Mr. Ivie, a Professor of Communications at Indiana University, here draws together a collection of essays united by several themes: the United States is a ‘distempered democracy,’ plagued by ‘demophobia,’ indeed nothing less than a ‘republic of fear.’ (Here, of course, playing off the designation by the Iraqi opposition of the terrors of life under Saddam Hussein.) Evidently Americans, whether they know it or not, live under a penumbra of fear, envy, hatred, and repression. It should be noted here at the outset that the ‘war on terror’ portions of the book only cover the last two sections explicitly: evidently the publisher decided to pump up reader interest by highlighting that theme. The cover of the book is a reproduction of a stern Uncle Sam, familiar to Americans from earlier days, including the war against fascism and militarism in World War II.