Customer Reviews

The Day America Told the Truth: What People Really Believe About Everything That Really Matters

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I have a wonderful time with this book. I got mine, per the Oprah Winfrey shows discussion of it, and found the book to not only be informative, on the nature of the human animal, but to provide many insights into people's behavior. It discusses the inner most workings of people minds, hopes, belief systems, in it are tests you can take, about how moral, or "good" or truthful, or honest you and your friends are.

Some of the contents are rated X, as far as some "confessions" of the interviewees, and vary from adultery, to beastiality. Not for the faint. The geographic nature of the book breaks the United states into segments, and gives an interesting picture to how the people in the "Bible Belt" relate to the world around them differently than say the people in the "Pac Rim".

This book also works as an Ice breaker, party mixer, truth or dare game provoker, and jumps starts idle conversations. I have become more out going and find the fascinations people have about this books contents leads to hours of fun, and interesting exchanges of ideas.I highly recommend it for Tea parties, Socials, and other multi-personal events. Hours of enjoyable reading, discovering some of the humorous to darker secrets of our fellow "John Q. Public" A terrific read.

It has been over a decade since the authors captured this snapshot of American thoughts and attitudes, and after rediscovering this book at the library I was curious whether all of the "revelations" identified in the book have held up. What struck me the most was how fleeting many of the attitudes identified were (and are), which are outside of the core ways we define ourselves - morality, values, and private lives. A re-read of this book makes me wonder whether there were some flaws in the initial data gathering which "dates" the results (such as Ch 32 which focus' on Japan vs. America), or the book truly reflects our preoccupation with the current issues of the time (such as Ch 15 Violence in America).

With these thoughts, and since this book predates a multitude of changes in the 90's through today (crime rate reduction, Clinton years, deficit reduction, and of course 9/11), revelations such as "Does America have moral leadership?", "Are the Japanese superior to Americans?", and "Do we still see ourselves as Number 1?" appear to ring somewhat hollow as concerns of today - but maybe they have not fully gone away. The book retains its currency because, even in the midst of the changes which occurred in the last decade, the thoughts and attitudes in the book represent the foundation upon which today's attitudes and values derive. It remains fascinating reading, and leads the reader to examine his own core values and how they may have changes with time.

This book has been a staple for me since I read it some 3 years ago. The information that it provides into the thoughts, actions, and behavior of Americans is most interesting. I am a firm believer that America is facing many problems associated with integrity and honesty. It is well recognized that we are currently a nation without true leaders. Children have no heroes, except those who have died and gone many years ago. Even worse is that we have little trust in those who we should most respect and emulate- the president, congressmen, lawyers, etc. This is an eye-opener and I highly recommend it to anyone interesting in our current 'climate' and psychology in general.

I've found a number of useful illustrations in The Day America Told the Truth, by James Patterson and Peter Kim (New York: Prentice Hall Press, c. 1991). According to the book jacket, the authors "set out to take the moral pulse of America in the 1991s. Using state-of-the-art research techniques that go far beyond superficial five-

minute polls, they conducted [they claim] the largest survey of private morals ever undertaken in any country to unearth and quantify the personal ethics, values, and beliefs of our time." Since I'm not a sociologist, I can't really evaluate their research methodology, but I take their claims at face value, add some healthy skepticism bred by seeing too many statistical studies, and assume they thoroughly interviewed great numbers of people.

What they found, in brief, is that "On every front--love, marriage, and the family; religion, politics, and the community; work, leisure, and our global position--the ground beneath our feet began shifting. Yesterday's verities had vanished. Unpredictability and chaos became the norm" (p 3). Compared with data collected in 1950, for example, the percentage of women who were virgins when they married has declined from 58% to 34%. The percentage of Americans who think religion is very important has declined from 75% to 54%. (This, I must add, does not square with recent Gallop polls, which are widely regarded for their methodological balance and precision).

"Americans are making up their own laws. In effect, we're all making up our own moral codes. Only 13 percent of us believe in all of the Ten Commandments. Forty percent of us believe in five of the Ten Commandments. We choose which laws of God we believe in" (p. 6). Amazingly, "the over¬whelming majority of people (93 percent) said that they--and nobody else--determine what is and what isn't moral in their lives" (p. 27).

Perhaps it's understandable, then, that crime's far more prevalent than official statistics reveal, and that "Lying has become an integral part of the American culture" (p. 7). According to this study, "JUST ABOUT EVERYONE LIES--91 PERCENT OF US LIE REGULARLY" (p. 45) That means every week most people tell lies of some sort. "Only 31 percent of us believe that honesty is the best policy" (p. 49). Sexual behavior has turned chaotic. "In terms of the idealized couple of the past--virgins joined in holy matrimony, faithful till death do them part--we found nothing but a shadow on the wall" (p. 73). Increasing numbers of children are sexually abused. Date rapes multiply--20% of the women interviewed said they'd "been raped on a date" (p. 128). The list goes on and on! The book rather confirms what we Christians suspect: humans sin incessantly!

