SOURCE: "Why Americans Can't Think Straight about Crime," in Book World—The Washington Post, Vol. XXV, No. 26, June 25, 1995, pp. 3, 13.

[In the review below, Gordon examines Wendy Kaminer's "reflection on the problem of crime and punishment in America."]

The title of Wendy Kaminer's sometimes unstructured but always interesting reflection on the problem of crime and punishment in America [It's All the Rage: Crime and Culture] is far more than a shrewd commercial calculation. It captures perfectly the author's argument: In late 20th-century America discussions of crime and punishment have been entrapped by a culture of rage and ignorance, guided not by reason—or even compassion—but by prejudice, fantasies of revenge and the most uneducated emotions. That title suggests logically the author's mission—to confront the reader with the numerous contradictions that make it difficult for our society to understand the issues of guilt and innocence, personal responsibility and...