"The Last Innocent White Man in America" is a passionate marriage of politics and literature which transcends the daily headlines to get at America's view of itself in history. The essays range from the American fear and loathing of the 1960s to Nixon's secret love affair with Elvis; from the Reagan gerontocracy's "theology of greed" to the Gulf War "turkey shoot"; from censorship and homelessness to sparkling essays on writers as diverse as Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gunter Grass and Salman Rushdie.
Author Biography
John Leonard (1939-2008) is the author of The Last Innocent White Man in America and Smoke and Mirrors (both published by The New Press). He was editor of the New York Times Book Review, literary co-editor of The Nation, and now appeared weekly on CBS Sunday Morning and in New York.
