The way we think - or fail to think - about culture from America's most engaging political analysts. Parenti, one of America's most astute and engaging political analysts, demonstrates that culture is a changing process and the product of dynamic interplay between a wide range of social and political interests. To Parenti, it is necessary to understand the problem of culture as well as that of power in order to understand a society. Drawing from cultures around the world, Parenti shows that beliefs and practices are readily subjected to political manipulation and that many parts of culture are being commodified, separated from their group or communal origins, to be packaged and sold to those who can pay for them. Art, science, medicine and psychiatry can be used as instruments of cultural control and even marriage, the "foundation of society", has been misused by heterosexuals across the centuries. Using vivid examples and riveting arguments throughout, "The Culture Struggle" ranges from the everyday to the esoteric. Richly informed, penned with eloquence and irony, this makes for a fascinating collection of snapshots of our time.