Beyond the American Dream: Lifelong Learning and the Search for Meaning in a Postmodern World

Hayes' text sets out on a challenging journey and does it well. From the outset, he seeks to relate the concepts of high academia to the reader for what they are: elements of a world that has distanced itself from the layperson. This text consistently demonstrates the applicability of these themes to all, regardless of occupation or position. Quite simply, Hayes rejects the academic tendency to assert that compex themes are reserved for an academic audience and places these squarely before any reader to see that they are not mystical, overly sophisticated notons for a special set, but quite easily understood and intriguing given the desire to learn.

When I began reading I had a good idea that this was a text designed to challenge the mind and force one to, subconsciously at the least, reconsider their perspectives and understandings of the world around them. This work does just that, though its power and force cannot be laid so simply into a brief review. I would encourage anyone to read this work for its message about the pursuit of meaning in one's daily life. The mental workout may be tough at points, especially chapter four for the more traditional elements of society, but as with any healthy regimin the challenge will yield to benefit as Hayes' text flexes the reader's mental muscles.

This is a text with a message as informative as it is wide. Page after page gives the reader an understanding of the dynamics of modern events and presents a compelling commentary on the past, present and future of modern civilization. Perhaps the single greatest feature of this work is its ability, and goal, to grab the reader and rocket them into the stream of knowledge and understanding that lies just above their heads and views of the world. By allowing individuals to tap into a world previously reserved for academics and scholars, the text does justice both to the individual and to the knowledge and concepts it presents. I would highly recommend this work for anyone seriously, or even only moderately, interested in the world around them and the forces which have worked to create and maintain the world in which they live. For the scholar and layperson, this text is worthy of careful reading and even greater contemplation. This is a work not only to be read but to be lived.

Hayes gets it right. In these days of trash talk and partisanship, Hayes reads true. Defying easy categorization, he simply works his way through history and politics, sociology, anthropology and psychology without the annoying blindnesses and stupid preconceptions that so many academics exhibit. The book needs to be read as a whole. There aren't any amazing single insights, but there are a hell of a lot of solid ones, and they add up to a REAL plan of action for anyone with their head anywhere near their shoulders.

Charles D. Hayes doesn't contemplate his navel, then hypothesize where we have been, where we are, or where we are going as a people. He digs deep into the roots of the American soul from whence our cultural heritage springs and tells it like it is. He does this, not as an academic nor intellectual snob, but as a card carrying working man out of the bowels of American society. His life is a poignant piece of reality. To wit, Hayes is self-educated, a high school drop-out, an ex-U.S. Marine, a former Dallas police officer, and an Alaskan oil rigger. He didn't become a serious student until he was 35, 20 years ago. What he has learned, and what he shares with the reader here could change the reader's life, as it has mine. What is so compelling is that Hayes moves beyond the tinsel dreams to the true reality over the horizon. The book is not about getting rich or becoming famous. It is about using one's head to be all that one could become. Hayes relates his own experience to illustrate how powerful life-long learning can be in changing one's disposition, perspective and appreciation of life's blessings. "Beyond the American Dream" is the most important book on the American psyche that I have read in my lifetime. The book restores the reader's moral compass by putting the reader smack in the middle of life's equation, not as observer but as participant, not as a commodity for exchange, but as a responsible individual who listens to the rhythm of one's own heart to find one's way. If you read no other book in the next year, I urge you to read this book. It will change your life.