Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (for Sourcebooks, Inc.) by Morris P. Fiorina
Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Moore -- from the shouting and the vilifying that permeates the airwaves, one would think that bitter and entrenched political divisions among Americans are ripping the country apart at the seams. Research suggests otherwise. According to a groundbreaking new book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America most Americans stand in the middle of the political landscape, preferring centrist candidates from either party to the extreme partisans who often emerge from the primary process. It is the political parties and the media that have ignored this fact and distorted public perceptions. In Culture War? the authors explore the role of the political class -- office-holders, activists, and pundits--in shaping the public face of American politics. Through data analysis, they show how the political class has distorted the reality of most Americans actual views about the social, political and economic issues of the past 30 years.