Football fills the void
William Dean's book begins ominously. A "distinctive spiritual culture" guided Americans in the past by speaking "for a truth, even a reality, greater than America." But "there are signs" today that this culture is dying. If it dies, then "so, in most important respects, will the American nation." All, thankfully, is not yet lost. A vibrant "common culture" can still be reborn on the foundation of a revived spiritual culture.
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