Boyishness in American Culture. The Charms and Dangers of Social Immaturity

Examines the charms and, more closely, the dangers of boyishness in American culture. Argues the paradox of American culture by drawing from the allied disciplines of literature, history, and psychology, from sources as venerable as the classic texts of our civilization and as current as today's headlines. In the words of one journalist, "our dreamy, drifting culture throws off dangerous, drifting dreamers," the kind of men who shoot our presidents, of course, yet also the kind of men who sometimes become president.