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Robert Hughes, The Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America (American Philological Association, 1993; Harvill Press, 1999) The best-selling author sees "a hollowness at the cultural core" of post-80s America. Lambasting the right and the left — from Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, and Ronald Reagan to political correctness, Afrocentrism, and the art world — he calls to the carpet America's self-misperceptions. Hughes weaves his argument through three interrelated themes: "Culture and the Broken Polity", "Multi-Culti and Its Discontents" and "Moral in Itself: Art and the Therapeutic Fallacy". In his concluding chapter he argues that elitism in art is no more reprehensible than elitism in sports. Precisely this elitism is what renders athletes so popular and also accounts for whatever popularity art may lay claim to. MORE: Harvill Press publicity page Scott London.com book review TIME Magazine biography page for Hughes Amazon |
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