Synopsis
Clausen, who has written widely on literature and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries, argues that while we no longer have a single dominant culture, our subcultures, or ancestral cultures, are not in very potent shape either. He shows how cultures have lost power over both our public and private behavior and looks at consequences on areas of American life from marriage to politics. He demonstrates how moral demands and collective identities of America's native and immigrant cultures have vanished. The author teaches at Pennsylvania State University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley
A bracing antidote...Faded Mosaic is no mere exercise in semantic hairsplitting but an argument-to me a most persuasive one-that in these United States at this point in its history culture does not exist.