In Defense of Elitism
Author: Henry, William A.
ISBN: 9780385479431
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 01 Aug 1995
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback / softback
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning culture criticfor i>Time/i> magazine comes thetremendously controversial, yet highly persuasive,argument that our devotion to the largelyunexamined myth of egalitarianism lies at the heart of theongoing "dumbing of America."br>br>Americans have always stubbornly clung to themyth of egalitarianism, of the supremacy of theindividual average man. But here, at long last,Pulitzer Prize-winning critic William A. Henry IIItakes on, and debunks, some basic, fundamentallyingrained ideas- that everyone is pretty much alike(and should be); that self-fulfillment is moreimortant thant objective achievement; that everyonehas something significant to contribute; that allcultures offer something equally worthwhile; thata truly just society would automatically produceequal success results across lines of race,class, and gender; and that the common man is almostalways right. Henry makes clear, in a book full ofvivid examples and unflinching opinions, thatwhile these notions are seductively democratic theyare also hopelessly wrong.
ISBN: 9780385479431
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 01 Aug 1995
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback / softback
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning culture criticfor i>Time/i> magazine comes thetremendously controversial, yet highly persuasive,argument that our devotion to the largelyunexamined myth of egalitarianism lies at the heart of theongoing "dumbing of America."br>br>Americans have always stubbornly clung to themyth of egalitarianism, of the supremacy of theindividual average man. But here, at long last,Pulitzer Prize-winning critic William A. Henry IIItakes on, and debunks, some basic, fundamentallyingrained ideas- that everyone is pretty much alike(and should be); that self-fulfillment is moreimortant thant objective achievement; that everyonehas something significant to contribute; that allcultures offer something equally worthwhile; thata truly just society would automatically produceequal success results across lines of race,class, and gender; and that the common man is almostalways right. Henry makes clear, in a book full ofvivid examples and unflinching opinions, thatwhile these notions are seductively democratic theyare also hopelessly wrong.
