Shadow Dancing USA C

Ventura, an award-winning L.A. Weekly columnist, ranges widely over modern American life in this provocative collection of critical essays. Writing in the tradition of ""new cosmology'' thinkers such as Robert Bly and William Irwin Thompson, Ventura argues that our ``electronically instant, planet-spanning environment'' will soon give rise to a single world culture, still to be defined. In that context, he examines marriage, male sexuality, the reassuring qualities of the mass media, the meaning of the '60s and other topics. A self-described former welfare and street kid, he is insightful on the relationships between rock music, dancing, and young men's rediscovery of their bodies. Ventura brings an energy and originality to his work that make him a writer to watch. October 14