Our experience of "race" is based on how we define beauty. In the past, we thought that discipline was liberating and beautiful, while raw nature was confining and ugly. Today we believe that raw nature is liberating and beautiful, and discipline is confining and ugly. And for better or worse, modernists see African Americans as somehow non-Western, more natural, or a kind of moral avant-garde. This volume surveys the arts and politics to illustrate the change in our idea of the beautiful. "Martin has written a work of critical importance about American life that merits our attention. His thoughts reflect a detailed knowledge of the American cultural scene. Martin moves easily from highbrow to lowbrow culture and can write intelligently about both." -- Prof. Paul Gottfried, Ph.D., author of "Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America." Martin has a degree in philosophy from American Military University. He is a member of the elite H.L. Mencken Club and of the American Philosophical Association.