Of herds and hermits America's lone wolves and submissive sheep, or the American intellectual as loner and outcast - Reed, Terry (Algora Pub., 2009)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-210) and index
Chapter 1. The Bike and the Bench; Chapter 2. Going My Way; Chapter 3. What Price Affiliation?; Chapter 4. Yours Fraternally: Bringing in the Sheep; Chapter 5. The Intellectual as Loner; Bibliography; Index
Celebrated for its commitment to independence and fearless individualism, America in fact dismisses independent thinkers and nonconformists in favor of the team player, the company man, and the go-along-to-get-along mentality. This anti-intellectual mindset despises and discredits those who are solitary and reclusive. While we look up to literary loners like Poe and Melville and Dickinson, the man in the street is a compulsive joiner of clubs, and herds from university frats to the Order of the Pink Goat. To the contrary, this book is a paean vigorously endorsing America's lone wolves, cultura