Absence of thought
Susan Jacoby is a formidable social critic who writes from a progressive stance and in an accessible style. I first learned of her work through her book Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge (Harper & Row, 1983), in which she argues that when the civic system of justice does not mete out serious consequences to criminals (or does not appear to), folks take justice into their own hands in the form of acts of vengeance. In her latest book Jacoby reflects on the dumbing down of U.S.