Chapter 14 Summary and Analysis

Voluntary Poverty and the U.S.A.

America in the Alembic

An "alembic" is a device that is used to purify. This section focuses on the purification of America, an event that would benefit the entire world. The West, particularity the United States, has cultivated a culture that has confused comfort with luxury. Cocteau advocates a luxury that has nothing to do with money; rather, he sees it as food for the soul—a reward for those not afraid of discomfort. Thoreau looks at the nation as ruined by luxury. Pie-Raymond Regamey, in 1954, reproaches America, declaring that the presence of the destitute in any society heralds a need to lower its standard of living. Mildred Binns Young addresses spoiled America's obsession with luxury, declaring that if every American gave away possessions that they did not need to poor countries, the...