Book Review
The Wilding of America: Money, Mayhem, and the New American Dream
By Charles Derber
Isaac Adams
Political Sociology
Jeff Tolina
November 29, 2006
Our society is plagued with social problems. Families are under attack and deteriorating, political corruption is rampant, the media has shackled out society and is holding it hostage, radical individualism is polluting our minds freeing us from moral obligations or responsibility which in turn is infecting our society with people who do what they want as they please.
The book, The Wilding of America, takes an in-depth look into the world around us and attempts to bring some understanding to the problems we face. Written by Charles Derber, we find that the answer to this question can be found by looking in the mirror. We learn the media, entertainers, movie stars, musicians, even famous criminals, who we all prop up as demi-gods, are major players in influencing our behaviors and attitudes. Giant corporations, using the influence of such individuals to glamorize their products and market them to society, they don’t care about how the people representing their products behave, so long as they are profitable. Political leaders abuse power and authority for their own self interest.
Derber addresses the affects that this has upon our society through many horrifying and disturbing instances which seem to rest as a scar on our nation. Americans today live in an unpredictable world that is camouflaged by media gloss, and superstardom hype. Many have abandoned morals and values associated with human decency. They then indulge in the typical wilding lifestyles of drugs, violence, sexuality, and anti-altruism that is heard in music, and seen on television and in the movies.
Derbers description of wilding looks at the many types of wilding, who exercises it, and who is affected by it. Expressive wilding refers to the sheer satisfaction of indulging one’s own destructive impulses,...