One interesting aspect to the book is its geographical delineation of morality. They find clear differences between "New England," "Old Dixie," and "Marlboro Country," three of the nine zones indicated. Folks in "Old Dixie," for example rank first in believing in God, last in using drugs. The "Granary" (prairies and plains in the heartland) rank first in the number of drunk drivers, last in support civil liberties. "Pac Rim" people (Washington, Oregon, northern California) use more drugs and give less to charity than other regions.

Beyond examining geographic differences, The Day America Told The Truth focuses on topics such as "the real moral authority in America," "the sex lives of Americans," "American violence," "work," "God and other heroes," etc. Data indicating trends, and quotations illustrating such, give the reader considerable insight into the ethical stan¬dards and behaviors widely evident in our country. Several chapters present the study's findings on religion. Some 90% of the people believe in God, yet not many of them take Him or His command¬ments into consideration when they make moral judg¬ments! The self-described "very religious" people (amounting to 14% of the us) do, however, behave differently, live according to a higher standard. Religious people are more contented, use less drugs, more routinely tell the truth, do better work, and stay committed to their families.

At the beginning of my graduate studies, nearly thirty years ago, I read a book entitled How to Lie with Statistics, and I always keep that in mind when reading books based on polls and sociological data. They're useful and illuminating, but probably never definitive. Such studies, like the famous (or infamous, according to your evaluation of the study) Kinsey Report usually find what they go looking for, what they design questions to elicit. Yet they often provide anecdotal insights and broader perspectives. So, I found The Day America Told the Truth both fascinating and helpful.

This was a fantastic book, having read it twice. I have to admit that I didn't just finish the book, but that being said this book really left an indelible impression on me. This book came out in the early 1990's, and it really seemed to tell how America really lives, and what is really going on. It wasn't pretty to read when I first read it years ago, nor was it pretty the second time around. The book tells it like it is- America has some very severe problems. We are way to violent, deceitful, and in many ways sociopathic. This is a very scary scenario to contemplate, yet it explains all the mistrust people have today in this country of our elected representatives, business leaders, labor leaders, and even our husbands, wives and children.

The book also touches on the very best of this country as well, and thank God not all is lost, but it does reveal serious flaws within this country that are starting to show up in abundance these days. We see more and more of our politicians being led away in handcuffs for doing something out right outrageous. The same can be said about our business leaders, and much of society in general, all the while good people, like the majority of us shake our heads in utter amazement. We see what is going on, but feel so powerless to stop it, and we wonder why it got this way.

This book does not go into heavy detail as to why so many Americans lack a conscience, or why things are the way they are, but for the first time in a long time, here is the truth, and the truth really is ugly. It isn't written to bolster one type of political view over another, say liberal good/ conservative bad, or vice versa; it just states the facts on what America was thinking and doing at that time, and is most likely doing at this time in our history three fold. I just hope that the authors of this book do another update as to what really is going on today, but I am sure if they do another one, it will make the findings of the early 1990s look rather tame.

If you get the chance, pick this book up and give it a good read. The statistics will amaze, and most likely scare quite a few people. I really believe one will understand the USA and the mess we are in much better after having read this book.

Professional researchers James Patterson and Peter Kim conducted numerous in-depth surveys during the early 1990's to find out what Americans really thought. Patterson and Kim interviewed their subjects on such issues as sex, money, religious beliefs, morality, ethics, sense of community, responsibility, work issues, etc. What did they discover? Americans are somewhat less moral than they pretend (women are a bit straighter than men), and their ethics at work and in business are a bit lacking. Hypocrisy in religious and moral values is another reality, as is the finding that Americans have many sexual fantasies and quite a few violent ones as well. These results may disturb some readers, but perhaps these findings would be similar in other times and in other places. Still others may wonder if perhaps people were completely truthful - a problem in many similar type surveys.

This book is slightly dated but should be of interest to sociologists, psychologists, and anybody with an interest in the difference between pretense and what people really think and feel.

EASY TO READ AND FULL OF INFORMATION THAT COULD BE USEFUL TO ALL AMERICANS. A RECOMMANDED READ FOR EVERY AMERICAN THAT CARES ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON TODAY.

I have only read a few chapters in the book as I have many ahead of it to be read. But from the little I've read, one word: Wow! Funny how we all think we know how most of us think and live, but we don't. Some of the facts are crude, but facts nonetheless. You will view our American world differently after reading this book. Highly recommended.

I read this book not long after it came out and it was very enlightening, especially as it related to liberals vs. conservatives. Liberals were far more likely to have done drugs, to lie, cheat, etc. Sure explains a lot!

I'd like to see an update to this sometime, but it doesnt look like there is one.

It is scary to know that your neighbors are all a bunch of nut cases!!