The Dream and the Nightmare The Sixties' Legacy to the Underclass

Myron Magnet’s The Dream and the Nightmare argues that the radical transformation of American culture that took place in the 1960s brought today’s underclass–overwhelmingly urban, dismayingly minority–into existence. Lifestyle experimentation among the white middle class produced often catastrophic changes in attitudes toward marriage and parenting, the work ethic and dependency in those at the bottom of the social ladder, and closed down their exits to the middle class.

Texas Governor George W. Bush’s presidential campaign has highlighted the continuing importance of The Dream and the Nightmare. Bush read the book before his first campaign for governor in 1994, and, when he finally met Magnet in 1998, he acknowledged his debtt Myron Magnet, editor of City Journal from 1994 through 2006, is the magazine’s editor-at-large. A former member of the board of editors of Fortune, he has written about a wide variety of topics, from American society and social policy, economics, and corporate management to intellectual history, literature, architecture, and the country’s founding.o this work. Karl Rove, Bush’s principal political adviser, cites it as a road map to the governor’s philosophy of “compassionate conservatism.”

Myron Magnet, editor of City Journal from 1994 through 2006, is the magazine’s editor-at-large. A former member of the board of editors of Fortune, he has written about a wide variety of topics, from American society and social policy, economics, and corporate management to intellectual history, literature, architecture, and the country’s founding.

REVIEWS:
The book that helped shape Bush’s message, By Dave McNeely, Austin American-Statesman, 1- 27-99
The godfathers of 'compassionate conservatism'; Authors' works have helped shape candidate Bush's core philosophy, By Bill Minutaglio, The Dallas Morning Star, 4-16-00

PUBLISHED EXCERPT:
What Is Compassionate Conservatism? By Myron Magnet, The Wall Street Journal, 2-5-99