Introduction
Such words as "progress" and "civilization" have very positive connotations. Almost everyone automatically assumes that progress and civilization are good for all concerned. On rare occasions, however, a perceptive observer will point out that progress is usually equated with science, which has frequently failed to give us unalloyed blessings, and that supposedly civilized people are not always that much happier than so-called primitives.
One such observer is California psychologist William Glasser, M.D. Glasser is the author of three books, Reality Therapy, Schools Without Failure, and The Identity Society (the latter just published by Harper and Row). He feels that human society has been through three major phases throughout history, and is just entering a fourth. In a recent article in Saturday Review, he sums up his ideas succinctly.
"So quickly that few have recognized what is happening, a society that had lasted for 10,000 years has begun to dissolve. In its place, a new society has been growing up, one in which the mores, habits, and goals of a hundred centuries are being profoundly altered. Some might take longer than others to recognize this colossal reorientation; many will undoubtedly spend the rest of their lives resisting the new direction of humanity. But it is real."
This is a startlingly dramatic statement, even upon careful re-reading. But Dr. Glasser has studied history carefully. His facts are thoroughly documented, and his theory seems to fit them. Further consideration will make it quite obvious that the usual preconceptions are by nature prejudiced in favor of the status quo. As Glasser says:
"Because civilized survival societies have dominated the earth for the past ten thousand years, and because the written record of man's behavior is contained entirely within that period, the human species has come to deluded by its own propaganda. There is now a common belief that life became easier for man with the advent of civilization, that the species has enjoyed more happiness during the recorded history of settled, agricultural, property-owning people. This belief prevails in spite of little evidence to support it. In fact, there is good evidence that the lives of two-thirds of the people in the world today are much less gratifying in terms of ease and human satisfaction than were the lives of men who lived during almost half a million years of the primitive identity society."
"Is Dr. Glasser, then, predicting a return to a more primitive society? By no means. What he sees, instead, is a civilization in which individuals strive for personal "roles" instead of material "goals." Here is his brief summation of the vital change:
"Led by the young, the half-billion people of the Western world have begun a tumultuous revolution toward a new, role-dominated society in which people concern themselves more and more with their identities and how they might express them. Of course, people still strive for goals, but increasingly these are vocational or avocational goals that their pursuers believe will reinforce the independent human role. The goals may or may not lead to economic security, but they do give people verification of themselves as human beings."
Bruce J. Brooks, the author of The Beautiful Bitch, is not a doctor, but he too has studied history thoroughly, and seems to have reached conclusions similar to Dr. Glasser's. They are by no means explicitly stated in the book, which is primarily a work of entertaining fiction, but a careful reading will show that they lurk just below the surface.
We have seldom read a novel with such a varied and yet totally convincing cast of characters. The heroine, Tricia Goode, is a typical innocent young girl, but she is deeply disturbed because she seems to hate everything about her life without fully understanding why. In strong contrast to her is the cold, selfish Vicky Martin, the "beautiful bitch" of the book's title, whose arrogant actions directly or indirectly influence all of the action. Then there are the men -- Roger Martin, Patrick Doyle, Larry Stevens-- who all quite clearly have tangible goals of one sort or another and will sacrifice almost anything to reach them.
There are others, including Lee Jergens, the lesbian whose chief and completely overt goal is to convert Tricia to her way of life. We do not wish to give away too much of the plot at this point, however, except to note that as in all worthwhile fiction the action depends on the reactions and influences those characters have on each other. We do not think we will give away the ending if we say that it is Tricia's discovery of a genuine "role" for herself rather than any "goal" imposed on her from without that brings about the surprising but fully believable climax.
Narrow-minded readers may find some of the scenes shocking as men and women alike toss conventional moral behavior aside in their greedy search for pleasure, money and power. But these are the scenes that flesh out the skeleton of the plot and make it come to life. Thoughtful readers will take them as they are intended: essential illustrations of the theme.
And the theme just may be one of the most vital you have ever encountered.
-The Publishers