Everybody Is Sitting on the Curb: How and Why America's Heroes Disappeared

Heroes are necessary because they set standards and reinforce societal values, argues Edelstein, associate professor of sociology at Towson State (An Unacknowledged Harmony: Philo-Semitism and the Survival of European Jewry). He believes that national heroes such as those who inspired citizens in the past--Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Babe Ruth, for example--no longer exist in the U.S. In rambling and uneven academic prose, he first describes heroic types, including those from the worlds of sports, politics, entertainment, the frontier and the military, then offers reasons for their demise. Edelstein maintains that the cynicism dating from the Vietnam era, the disappearance of the notion of individual responsibility, the growing influence of the social sciences and the decline of romanticism, among other cultural changes, have contributed to the lack of heroes. An addendum on why there are so few female heroes lacks clarity and a cohesive analysis. (Aug.)