Professor Benjamin Haile DeMott was an American writer, scholar, and cultural critic. Author of more than a dozen books, DeMott was best known for his cultural criticism in popular magazines and a trilogy, The Imperial Middle: Why Americans Can't Think Straight about Class, The Trouble with Friendship: Why American's Can't Think Straight about Race, and Killer Woman Blues: Why Americans Can't Think Straight about Gender.
One of his last pieces was a scalding dissection of the 9/11 Commission report that appeared in Harper's Magazine. His final piece -- "Battling the Hard Man: Notes on Addiction to the Pornography of Violence"—was published in Harper's in August, 2007. See links below.
DeMott taught English at Amherst College for more than 40 years.
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