"This powerful compilation of writings indicates the continuity of ""our national disease"", especially as it infects cultural values and the arts. Acutely aware of the failures of American society, the authors defend personal sensibility against destructive forces, and the moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship by the bitch-goddess success. Selected writings by Alexis de Tocqueville, Washington Allston, Henry Thoreau, Walt Whitman, William...