The Art of the Public Grovel: Sexual Sin and Public Confession in America [Hardcover]

Susan Wise Bauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2008

Whether you are a politician caught carrying on with an intern or a minister photographed with a prostitute, discovery does not necessarily spell the end of your public career. Admit your sins carefully, using the essential elements of an evangelical confession identified by Susan Wise Bauer in The Art of the Public Grovel, and you, like Bill Clinton, just might survive.

In this fascinating and important history of public confession in modern America, Bauer explains why and how a type of confession that first arose among nineteenth-century evangelicals has today become the required form for any successful public admission of wrongdoing--even when the wrongdoer has no connection with evangelicalism and the context is thoroughly secular. She shows how Protestant revivalism, group psychotherapy, and the advent of talk TV combined to turn evangelical-style confession into a mainstream secular rite. Those who master the form--Bill Clinton, Jimmy Swaggart, David Vitter, and Ted Haggard--have a chance of surviving and even thriving, while those who don't--Ted Kennedy, Jim Bakker, Cardinal Bernard Law, Mark Foley, and Eliot Spitzer--will never really recover.

Revealing the rhetoric, theology, and history that lie behind every successful public plea for forgiveness, The Art of the Public Grovel will interest anyone who has ever wondered why Clinton is still popular while Bakker fell out of public view, Ted Kennedy never got to be president, and Law moved to Rome.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[A] very entertaining book. Reading this book is like putting the noses of these famous men . . . in the mud all over again. Bauer's book, however, is more than a seminar in how to cringe with dignity. It is a lesson in how religious rituals, no matter how old they are, never die. Bauer is a skilled analyst of political rhetoric. She is also a terrific writer. (Stephen H. Webb Christianity Today )

[E]legant in its simplicity and surprisingly persuasive. (Susan Bordo Chronicle Review )

[A]n engaging, sophisticated and wholly persuasive account of how some public figures get away with transgressions and some do not. And the thread linking all of them is the practice of religion. [Bauer's] accompanying texts of successful and failed confessions complete an elegant study, also useful for any aspiring public figure. (Jurek Martin Financial Times )

Why do some public figures get away with sexual transgressions while others do not? This is the central question posed in Bauer's important and informative book. . . . [A] fascinating book that is at once entertaining and thought-provoking. As a seminar in how to cringe with dignity, this book should be required reading for all public figures--and those who aspire to be. (Choice )

[T]his exhaustively researched book offers a fascinating trip through more than a century of America's top sex scandals. (Karen Holt Barnes & Noble Review )

As a bonus, Bauer append the texts of statements by six confessors. Connoisseurs of venial sin will want to compare and contrast. (James Boylan Columbia Journalism Review )

Bauer's gallery of scoundrels is . . . worth a lingering visit. And the book includes as an appendix a handy collection of the confessions and apologies of Kennedy, Carter, Bakker, Swaggart, Clinton, and Law. For this alone, I intend to keep my copy on the shelf beside my hardbound edition of The Confidence Man. (Peter W. Wood American Conservative )

People interested in the reasons why confession is different than apology, and how to tell the difference the next time a Senator is caught in a men's room with a 'wide stance' will enjoy this humorous and fascinating book. Wannabe politicians and public figures should keep a copy for reference on hand for the almost inevitable slip up. (Sacramento Book Review )

Wise Bauer's analysis and background make for lively reading. As readers go along with her, they learn something about both rhetoric and democracy itself. . . . Besides its study of rhetoric and cultural trends, Wise Bauer's book also supplies a rather hilarious review of past scandals and shenanigans. Members of First Secular Humanist will enjoy these. (Tom McBride Common Review )

[A] canny analysis of American political symbolism. (Laura Miller Salon.com )

From the Inside Flap

"Interesting, well-written, and well-researched, this book should have wide appeal. Who doesn't want to read about sex and confession and how the mighty fall and, in some cases, get up again?"--Stephen Prothero, author of Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--and Doesn't

"This very fine book will enrich and deepen the conversation about religion and public life in America. Bauer writes clearly and vividly and she balances good storytelling with sound scholarship."--Alan Jacobs, author of Original Sin: A Cultural History

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (August 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691138109
• ISBN-13: 978-0691138107
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,243,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan was born in 1968, grew up in Virginia, and was educated at home by pioneering parents, back when home education was still unheard of. She worked as a professional musician, wore a costume at Colonial Williamsburg, toured with a travelling drama group, galloped racehorses at a Virginia racetrack, taught horseback riding, worked in radio and newspaper ad sales, learned enough Korean to teach a Korean four-year-old Sunday school, and served as librarian and reading tutor for the Rita Welsh Adult Literacy Center in Williamsburg, Virginia.

