The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life
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An autobiographical adventure tale about a lawyer who wonders what it means to be a citizen in the US and where would be the best place to do it. He chooses Chicago. Grappling with the meaning of citizenship after moving from Washington DC, the City of Fabulous Jobs, to Chicago, the City of Fabulous Plagues, Fabulous Jails and Fabulous Children, this is the story of his adventure, deep in the heart of Darkest America.
Geoghegan, a Fulbright Scholar and attorney in the Energy Department during the Carter administration, decides he needs to leave Washington after Carter's loss and settle down somewhere, in some American city, and somehow become a citizen . As one review puts it: "Part Catcher in the Rye, part ... The Federalist Papers, it is mesmerizing, rueful, painfully honest, and never, ever dull."
Indeed, there are crowds even in the churches. And an old monsignor who misses the old Chicago, the parish life, the American Legion hall life, admits, freely, "There's much more volunteering now."
But in a way, so what? There should be more volunteering here than in Europe.
After all, when Florida is hit by a hurricane, don't people come out and volunteer? Walk through an American city, and walk through one in Holland or Germany. Which one needs the volunteers? Yes, the "new" Chicago is glorious. But walk west here. Walk anywhere around Cologne. Which city looks more burnt or bombed?
Sure, the rate of volunteering is higher here. Is that because we're better citizens? Or because we're worse?
