Dumbocracy in America

the long version

The theatre as mirror of our peculiar politics - this is the theme of Robert Brustein's engaging new collection of writings. No theatre critic in America is more informed by ideas than Mr. Brustein, and no critic does a better job of relating theatre to the larger culture. Here, in essays, reviews, and profiles, some of them appearing for the first time, Mr. Brustein uses the prism of the American theatre to explore the motivating impulses behind galloping political correctness.