1945 to Present, Democracies & Republics - General & Miscellaneous

A Dream Deferred

Name: A Dream Deferred
Author: Philip Elliot Slater
ISBN: 9780807043042

by Slater, Philip

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Overview

While new governments around the world strive for democracy, the United States is becoming increasingly authoritarian and undemocratic. Sociologist Philip Slater shows how Congress-bashing and low voter turnout are symptoms of a larger decline in our faith in the sharing of power and information. He explains what democracy means at a personal level -- at work, in politics, in religion, and at home -- and how some of our most familiar and unquestioned assumptions tend to undermine it. In documenting the costs of American authoritarianism, Slater convincingly demonstrates that democratic processes, however messy and confusing, ultimately yield the most intelligent and flexible responses to a complex world.

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Editorials

Library Journal

For roughly 5000 years, says Slater, the world's dominant sociopolitical system (or ``megaculture'') has been authoritarian in nature, but today a democratic model is emerging. Lamentably, the United States, once the vanguard of the democratic movement, has been backsliding while the rest of the world struggles to cast off its chains. All segments of our society--business, government, education, religion, the ``authority-worshipping'' media--seem to be infected with the restrictive attitudes of the past. Slater, whose Pursuit of Loneliness ( LJ 3/1/70) became a counterculture classic, writes with the breezy pedantry of a pundit at a bull session; much of his essay is wordy and melodramatic. Slater's reliance on distorting statements to support his argument makes it difficult for the reader to take him seriously. Still, there may be demand from fans of his previous books.--Kenneth F. Kister, Tampa, Fla.