American Paradise: Hidden Ironies, Contradictions, Illusions, and Delusions, Paradoxes, Dilemmas, and Absurdities in American Life

The way we live, work, and die-alone and with other Americans-have so many hidden layers that we might as well say that there are two Americas: one we think we know and the other virtually unknown to us. Such a thought is compelling enough to motivate a sociologist to start writing down what he thinks about the hidden America.
Then, what emerges from this effort is a picture of America that is at once so familiar and so alien. It is the alien part of America that troubles us, that scares us...