Shadow Culture: Psychology and Spirituality in America

Rating:
Summary: The Development Of The Transpersonal In America
Review: I feel compelled to review this book because of the several bad reviews its received so far. I agree strongly with the review below by A Reader from San Francisco. This is a remarkable history of what I see as the true spirit of America, which is about as far removed from the Puritan ethic as one can get. For better or for worse, only in America could the developments described here take place. What Taylor very successfully shows is that there is nothing at all "New Age" about this attitude toward the conventional. Above all, though, I like SHADOW CULTURE for an entirely different reason. This was the first of several recent books I've read that discuss how the 60s counter-culture really *was* successful in bringing about a change in the American mindset. Again, for better or for worse, this is *not* the same country it was 50 years ago. There continues to be strong resistance to this from the far Right (take, for instance, the *viscious* hatred they hold for Mr. & Mrs. Clinton). But, as Taylor shows in this book, the "alternative" approaches to almost everything have decidedly permeated our culture. (I even read recently a newsletter from a medical malpractice company *strongly* advising doctors to become familiar with alternative practices, as the doctors are likely to do harm and get sued if they don't know how those things interact with prescription medications!) There's no turning back from this. Where it's heading, though, remains to be seen.

Rating:
Summary: The Development Of The Transpersonal In America
Review: I feel compelled to review this book because of the several bad reviews its received so far. I agree strongly with the review below by A Reader from San Francisco. This is a remarkable history of what I see as the true spirit of America, which is about as far removed from the Puritan ethic as one can get. For better or for worse, only in America could the developments described here take place. What Taylor very successfully shows is that there is nothing at all "New Age" about this attitude toward the conventional. Above all, though, I like SHADOW CULTURE for an entirely different reason. This was the first of several recent books I've read that discuss how the 60s counter-culture really *was* successful in bringing about a change in the American mindset. Again, for better or for worse, this is *not* the same country it was 50 years ago. There continues to be strong resistance to this from the far Right (take, for instance, the *viscious* hatred they hold for Mr. & Mrs. Clinton). But, as Taylor shows in this book, the "alternative" approaches to almost everything have decidedly permeated our culture. (I even read recently a newsletter from a medical malpractice company *strongly* advising doctors to become familiar with alternative practices, as the doctors are likely to do harm and get sued if they don't know how those things interact with prescription medications!) There's no turning back from this. Where it's heading, though, remains to be seen.

Rating:
Summary: Not useful and not very well written
Review: Like some of the other reviewers I cannot say that this is an interesting book. I have read many New Age books, many of them quite scholarly. This is just not a good book. Sorry, Mr. Taylor -- better luck in the next life, eh?

Rating:
Summary: A Shallow Analysis Masquerading as Scholarship
Review: Taylor does indeed present an overview of a certain sort of tradition that has not been well-surveyed to this point. His historiography, while not deep, is adequate, given the wide range of material. However, Taylor's own agenda so overwhelms the history that his assessment of particular figures is nearly useless. To contrast broadly the "Western rationalist tradition" with the "Western visionary tradition" - as he does in various ways at every opportunity - is little more than name-calling. His "faith" in something called "pure religious experience" is almost 100 years out-of-date -- has the author not realized that all experience (including religious experience) is shaped by language, culture, and tradition? Unsuspecting readers, beware: a position as a psychitrist at Harvard does not make up for a history that is little more than an advertisement for his own personal spiritual predilection.