Abstract

Beat the Devil

The article presents information on Garrison Keillor. Keillor berates National Public Radio (NPR) having failed to report on the Republican revolution for control of the U.S. Congress. But Keillor could have shown people in Lake Wobegon losing their welfare benefits, the UPS, driver and so forth. Admittedly, kitsch got into localism long before Keillor, smoothing out the Gothic crevices and scarps of our socio political landscape into genteel undulations. But Keillor has to shoulder some responsibility. The last big chance to peel away the sentimentality and see local America was probably back in the thirties. Then another project, like NPR using public money and therefore scared out of its wits-namely the Federal Writers' Project of the WPA.--made the last attempt at a detailed guide to the country.