Heroes, Villains, and Fools: The Changing American Character

This volume presents three major social types in American society—heroes, villains, and fools—as models for American behaviour. Approaching these models primarily through language, Orrin E. Klapp explores what they may suggest about Americans as a people.

Rather than study people, the author describes abstract types named and embedded in popular language. These social types are important symbols; and a way to attack a symbol is by identifying its meaning in various contexts. He further argue...