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The interesting thing about Mr. Lyford's approach, and the approach of the contributors to The Agreeable Autocracies ( Oceana Publications, 1961 ) to the situation of American civilization, is that it is concerned with comprehending the psychological relationships which are having a decisive effect on American life.

In an ideological argument, the participants tend to thump the table.

They are determined to prove something.

The new spirit, so well illustrated by Mr. Lyford's work, is wholly free of this anxiety.

The problem is rather to find out what is actually happening, and this is especially difficult for the reason that `` we are busily being defended from a knowledge of the present, sometimes by the very agencies -- our educational system, our mass media, our statesmen -- on which we have had to rely most heavily for understanding of ourselves ''.

The Introduction continues: ``