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

ANDRÁS TARNÓC ROBERT HUGHES: CULTURE OF COMPLAINT Oxford University Press, 1993. 203 pp. The United States has always occupied a special realm within the imagination of the world. From the moment of its inception it has been considered one of mankind's noble experiments, a country of second chances, where the sins of the Old World could be redeemed by the struggle for the foundation of the New. While the much celebrated fall of the Berlin Wall, the subsequent political regeneration of Central and Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Empire left the U.S.' historic superpower status untouched, America in the late 1980's and early 1990's began to show signs of inner decay. The collapse of the Soviet Union had a dual effect on American polity eliminating its chief adversary and tossing the nation into a paradoxical turmoil. Whereas the worldwide defeat of communism signaled capitalism's greatest victory, the United States seemed to have lost its direction. A nation guided by the idea of the protracted conflict

—a historic clash between two antagonistic political and economic systems

—was suddenly searching for a new sense of mission in a unipolar world. Robert Hughes, the art critic of TIME magazine is a keen observer of post Cold War America. In his latest effort he takes a concerned look at the current crisis of his adopted country. The book's eloquent and succinct subtitle, "The Fraying of America", underscores Hughes' message; the United States after centuries of 175