1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789532403321

Autore

Swirski Peter <1963-, >

Titolo

American utopia and social engineering in literature, social thought, and political history / / Peter Swirski

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Routledge, , 2011

ISBN

1-136-72338-2

1-136-72339-0

1-283-15100-6

9786613151001

0-203-81661-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (266 p.)

Collana

Routledge transnational perspectives on American literature ; ; 15

Disciplina

813/.5409355

Soggetti

American fiction - 20th century - History and criticism

Political fiction, American - History and criticism

Utopias in literature

Social control in literature

National characteristics, American, in literature

Exceptionalism - United States

Social engineering - United States - History - 20th century

Political culture - United States - History - 20th century

Literature and society - United States - History - 20th century

Politics and literature - United States - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: life is more important than art or social engineering, eutopia, and evolution -- How I stopped worrying and loved behavioural engineering, or communal life, adaptations, and B.F. Skinner's Walden two -- You're not in Canada until you can hear the loons crying, or voting, people's power, and Ken Kesey's One flew over the cuckoo's nest -- You'll never make a monkey out of me, or altruism, proverbial wisdom, and Bernard Malamud's God's grace -- We better kill the instinct to kill before it kills us, or violence, mind control, and Walker Percy's The Thanatos syndrome -- It can't happen here, or



politics, emotions, and Philip Roth's The plot against America.

Sommario/riassunto

The United States today is afflicted with political alienation, militarized violence, institutionalized poverty, and social agony. Worst of all, perhaps, it is afflicted with chronic and acute ahistoricism. America insist on ignoring the context of its present dilemmas. It insists on forgetting what preceded the headlines of today and on denying continuity with history. It insists, in short, on its exceptionalism.American Utopia and Social Engineering sets out to correct this amnesia. It misses no opportunity to flesh out both the historical premises and the politic

2.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808842303321

Autore

Allmendinger Blake

Titolo

The melon capital of the world : a memoir / / Blake Allmendinger ; set in Bulmer by Lindsey Auten ; designed by N. Putens

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lincoln, Nebraska ; ; London, England : , : University of Nebraska Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

0-8032-5665-5

0-8032-5664-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (200 p.)

Disciplina

978.8/95

Soggetti

Adult children of divorced parents - United States

Baby boom generation - United States

Rocky Ford (Colo.) Biography

Rocky Ford (Colo.) Social life and customs Anecdotes

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

""Cover""; ""Title Page""; ""Copyright Page""; ""Dedication""; ""Contents""; ""List of Illustrations""; ""1. The Melon Capital of the World""; ""2. TJ Is a Wonderful Boy""; ""3. I Met a Traveler from an Antique Land""; ""4. Bad Day for a Black Brother""; ""5. Remember Me""; ""6. A Bump in the Road""; ""7. The Diary""; ""About Blake Allmendinger""



Sommario/riassunto

In this psychologically gripping memoir, Blake Allmendinger returns to his childhood home after a forty-year absence. His homecoming to the struggling farming community of Rocky Ford, Colorado, formerly known as the Melon Capital of the World, forces the author to confront his own sad and disturbing history, one that parallels his hometown's decline. Allmendinger's family was dominated by his emotionally and mentally unstable mother, who became depressed while living in Rocky Ford as a young woman. For the rest of her life she abused the members of her family, creating tensions that remained