The Tribes of America: Journalistic Discoveries of Our People and Their Cultures

by Paul Cowan

Book Overview

First published in 1979 and long out of print, The Tribes of America is an overlooked classic-a prescient and deeply empathetic work based on seven years of reporting from the front lines of the culture wars that continue to divide America. Long before Tom Frank asked, "What's the matter with Kansas?" Village Voice reporter and civil rights activist Paul Cowan set out to "to cross the sound barrier of dogma and test his] beliefs against...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595582304
• ISBN13: 9781595582300
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: New Press
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Worthwhile read

I read this in a bookclub and we all enjoyed it and learned something from the book. Excellent book on cultural change - how it has been implemented in the past, what has worked and what hasn't and unintended consequences of change efforts. Also a focus on personal identity as part of a cultural group and the value of tradition in one's own identity. If you are responsible for improving a social issue look to the people who live in the culture(s) to determine the solution and the way to implement. Externally imposed solutions never work (true in all forms of culture - community, work and family life).