Indecent Liberties

"In Indecent Liberties, Robert Schmuhl wisely suggests that we remember the value of moderation. But, happily, he is immoderate when it comes to offering us intelligence, sharp insight, and independence of mind. At a time when so much commentary lives on polarization and exaggeration, Schmuhl is a national treasure. This book is a trove of some of his best thinking and writing." —E. J. Dionne, Jr., Syndicated Columnist, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and author of Why Americans Hate Politics and They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era
 
“Professor Schmuhl is one of the nation’s most insightful observers of the media, politics, and government.” —Marc Racicot, Governor of Montana
 
This series of eight provocative essays examines why Americans have a penchant for going to extremes in their arts, popular culture, politics, social movements, and other aspects of life. Robert Schmuhl considers historical examples (the hunting of the buffalo in the West, Prohibition, business ventures in the Gilded Age) but concentrates on contemporary subjects, including the emphasis on what shocks the audience as entertainment today, tensions among specific groups, the decline of private life, and the excesses of news media coverage in the O.J. Simpson and Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky stories.