{"product_id":"indecent-liberties-robert-schmuhl-9780268031572","title":"Indecent Liberties","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis series of eight provocative essays examines why Americans have a penchant for going to extremes in their arts, popular culture, politics, social movements, and other aspects of life. Robert Schmuhl considers historical examples (the hunting of the buffalo in the West, Prohibition, business ventures in the Gilded Age) but concentrates on contemporary subjects, including the emphasis on what shocks the audience as entertainment today, tensions among specific groups, the decline of private life, and the excesses of news media coverage in the O.J. Simpson and Bill Clinton\/Monica Lewinsky stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIndecent Liberties \u003c\/i\u003eexplores the dangers and consequences of carrying fundamental American freedoms too far. In this environment, achieving a public good can get lost in a frenzy of private gain or a worthwhile idea can be pushed to unrecognizable boundaries, producing the opposite of its intended effect. When an attitude of \"anything goes\" takes hold, a sense of limits gets lost, and it is different to achieve harmony or a center that holds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEspecially as we face a new century with talk of \"hyperdemocracy\" and \"hypercommunications\" common in intellectual circles, \u003ci\u003eIndecent Liberties\u003c\/i\u003e argues that seeking equilibrium should be a central objective for all Americans. To go to wretched excess can lead to \"indecent liberties\" and wretched results that throw the country off balance and endanger the future. This book asks questions about today and yesterday that require answers for tomorrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis insightful analysis of a distinct American characteristic is for every reader concerned with America's penchant for going to extremes in ways that produce debatable, even deplorable, consequences.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Schmuhl\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0268031576\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780268031572\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Notre Dame Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/01\/2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 160\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.49h x 5.57w x 0.45d","brand":"Robert Schmuhl","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47757338738943,"sku":"9780268031572","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_887c2a67-0833-4487-9898-5647699c9c23.jpg?v=1765510182","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/indecent-liberties-robert-schmuhl-9780268031572","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}