Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

BOOK REVIEWS - András Tamóc: Robert Hughes: Culture of Complaint. Oxford University Press, 1993. 203 pp

former slaves. Thus the notion of a heretofore white protestant mainstream American ideal faced a serious challenge as new groups began to demand their share of the "American Dream". Whereas the civil rights revolution and subsequent ethnic awareness movements of the 1960's achieved political equality for minority groups, economic parity seemed to be out of reach. American society was divided between two opposing viewpoints; conservatives arguing the sufficiency of present gains and liberals voicing displeasure over the limits of political equality. Frustrated by their inability to partake in the "American Dream" minorities found solace in ethnic pride movements where differences from the mainstream American norm were idolized in such slogans as "Black is Beautiful" and "Brown Power". Ethnic achievements and racial equality suffered significant setbacks in the 1980's during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. As a former Democrat turned fiscal conservative Republican, Reagan capitalized on the division of American society and attempted to annihilate several privileges gained by minorities. The American Leffs failure to mount an effective challenge against Reaganism found an expression in the political correctness movement. Following the Puritan value system the politically correct school of thought views the American past in the framework of victims and villains. Similarly to the settlers of New England who condemned European intolerance, in the politically correct worldview of late 20th century America the role of the villain is assigned to a special category, the white European male. Consequently the history of the U.S. is viewed as a neverending laundry list of atrocities and violations perpetrated against a wide array of minority groups. Thus the newest object of a historic American obsession

— the search for public enemy No. I.

—the white European, or any person with a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant background must lower his head in shame and is held responsible for every injustice befallen on mankind, from slavery to the destruction of the ozone layer. Political correctness is a multidisciplinary phenomenon encompassing three main objectives; the restructuring of the English language, 177