In her less haphazard adult life, she earned an M.A., M.Div., and Ph.D. She has taught at the College of William & Mary in Virginia for the last sixteen years. Susan is married and the mother of four.

Susan's most recent book for Norton, The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade (2010), is the second in a four-volume series providing a narrative world history. Look for the first volume, The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome, as well!

Her previous book, The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had (2003), is a guide to reading the classic works of fiction, poetry, history, autobiography, and drama. Norton also published The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (with co-author Jessie Wise); originally published in 1999, this bestselling guide to education in the classical tradition was revised and updated in 2004 and again in 2009.

For Peace Hill Press, Susan has written a four-volume world history series for children, The Story of the World, for Peace Hill Press. Volume 1, Ancient Times, was published in 2002 (revised edition 2006); Volume 2, The Middle Ages, in 2003 (revised edition 2007); and Volume 3, Early Modern Times, in 2004. The final volume, The Modern Age, was published in 2006. She has also written a best-selling elementary writing program, Writing With Ease.

Susan is also the author of The Art of the Public Grovel (Princeton University Press) and many articles and reviews. Visit her blog at http://www.susanwisebauer.com/blog.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars public figures would be wise to read this book and take it to heart! September 12, 2008

By J. F. Stepnowski

Format:Hardcover

First off, let me state that I enjoy books that are both entertaining and that make me think. Susan Wise Bauer's The Art of the Public Grovel fulfills my expectations on both counts. Her writing style is succinct yet flowing, while her knowledge of both historical events and religion is impressive. As a casual Catholic, I found what Bauer details of the American evangelical movement and the development of public confession - as compared to the Catholic non-public privacy of the confessional - fascinating. I never realized how important public confession is for most Protestants. Readers with a Protestant background may find equally informative her detailing of the Catholic stance on confession as a private event - and how this difference in perception of confession played a large part in how Catholics like Ted Kennedy and Cardinal Law
failed to meet the public demand for a full confession.

This book, which covers not only how Kennedy and Law (and others) lost their opportunities to salvage their careers, but how Clinton (the
master!) and others (from Grover Cleveland to Jim Swaggart (at first)) succeeded would make a good primer for public figures in how to make the best of a bad situation and, via public confession, save their careers. For the rest of us, it is simply a fascinating book!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable History November 21, 2008

By Bernard Chapin VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I have to say that I got quite a bit out of this book. I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to religion and much of what Bauer says here is based on religious doctrine in regards to the act of confession. Thus, most of the narrative was new to me. Indeed, I knew nothing previously about Grover Cleveland's indiscretions or the scandals of Aimee Semple McPherson. With Senator Kennedy I've never respected or liked him for political reasons but morally he's a horror show. His so called "confession" over Chappaquidick was a travesty. With an ego like that we should be very glad he never became President. The Jimmy Swaggart chapter was truly perplexing. He mastered the right formula for confession and then told his flock to go to blazes two times thereafter. That scenario surprised me. I also appreciated her explanation of Oprah mania and just how much her shtick relies on public confession. Overall, this is a strong work.

11 of 18 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Uncharacteristically sloppy and incomplete but still enlightening January 10, 2009

By bookman99

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been a fan of Susan Wise Bauer for quite some time. Her book, "The Well-Educated Mind", is excellent, and I have read it a number of times. However, I am perplexed, not to say a bit disappointed, with this work. I was fully prepared to enjoy this look into the public grovel, but two obstacles could not be easily overcome in my case.

First, this book is shamefully edited. There are misspellings, typographical errors and punctuation problems throughout the book. It is difficult to give credibility to a text riddled with such ubiquitous mistakes. I realise this criticism may seem trivial to some, but Susan Wise Bauer is an accomplished writer who should know better.

Second, the section on Bill Clinton's problems inexpicably omits entirely the ONLY reason he came to his public confession, i.e. the discovery of the infamous stained dress. I agree that this fact is prurient and unseemly, however, Susan Wise Bauer cannot ignore this critical component to her narrative and still maintain the reader's respect for her argument. Why she does not mention the dress, the turning point in the entire scandal, even once is a mystery begging for an answer.

Now, as for the rest of the book, it is quite good. Susan Wise Bauer has researched her topic thoroughly, and she allows the words of the grovellers to speak for themselves - there are numerous lengthy quotes throughout. Her book is certainly not an attack on any of her subjects, rather she objectively examines each case in detail (except for the Clinton case, of course.)

I will continue to read Susan Wise Bauer's books, but I must admit to not being as impressed by this offering as her other works.