Word: americanizing
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...MORE THAN 500 pages, the collection could stand some selective paring. First on the list to go would be several columns where Strout simply tries to do too much. An emotional protest against the use of the atom bomb somehow winds up as a plea to pay American diplomats salaries commensurate with what foreign envoys in the U.S. receive. Especially when he treats several topics in one column, Strout tends either to make bold assumptions with no justification at all, or to give only sketchy proof. For example, he dismisses Eisenhower's refusal to grant clemency to the Rosenbergs...
...looks drugged out and messy. Not only messy in a physical sense, with all of Rose's glimmering, filthy rags and feathers, but also in a spiritual sense. The crowd scenes capture the alienated, frenetic mood of the late '60s. The Rose portrays the jarring disillusionment caused by the American Dream going bust...
...sell-out concert "back home." As she adds lethal drugs to the tequila already churning in her empty stomach, Rose tries to talk to these aged strangers. They're not coming to her concert, and they can't help her now. They never could. Like the singer, the American Dream and the American family are dead at the end of The Rose...
Vietnam should not (and ultimately cannot) destroy the American spirit. It imposed an enormous strain on our way of life and at times, came close to toppling the whole system. But one of America's greatest virutes, inherent in her people and strengthened by her institutions, is adaptability, the ability to respond creatively and dynamically to a dangerous situation. Vietnam exerted extraordinary social pressures on our country, and the only reason it has so debilitated the national spirit is because we have not confronted the pressures openly enough. Whatever its artistic merits, perhaps Apocalypse Now's greatest achievement will...
...problem that is not confronted openly and candidly will slowly eat away at our country's moral fiber and national spirit. After you've thought about our earlier wars, in which we performed so well, think about Vietnam and the people who fought and suffered and died while the American public strained to find a moral instification for our involvement. Think about the shattered lives and senseless horror and hopeless agony that goes on to this very day. Don't feel too guilty--guilt will not change what happened, nor will it prevent such a nightmare from occurring again...