Book jacket color fading On cover A.A. Knopf, 1999 - Culture - 179 pages Beginning with Adam Smith, who in The Wealth of Nations described the "two different schemes or systems of morality" that prevail in all civilized societies, Gertrude Himmelfarb describes the moral divide in America that cuts through class, racial, ethnic, political and sexual lines. She shows how the cultural revolution of the 1960s generated the dominant culture of today, particularly in universities, journalism, television and film, whereas what she calls the "dissident culture" continues to promote the values of family, a civil society, sexual morality, privacy, and patriotism. The Two Cultures explores the place of religion, family and the law in American life, but states that even when there are many legitimate grievances against government, the citizenry cannot afford to illegitimize government. As she proposes democratic remedies for the moral and cultural diseases of democratic society, Himmelfarb concludes that it is a tribute to Americans that without serious social strife we remain "one nation" even as we are divided into "two cultures."

ISBN: 9780375404559