Charles Sykes's ProfScam sparked a furious debate over the mission and the failure of our universities. Now
he turns his attention to an even more controversial subject. A Nation of Victims is the first book on the startling
decay of the American backbone and the disease that is causing it. The spread of victimism has been widely noted
in the media; indeed, its symptoms have produced best-selling books, fueled television ratings, spawned hundreds
of support groups, and enriched tens of thousands of lawyers across the country. The plaint of the victim - Its
not my fault - has become the loudest and most influential voice in America, an instrument of personal and lasting
political change. In this incisive, pugnacious, frequently hilarious book, Charles Sykes reveals a society that
is tribalizing, where individuals and groups define themselves not by shared culture, but by their status as victims.
Victims of parents, of families, of men, of women, of the workplace, of sex, of stress, of drugs, of food, of college
reading lists, of personal physical characteristics - these and a host of other groups are engaged in an ever-escalating
fight for attention, sympathy, money, and legal or governmental protection. What's going on and how did we get
to this point? Sykes traces the inexorable rise of the therapeutic culture and the decline of American self-reliance.
With example after example, he shows how victimism has co-opted the genuine victories of the civil-rights movement
for less worthy goals. And he offers hope: the prospect of a culture of renewed character, where society lends
compassion to those who truly need it. Like Shelby Steele, Charles Murray, and Dinesh D'Souza, Charles Sykes defines
the ground of what will be a significant national debate.