Culture Agnst Man V283

Henry was a cultural anthropologist who studied contemporary American culture rather than primitive cultures as most do. This gave him a certain perspective on society that I appreciated, although many might find his criticisms a little harsh. Nevertheless, Henry's analysis of the American culture of the 50's is hard-hitting, trenchant, and mostly spot-on. His analysis of "Blondness" is entertaining as well, and the chapter on "Human Obsolescence," where he summarizes his observations in convalescent and retirement homes, are only too familiar to readers today given the scandals that have surfaced in this industry in recent years. Overall, a classic of social commentary and one of the greatest to come out of the 50's. In reading this book, you'll see that in many ways, American culture hasn't changed much since the book was written almost 50 years ago.

I first encountered this book while in High School as a small piece of it was reprinted in an anthropology textbook. Though Henry goes off of the deep end a little bit in the veracity of his anti-American rhetoric, most of his observations are fairly sound. Probably the best analysis of the educational climate and processes ofcultural and social conditioning in the 1950's that I have read. In a sense, education in America is still very much about "Learning the Nightmare" as he calls it, wherein children are socialized into an overly hierarchical and competitive environment.