Rating: 
Summary: Cloistered Commentary
Review: Berman's book starts out strong, documenting the many-layered ills of postmodern American society. He stacks up the statistics of a nation run amok, effectively running on fumes, culturally. This is where he's most effective; I'd say the first 1/3 of the book is devoted to this, and it works.However, his core thesis: that to avert another Dark Age, concerned, cultured elitists ("secular/spiritual monastics") need to wean themselves from the nether-culture of "McWorld" and work to safeguard the best of Enlightenment/Western ideals, manifested through art, science, and literature -- isn't particularly new or shocking. Science fiction writers have been onto this idea for decades ("Foundation," anyone?) That's what I think is the fundamental flaw with this book; he doesn't seem to carry his thesis to its logical conclusion, but sort of backs away from it -- he sounds an alarmist note and ends up with a wistful, hopeful, middle-class vision for the future. Another problem is he invokes the notion of these latter-day monastics throughout the book, and when he finally talks about them, he seems a little lost -- offering a few examples of people who have successfully worked to bring culture to their corners of the world -- but not really articulating what these folks would truly do or be like. By their nature, such people are really invisible, not celebrities -- so how can he write about them? I think part of that comes from the clear middle-class background Berman brings to this work. He's writing as a person of relative privilege, offering this vision to people who are like him. He throws out a lot of names and references to thinkers, social critics, writers, movies, and so forth that he sees as valuable. I think that's useful for people who would otherwise be unaware of them (although I have read the folks he speaks of, and I don't see why readers wouldn't simply go directly to those sources [Noam Chomsky, Jacques Ellul, Adbusters, Tom Frank, David Barsamian, E.O. Wilson, etc.] instead of sticking with Berman to his sunny conclusion). The book is easy to read, and has interesting information (particularly the first half of the book) but I felt he lost his thread by the end, and am unsure why this happened. It gets repetitive in some places, as he restates his case exhaustively. I feel like the book should have gone through a few more drafts to tighten up his thesis and deliver the knockout blow he's clearly looking for. I found myself wondering what audience he was trying to reach with this, since true monastics in the style he speaks of would *already* be doing what he speaks about, and not looking for it in a book. Also, I found typos and grammatical errors in the book -- a common sign of the times, but when you're going on about how illiterate everybody else is, you shouldn't say things like "...is not necessarily at odds with that the of German Idealists." (pg. 18)
Rating:
Summary: Interesting intellectual musings, short on useful proposals
Review: Some interesting points, but don't expect too much in the way of practical suggestions in Morris Berman's The Twilight of American Culture. When reading books like this, I can't help but note that each generation of scholars feels that popular culture is springing up from scratch in his or her time. It appears to me that a more accurate analogy is that there is nothing new under the sun, and that popular culture simply reinvents itself anew every generation or so. Berman recommends a course of action which he calls the "monastic option", by which enlightened individuals take small steps to preserve meaningful culture, which will keep the seeds of intellectual thought alive through the coming dark age of pop culture into which the United States is about to plunge. It seems that the main virtue that Berman promises from this approach is that it is a contrast from the feel-good dumbed-down instant-answers spirituality that is being passed these days as recipes for social reform. Some of Berman's criticism is on target, in this regard, but the problem is that Berman's theory is not really any more useful. Granted, he eliminates the glibness of the instant-gratification set, but his own recommendations are so gradual and pessimistic that they have no potential to motivate anyone to do anything at all. Don't expect your monastic efforts to yield fruits in your lifetime, Berman concludes, or the lifetimes of your great grandchildren, for that matter. Or maybe even ever... So much for social reform. Interesting as an intellectual exercise, but don't go looking for anything practical. Policy wonks will want to avoid this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Twilight
Review: Fellow seekers. In the mind's eye, watch truth warrior Morris Berman battle the beast. Blow after blow, he strikes dull-witted political correctness with the blade of rational reasoning. An example of his effort to lift the fog that blurs our vision is a quote by Doris Lessing from "Briefing for a Descent into Hell." Consciousness-raising stuff. This is a good book for those of us who still carry the flag for peace and love. The bungled and the botched won't like it. Like Doris said, "...if they only knew how, if only they could remember properly, then they could get out of the trap, they could stop being zombies."
Rating: 
Summary: Take Back the Day
Review: This book is an urgent reminder for us to take our destinies into our own hands. Logical thought is disappearing from the national psyche, while the money-grubbing businessmen take food out of the mouths of the poor unapologetically. Bernan points out the roots of our evolving oligarchy, the rule of the poor by the rich, and reminds us that through education, thought and loyalty to the true American spirit, we can reject "McWorld" and create an America that will be smart, proud and free. Ignore the negative reviews of the corporate tools below -- buy this book and save our country today!
