Madness at the Gates of the City: The Myth of American Innocence

As the post-modern world lurches toward the disasters and bereavements that signal the end of an age, we turn to myth to comprehend the elemental forces that move through our lives, to know who we are, to understand which stories inform our consciousness. MADNESS AT THE GATES OF THE CITY, writes Robert Johnson in his introduction, shows how America regularly re-enacts old patterns that cause us to subvert our goals and miss the deeper meaning in events. But by looking at American history, politics and popular culture through the lenses of Greek mythology, indigenous wisdom and archetypal psychology, the author discovers new hope in very old ways of thinking. This book should appeal to anyone interested in myth, Classics, history, psychology or progressive politics. Winner of the 2011 PEN Oakland JOSEPHINE MILES LITERARY AWARD.