Book Review "Whatever Happened to the Real America?"

American society today has been shaped by years past. After the Second World War, U.S. inhabitants dedicated their lives and time to shape and improve America’s culture to the way it is today. Through the decades of the 1950s and today, the society has changed through scientific and technological advances. On the other hand, aspects of the culture have not changed because its citizens have yet to advance in those areas.

Graham Greene's novel, The Quiet American, is more than a political statement about whether or not America or any other country for that matter should become involved in the affairs of another country; Greene makes the question human and personal. The novel can be read as a political and moral reflection on the opening stages of the United States’ involvement in Southeast Asia. Therefore, Greene’s novel becomes a commentary on the pointlessness of the United States’ later investment of men and material in a political action that could only end, as it did for the French, in defeat.

Dinesh D’Souza wrote What’s So Great About America after the attack of September 11, 2001. After the attacks, most people grieved, even if they knew on one that died; however, people also banded together and fought against a group they thought were attacking them. He wrote this book so that pride for America would radiate from the people long after the attacks; that they also would not so easily forget what they did for the country.

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

In the poem “America,” by Tony Hoagland, the idea of Americans being consumed with their money is shown using symbolism and metaphors. The speaker in this poem is a teacher whose name is never mentioned. One thing revealed in the poem is that the speaker has a father who is presumably very wealthy and successful. One of the teacher’s students compares America to a maximum security prison. A recurring theme throughout “America” is Hoagland showing examples of America’s greedy society using a teacher, student, and a father’s experiences. Using metaphors of money and symbols of rivers filled with merchandise, Tony Hoagland captures how the teacher begins to think after he hears his student compare America to a maximum security prison.

In America’s pastime, there were many conflicts that continued to help shape America. Citizens were becoming more aware and concerned about how America was managed, as conflict was becoming a regular misfortune for the country. Events such as progressivism, the roaring twenties, and the stock market crash may have seemed like a negative time in the United States at face value, but the overall impacts and effects helped establish innovations that still positively influence the lives of citizens today.

In today’s society, the variation of social, cultural, political, and economic life mirrors our Founding Fathers dreams. Since then, America has learned to adjust and accept every citizen's differences with the help of The Bill of Rights, US Constitution, Northwest Ordinance, and the Declaration of Independence. As these documents represent the development of America then, books like the Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore reflect the variations of social, cultural, political, and economic life today. Over time, the definition of being an American has evolved and molded with society to make what the United States citizens know now.

Why did Rome fall? Well, It is my belief that the government was one of the main issues. Then there was the military, and finally the social classes. Now do I think America is heading in the same direction? No, Yet I do still think we have some red flags to be still watching out for.

This essay will examine the rise of “modern America”, there were economic, religious, and aspect of life changes took place and it was greatly changed the Americans society’s perceptions, specifically, the north and the south. The rise of “modern America” was greatly motivated immigrants to come to the United States for economic opportunity, industrialization in the North after the civil war created new businesses and job regulations, and the demand for social changes; all of these factors shaped America socially, politically, and economically.

No country is perfect, take the US for example. Many people live in poverty and our entire country lives in debt. Our military is having trouble recruiting good, qualified people to fight wars because there are so many teens dropping out of school (Coogan). Not to mention the fact that we have reoccurring mini wars within our states due to racism and police brutality; citizens are tearing apart their own towns and rioting against their protectors just for “fair justice.” These are only a few problems the US are facing today. However, the US still stands with these issues; we haven’t completely fallen apart yet. Although, some countries or empires have so many problems that they can’t stay afloat like us; they are destroyed. One of these places was the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was a city in Rome, Italia, what is now known as Rome, Italy. It began in 750 BCE, and soon rose to be a powerful empire. However, as the years passed, more and more problems began to rise in the empire due to the Romans getting lazy. With all of these new issues, the empire started to run downhill until it eventually was invaded and destroyed in 476 CE. There were many conflicts within the empire that added to it’s decline, but there are three that were worse than the others. The three primary reasons that caused Rome to fall were their barbaric culture, foreign invasions, numerous military problems, and unstable, cowardly leadership.

To begin, Robert Putnam describes what has occurred in the U.S. over the past several decades. He states that over the past several decades the U.S. has been subject to “[an] economic and cultural [entanglement] a mixture of government, private sector, community and personal failings” (Putnam 2013, III).

We live in a very exploitive, sexually saturated society. With the increasing development of technology and rapid deliverance of the media, sex is almost completely unavoidable. It is in magazines, movies, tabloids, billboards, music lyrics, on television, and all over the internet. Many believe that this sexual revolution has been liberating and is an indication of progress and freedom. The reality is that this cultural obsession with sex is extremely debasing, proving to have detrimental effects on marriage and our youth.

All states within America require some version of sex education. Whether that be abstinence only education, comprehensive sexual education, Holistic sex education, and abstinence-plus or abstinence-based sexual education(opposing viewpoints). The social and political climate of sex education over the last two decades has dramatically changed, with

However I remember that America was not always like this, America was once heavily rooted into Christian morals and values. So as I read more and more, I learned about the sexual revolution of the 60’s. It was during the 60’s when the sex revolution began. The movement itself originated in San Francisco. I learned that during this time that the youth wanted to proclaim love and sex. I also learned about the two most important events that helped stage the sexual revelation. One of these events was the discovery of antibiotics was founded which led to

In a study conducted in the United States, 61 percent of men and 12 percent of women born prior to 1910 admitted to having premarital sex; the gender disparity may have been caused by cultural double standards regarding the admission of sexual activity. Starting in the 1920s, and especially after World War II, premarital sex became more common; this was especially prevalent among women. By the end of the 20th century, between 75 and 80 percent of Americans had sex before the age of 19. During the colonial period, premarital sex was publicly frowned upon but privately condoned to an extent. Even though premarital sex was somewhat condoned, having a child outside of wedlock was not. If a pregnancy resulted from premarital sex, the young couple were expected to marry. Beginning in the 1950s, as premarital sex became more common, the stigma attached to it lessened for many people. Love began to become enough for a reason to practice sex, instead of marriage or engagement in the eyes of many. The percentage of ever-married men and women who had premarital sex (20-44 years old) between 2006 and 2010 is 90.6% men and 86% women (www.cdc.gov). A new study of 38.000 Americans has found that 95% had premarital sex (www.truthdig.com). Another statistic says that 3% of the US population, represents nearly 10.000.000 person, wait until marriage. These 3% wait to found love, get married then have sex for the first time after they get married. (waitingtillmarriage.org) .By 2000, roughly a