Rating:
Summary: On the Mark
Review: Is the American Empire bound to fall? Without doubt. When will it happen? Well, if you believe Morris Berman, the answer is "soon." I don't know if I believe Berman or not, and he himself admits that there is no way to predict the future, but he certainly gives some compelling reasons why he thinks we are living in "the twilight of American culture." As Berman reminds us, empires fail and superpowers fade. This is the way of history. Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Spain, France, England--they have all been world powers that have faded. There is no reason to think that the United States will be any different. To believe so is the height of ego for which Americans are proud and for which the rest of the world reviles us. But world powers leave a legacy both good and bad and empires can last for a long time. What will the American legacy be and how much longer can we last? To make his argument, Berman makes great use of the old metaphor of comparing the United States to the Roman Empire. Certainly, there are striking similarities. The wide division between rich and poor and the existence of fringe groups both near and far from the core (i.e. minorities in the US and the Third World) is clearly a problem. Additionally, one doesn't have to reach too far to see the homoginization of our entertainments and their tendency towards sex and violence as a "bread and circuses" opiate for our population. As an educator, however, I found his comments on "rapidly dropping levels of literacy, critical understanding, and general intellectual awareness" to be most on the mark. And the most troubling. Every day I see mediocrity masquerading as excellence in our schools and people who try to promote excellence either put down as uncaring and "elitist." People in this country cringe at the terms communist and socialist but it is the heart of what is worst about communism when underachievers are rewarded equally with the excellent because we don't want to damage their fragile self esteem. We are creating a generation of people in this country who are proud of their ignorance. This is certainly something to be feared. Ultimately, however, Berman is not overly pessimistic. This is something I like about this book. He believes our culture can be saved and that American culutre can rebound as civilizations have done before us. He extends the Roman Empire metaphor into a method of saving what is great about our culture. He calls it the "monastic option." Using the monks in their scriptoriums who saved the Greco-Roman culture from extinction as a starting point, he suggests that in modern times it will be aware individuals who will carry the best of American culture through the dark times ahead. It will unlikely be a religious undertaking as it was before but it will be the few who again will save the history of the many. I don't know if Berman is right about the future. Berman himself gives various scenarios for what may happen. Besides, talking of the future can never be anything more than conjecture. Still, I like what he has to say. Much of what he says about the present is right on the mark. I also like that, despite the problems with American culture, he recognizes that there are things about it which are worth saving. This is certainly true. But only those people willing to open there eyes about what is both good and bad about our world will be in a position to save it. Read this book. You don't have to agree with everything in it but it will give you something to think about. "The word twilight, after all, implies an eventual dawn, and at some point we ae going to emerge from our contemporary twilight and future darkness, if only because no historical configuration is the end of history."--Morris Berman
Rating: 
Summary: What a bunch of claptrap
Review: okay Mr. Berman...we get the point that you had to memorize Browning in high school...This book is full of embarrassing, childlike rants (many of which counter each other) which do nothing to remedy the situation. Quotes from Jay Leno? Gimme a break! How this can be taken seriously as social criticism is beyond me...Hogwash of the highest order!
Rating:
Summary: Twilight of the American Left
Review: This book would more aptly be entitled "Twilight of the American Left." Author Morris Berman doesn't so much describe the failure of American culture as the failure of the culture as warped by radical 60's liberalism. It is a failure so stunning that even liberals like Berman can't help but admit to it. As much as Berman recognizes the problem, he seems to be incapable of grasping any other way but the liberal/socialist way and when confronted with its failure can only suggest that the sky is falling. In Berman's world, the collapse of the American left--the world's last best hope--can only be followed by a "Dark Age." This is easily the most inconsequential social critique I have ever read, too silly to take seriously on any level. At times, it is laugh-out-loud funny, like the numerous occasions when Berman cites Garrison Keillor, Jay Leno and NPR's "Car Talk" as sources to back up his otherwise unsubstantiated claims. (One thing we learn about Berman is that he spends a lot of time listening to National Public Radio. Yeah, *he's* the guy. Apparently, the irony of NPR's very existence in "American Culture" never dawns on him.) This comedy hits full throttle when Berman says of a bit of anecdotal evidence he uses to "prove" his point, "I have no idea whether it is true. It could very well be true -- which ambiguity in itself is a sign of the times." No, Mr. Berman, using unsubstantiated second-hand stories to make your points is a sign of the times--and the sign of this book. Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Twilight of American Culture
Review: I found Berman's book entertaining and thought-provoking for the most part, with the following reservations: 1.His persistent use of two-dollar words was pretentious and irritating. I don't think this necessarily enhanced his getting the point across, since even an illiterate knows we are going to hell in a handbasket. 2. The same goes for his quoting a vast number of sources. This only means he has read a few books, and constitutes name dropping, which does not serve any useful purpose. 3. By his own definition, Berman is not an NMI but presumes to know that NMIs are the salvation of McWorld. 4. Berman should invest in a good spell checker.
