What lies behind America's economic and social decline? Can racism explain the ghetto tragedy if two-thirds of America's blacks have made it into the middle class? Why have Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrants done so much better than Mexicans? Why are the United States and Canada so far ahead of Latin America? According to Lawrence E. Harrison, the key to answering these and other questions is culture-- the values of a people with respect to work, education, frugality, community, fair play, and progress.