Books: Whither America? (Contd.)

THE IMAGE (315 pp.)—Daniel J. Boorstin—Atheneum ($5).

Ever since The Lonely Crowd (1950) proved there was big money in publishing serious sociology, the book trade has been gleefully exporting the traditional fascination of Americans with themselves, playing midwife to a new generation of moral muckrakers with a newspeak all their own. With indifferent success, these unHidden Persuaders have warned The Status Seekers and The Organization Man against the perils of The Power Elite and The Image Makers in The Self-Conscious Society. Latest to ask "Whither America?" is ex-Rhodes Scholar Daniel J. Boorstin, 48,...