Americans in the 1990s were ambivalent about their own bad behavior. On the one hand, Americans did not want children to talk rudely to parents, students to disrespect teachers, or politicians to insult one another. On the other hand, they continued to applaud rebels in government and popular culture who did not always play by the rules or rely on genteel courtesies to get what they wanted. Americans especially enjoyed the spectacle of a good fight, as the competitiveness of sports and politics, the violence and coarseness of television and the movies, and the aggressiveness and vulgarity of pop music made clear. Another symptom of the decline of civility during the 1990s was the spectacle of the public confession combined with the incessant invasion of privacy. "Popular culture shines its klieg lights on the most intimate corners of our lives," wrote Joshua...