The Day America Told the Truth: What People Really Believe about Everything That Really Matters

It is scary to know that your neighbors are all a bunch of nut cases!!

This book has been a staple for me since I read it some 3 years ago. The information that it provides into the thoughts, actions, and behavior of Americans is most interesting. I am a firm believer that America is facing many problems associated with integrity and honesty. It is well recognized that we are currently a nation without true leaders. Children have no heroes, except those who have died and gone many years ago. Even worse is that we have little trust in those who we should most respect and emulate- the president, congressmen, lawyers, etc. This is an eye-opener and I highly recommend it to anyone interesting in our current 'climate' and psychology in general.

Professional researchers James Patterson and Peter Kim conducted numerous in-depth surveys during the early 1990's to find out what Americans really thought. Patterson and Kim interviewed their subjects on such issues as sex, money, religious beliefs, morality, ethics, sense of community, responsibility, work issues, etc. What did they discover? Americans are somewhat less moral than they pretend (women are a bit straighter than men), and their ethics at work and in business are a bit lacking. Hypocrisy in religious and moral values is another reality, as is the finding that Americans have many sexual fantasies and quite a few violent ones as well. These results may disturb some readers, but perhaps these findings would be similar in other times and in other places. Still others may wonder if perhaps people were completely truthful - a problem in many similar type surveys. This book is slightly dated but should be of interest to sociologists, psychologists, and anybody with an interest in the difference between pretense and what people really think and feel.

It has been over a decade since the authors captured this snapshot of American thoughts and attitudes, and after rediscovering this book at the library I was curious whether all of the "revelations" identified in the book have held up. What struck me the most was how fleeting many of the attitudes identified were (and are), which are outside of the core ways we define ourselves - morality, values, and private lives. A re-read of this book makes me wonder whether there were some flaws in the initial data gathering which "dates" the results (such as Ch 32 which focus' on Japan vs. America), or the book truly reflects our preoccupation with the current issues of the time (such as Ch 15 Violence in America). With these thoughts, and since this book predates a multitude of changes in the 90's through today (crime rate reduction, Clinton years, deficit reduction, and of course 9/11), revelations such as "Does America have moral leadership?", "Are the Japanese superior to Americans?", and "Do we still see ourselves as Number 1?" appear to ring somewhat hollow as concerns of today - but maybe they have not fully gone away. The book retains its currency because, even in the midst of the changes which occurred in the last decade, the thoughts and attitudes in the book represent the foundation upon which today's attitudes and values derive. It remains fascinating reading, and leads the reader to examine his own core values and how they may have changes with time.

I have a wonderful time with this book. I got mine, per the Oprah Winfrey shows discussion of it, and found the book to not only be informative, on the nature of the human animal, but to provide many insights into people's behavior. It discusses the inner most workings of people minds, hopes, belief systems, in it are tests you can take, about how moral, or "good" or truthful, or honest you and your friends are. Some of the contents are rated X, as far as some "confessions" of the interviewees, and vary from adultery, to beastiality. Not for the faint. The geographic nature of the book breaks the United states into segments, and gives an interesting picture to how the people in the "Bible Belt" relate to the world around them differently than say the people in the "Pac Rim". This book also works as an Ice breaker, party mixer, truth or dare game provoker, and jumps starts idle conversations. I have become more out going and find the fascinations people have about this books contents leads to hours of fun, and interesting exchanges of ideas.I highly recommend it for Tea parties, Socials, and other multi-personal events. Hours of enjoyable reading, discovering some of the humorous to darker secrets of our fellow "John Q. Public" A terrific read.