{ "item_title" : "Gideon Planish", "item_author" : [" Sinclair Lewis "], "item_description" : "How easily can public service become public performance? This social satire enters the bustling machinery of American organised uplift, where reform causes, philanthropic campaigns and democratic ideals are packaged into speeches, slogans and publicity. Committees multiply, conferences promise progress, and humanitarian language can serve ambition as readily as principle. Gideon Planish is an eloquent but shallow promoter, adept at turning professional idealism into personal advancement. His career carries him through teaching, administration, editing, lecturing, foundation work and political lobbying, while his energetic wife, Peony, manages finances, connections and the practical business of getting ahead. From college life in Iowa to the institutions of national influence, their world exposes the uneasy boundary between genuine service and careerism, and between conviction and the profitable appearance of conviction. Inflated speeches, comic organisational names and mock-bureaucratic language give the novel its distinctive satirical force. Fund-raising drives and public performances become arenas in which status, money and institutional power compete beneath declarations of reform. Long catalogues of committees and slogans sharpen the comedy, revealing a culture determined to organise virtue, advertise benevolence and administer idealism. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/9/37/841/524/9378415245_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "28.99", "online_price" : "28.99", "our_price" : "28.99", "club_price" : "28.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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