Madness at the Gates of the City: The Myth of American Innocence [Paperback]

Barry Spector (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010

As the post-modern world lurches toward the disasters and bereavements that signal the end of an age, we turn to myth to comprehend the elemental forces that move through our lives, to know who we are, to understand which stories inform our consciousness. MADNESS AT THE GATES OF THE CITY, writes Robert Johnson in his introduction, shows how America regularly re-enacts old patterns that cause us to subvert our goals and miss the deeper meaning in events. But by looking at American history, politics and popular culture through the lenses of Greek mythology, indigenous wisdom and archetypal psychology, the author discovers new hope in very old ways of thinking. This book should appeal to anyone interested in myth, Classics, history, psychology or progressive politics. Winner of the 2011 PEN Oakland JOSEPHINE MILES LITERARY AWARD.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Thebes with his cousin, the god Dionysus who shows up at the gates of the city with the liberating blessings of madness as a stranger who is no stranger at all as the paradigm for a devastating psychoanalytical critique of contemporary America s attitudes towards the imagined outsider. The power of myth is that it is eternal, and Spector not only offers much to contemplate about today's society, but also new perspectives upon an ancient classic, Euripides tragedy of the Bacchants. --Carl Ruck, Professor of Classics, Boston University, co-author of ''The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries'' and ''Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion''

Barry Spector's book is a strikingly imaginative rumination on our society, reaching back into Greek mythology to illuminate the world today. It is a fascinating blend of literature, history and myth, and while we have had many critiques of contemporary America, his is unique in the way it draws upon the Greek gods to examine, with devastating accuracy, our present deities of war and greed. This is truly an original work. --Howard Zinn, author of ''A People's History of the United States''

In this disturbing and evocative book, Barry Spector offers us a trenchant commentary on the ignorance, pathos and shadows residing in the American addiction to innocence. Mythologically wise and instructive, the author gives us keys to the hidden kingdom, and the potential to participate in an emerging new and creative story as we once again join forces with the genius inherent in myth and the guidance and warnings that it holds. This is a work that should be read by anyone who wants to make a difference. To respond and become proactive in the mythic tasks that are now upon us, our basic human nature is challenged by Spector to deepen, discover, evolve. We must become mything links. --Jean Houston, author of ''A Mythic Life''

About the Author

Barry Spector writes about American history and politics from the perspectives of myth, indigenous traditions and archetypal psychology. He is a regular contributor to Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche and the online journal Mythic Passages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 521 pages
• Publisher: Regent Press (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587901730
• ISBN-13: 978-1587901737
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Healing the Madness October 21, 2010

By Sandy Eastoak

Format:Paperback

Madness at the Gates of the City is an essential ingredient in the medicine needed to heal our country. If you are troubled by the dysfunctionality of any aspect of American policy, read this book. If you are certain America is the best country in the world, read this book.

Referring back to ancient Greek mythology, Barry Spector examines the fundamental ideas that inhabit and shape the American psyche: the attitudes and beliefs that generate our actions and reactions. He painstakingly details the fundamental themes driving American history from Colonial times to the present. The facts and figures that populate his analysis concoct a potion almost too bitter to drink. Yet we must drink it to move into a viable future.

For some readers, his portrayal of the devastating wake of American "freedom" will be deeply shocking. But I've been working on paradigm change for over 30 years. I lived almost two decades with an Iranian intellectual. I work with Native American artists and healers. While some of his facts and figures are new to me, their portent is familiar. What I find brilliant is his thoroughness in gathering the distressing incidents into a coherent, identifiable syndrome. Every day I urge several more people to read this book because this identification empowers us to imagine and invite a cure.

I agree with Spector's premise that we must know how bad things really are. We must face the true costs of our "way of life" in historical and current genocide, economic injustice, environmental destruction, psychological disease, and spiritual oppression. He shows us how we suffer despair when we repress the terrible truth. When we see it, name it, and mourn it, we initiate the healing we all desire at the deepest levels of our being.

His prescription is less satisfying than his diagnosis. I felt that his final section, where he addresses the forces that can carry us to health and communal joy, is unfinished. Diligently studying the forces of destruction, perhaps he hadn't time to visit the many springs giving forth the curing waters. He gives many lovely examples of "we might do this," but not many "these people are doing that." So the releasing part of the book feels more solid than the creating part.

This past year I've been helping bring recognition to the native people of Sebastopol, California. Finishing this book just as our celebration bloomed, I was shown its deeper significance. Spector calls for ritual to mourn the atrocities of the past and empower a just and beautiful future. Fresh from his thought, I saw the Pomo Project carry us across the divide.

The weakness of the book is not giving enough grounded examples of steps toward definitive health now occurring in many places. Its most transformative strength is framing our view so we can know these steps as vital and decisive, and thereby magnify their healing power. Thank you, Barry Spector.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is great! December 9, 2010

By RVaughan

Format:Paperback

Barry Spector's book is a wide-sweeping, provocative look at on American culture, from mythical, psychological and political perspectives, incorporating wisdom from ancient Greek traditions as well as from indigenous cultures in African and Central America.
Using the central image of the Ancient Greece god Dionysus, Barry looks at the archetype of the Other. According to Jungian psychology, the Other allows us to define ourselves by what we are not--defining Self by contrast with Other. Here in America, the ruling white (male) culture has historically defined itself by that which it is not--creating Others out of Native Americans, Black Americans, women, and most recently the Islamic world.
Barry adds an interesting extra layer of his own, defining the Inner Other and the Outer Other--others within the culture, and others without, and says this way of seeing ourselves and those around us grew from the very roots of the development of America, which combined a predatory world view, with a paranoid world view. His examination of American history and current foreign policy in light of all this is fascinating, and thought-provoking.
Refering to Ancient Greece, which venerated Apollo--god of reason, rationality, masculinity--Barry says the god Dionysus represented the Other, and held the shadow of the culture. But the Greeks gave room to Dionysus, in rites that celebrated sexuality, wildness--and grief. We in America, however, do not acknowledge our shadow, or allow the Other any humanity. Barry Spector's thesis is that this is because if we did, we would be pole-axed by grief at the reality of our 400 year history of oppression at home and abroad.
Instead, America lives by an unexamined myth of innocence. Our central myth has been created through 400 years of narratives about our need to defend ourselves against the dangerous Other. So without thinking about it, we believe we have a destiny of violent clashes with an evil enemy, in service of good and innocence. It's a myth of violent redemption, in which we play the role of savior. This myth hides the reality of American disenfranchisement, injustice, colonialism, and empire.
This short review doesn't come close to doing justice to the book. I urge you to read it. It's important, it's wise, and it makes you wonder about the unexamined stories you live by, projecting them onto the world about you and clouding your ability to see yourself. And it makes you wonder what you're going to do about it!
This review was also posted on my Ethno-Psychology blog, at [...]

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Landmark Book September 24, 2010

By David Van Nuys

Format:Paperback

Barry Spector is a rare bird, an independent thinker, operating outside the academic environment. Yet, he has written a very thoughtful and I think penetrating analysis of the American psyche. I believe the book was written over a period of 9 years of research and reflection. It's very hard for books to get publicized and noticed these days. I think this is a book that deserves a wide audience. In my opinion, if it can find that audience, it has the potential to be one of those important milestone books such as The Man in The Grey Flannel Suit or The Lonely Crowd were some time back.