Format:
Book
Author:
Lessig, Lawrence, author.
Title:
America, compromised / Lawrence Lessig.
Publisher, Date:
Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
©2018
Description:
xii, 251 pages ; 23 cm.
Summary:
Of all the grievances driving voters to antiestablishment candidates, the loss of faith in institutions may be the most widely shared--and most justifiable. In fact, "there is not a single American awake to the world who is comfortable with the way things are." So begins Lawrence Lessig's sweeping indictment of contemporary American institutions and the corruption that burdens them. We can all see it--from the selling of Congress to special interests to the corporate capture of the academy. There is something wrong that goes deeper than populism and demagoguery. And it's our fault. What Lessig shows, brilliantly and persuasively, is that we can't blame the problems of contemporary American life on bad people, as the pundits all too often tend to do. Rather, he explains, "We have allowed core institutions of America's economic, social, and political life to become corrupted. Not by evil souls, but by good souls. Not through crime, but through compromise." Every one of us, every day, making the modest compromises that seem necessary to keep moving along, is contributing to the rot at the core of American civic life. Through case studies of Congress, finance, the academy, the media, and the law, Lessig shows how institutions are drawn away from higher purposes and toward money, power, quick rewards--the first steps to corruption. Lessig knows that a charge so broad should not be levied lightly, and that our instinct will be to resist it. So he brings copious, damning detail gleaned from years of research, building a case that is all but incontrovertible: America is on the wrong path. If we don't acknowledge our own part in that, and act now to change it, we will had our children a less perfect union than we were given. It will be a long struggle. This book represents the first steps. -- Jacket flap.
Series:
Randy L. and Melvin R. Berlin family lectures.
Subjects:
Corruption -- United States.
Political corruption -- United States.
Corruption -- United States -- Prevention.
United States -- Politics and government -- 21st century.
Genre:
Nonfiction.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Congress -- Of finance -- The media -- The academy -- The law -- Remedies.
LCCN:
2018012477
ISBN:
9780226316536 (cloth : alk. paper)
022631653X (cloth : alk. paper)
Other Number:
1031040211
System Availability:
1
Current Holds:
0
Control Number:
3666360
Call Number:
364.1/3230973
Course Reserves:
0
# System items in:
1