Rating: 
Summary: sour and flawed critique
Review: Morris Berman has seen the future, and he doesn't like it. Berman is, according to the book jacket, "an innovative cultural historian and social critic" who has "held visiting professorships in the United States and Europe". He believes that the US, like ancient Rome, is exhibiting signs of imminent societal collapse: rising economic inequality, falling literacy, rising anti-intellectualism, and spiritual death through an expanding corporate culture. Berman provides a familiar litany of what's wrong: 53% of Americans don't know that the earth takes one year to revolve around the sun; 60% of adult Americans have never read a book; 70% of Americans believe in the existence of angels. Drawing inspiration from the Dark Ages, Berman advocates a remedy in what he calls the "monastic option". During a time of intellectual stagnation, monks preserved and copied classical wisdom. This knowledge was then available for the cultural renewal that started in the 12th century. Following this precedent, Berman suggests that what he calls NMI's (new monastic individuals) start preserving what's best in Western culture so that it can survive the coming storm. What's an NMI? You're an NMI if you love your occupation, aren't focused on celebrity culture, and haven't sold out to the corporate world to get where you are. NMI's are creative and nomadic. Hmmm, doesn't that sound suspiciously like a description of a certain cultural historian and social critic who's held visiting professorships in the United States and Europe? Despite a reputation as an intellectual, Berman's argument is frequently based on questionable sources. For example, he claims that 42% of Americans cannot locate Japan on a world map -- an eminently believable statistic -- but the impact is diminished by the realization that Berman's source is Garrison Keillor, the public radio variety show host. Despite being poles apart politically, Berman's analysis has much in common with Allan Bloom's bad and unintentionally hilarious 1987 polemic, _The Closing of the American Mind_. There is the same sourness, the same disdain for youth and youth culture. Both Berman and Bloom hunger for a better time long gone, when there were no McDonald's restaurants or Internet terminals in libraries. Both see literature and philosophy as the pinnacle of human achievement, and view science, mathematics, and technology with suspicion, even hostility. Ultimately this is all familiar and well-trodden ground. Indeed, Berman argued much of it in his execrable 1981 anti-rationalist screed, _The Reenchantment of The World_. The reader with a need to feel superior to most of North America would be better advised to read Paul Fussell's much wittier book _Class_ or even Joe Queenan's _Red Lobster, White Trash, and The Blue Lagoon_. Berman closes his introduction as follows: "I promise to do my best not to entertain you." This is one goal of the book that he has achieved.
Rating:
Summary: Blinded by political bias
Review: This book is both frightening and disappointing. One feels a chill at the bleak assessment of the current state of American culture but, deep inside, knows it to be accurate from our own observations of everyday life all around us. What the book doesn't mention is that, in todays society, approaches to the solution to these problems are often blunted by political bias. Often this is characterized by common sense being thrown out the window, facts are skewed to support a particular position or idea and the truth is victimized by statistics. It is my personal belief that neither the left or right side of the political spectrum is immune to this, but clearly the politically correct drenched left is the master of it. When truth is sacrificed to political posturing long enough, it is permanently lost to a version of 1984's "Ministry of Truth". This is especially true in the world of academia. In one of his better analogies Mr. Berman beautifully draws a parallel between the modern college to the church of the Middle Ages, in the selling of indulgences as colleges now sell diplomas, having removed most of the standards that were once required to get them. The problem with the book is that, in assessing the causes of the current state of affairs, Mr. Berman falls back on the classic anti-capitalism arguments of the political left, and, blinded by his own political dogma, accepts them, without question. Mr. Berman states that accelerating social and economic inequality is one of the four factors present when a civilization collapses. He then states: "What reader of this book is not aware that the gap between rich and poor has widened since the 1970's?" Well, me. I know that this is a classical liberal argument. I know that the statistics can be presented that seem to indicate that it is true. But I also know that I have seen the statistics presented in a way that make the opposite argument, and that, while it might be true that the differences between the highest and lowest levels can be shown to be growing, no accommodation is given to the fact that, in this country, people tend to progress through the levels, and the general population tends to be lifted, as a boat in a lock, to the next higher economic level. One of John Locks' basic principals, "the greatest good to the greatest number", seems to be really happening today in this country. To deny that is to deny the obvious. When you do that you have no hope of a solution to the problems, which may explain why Mr. Berman has none. In a related left oriented assessment, Mr. Berman lays many of the cultural problems of today at the foot of the major corporations. He does not find any redeeming merit in them at all. This ignores the fact that we all live a much more comfortable and healthy life because of them and their mass production techniques. When I was a boy, growing up in rural Tennessee, both myself and most of my relatives and friends, "in the country", had outdoor toilets. Now I don't know anyone that does. I do not care to go back to that way of life and do not view as enemies those who gave me indoor plumbing and the porcelain commode. It might also be noted that Mr. Berman is able to sell me his book and I am able to read and comment on it because of people like Bill Gates and the U. S. Army, who really did, "invent the Internet". So Mr. Berman, acknowledging that it is unlikely that this nation can destroy all the major corporations and impose a completely socialist government, has no solution except that certain elites, such as himself, become middle age type monks, happily sequestered away from the world and the rest of us, with their heads in the sand. Unfortunately, unless the strong political biases from both right and left can be put aside so an objective and common sense assessment of the causes of our problems can be made, we should all follow his advice. His book, without knowing it, both defines and demonstrates our problem to a tee.
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