World is Around You, but You are in Your Car

The World is Around You, but You are in Your Car is a novel that brings history's great philosophers back to life for one week to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to share their concerns about the deepest American problem-a healthy quest to achieve goals and acquire things has devolved into a relentless pursuit of a perfect life people feel they are owed, an over-the-top selfishness and lack of self-restraint that leads them to do whatever it takes to get what they want while paying little regard to the harmful consequences they may inflict upon themselves, the earth, and other people throughout the world. "e;I want it, and I want it now"e; has been taken to levels not reached before, and the insidious ramifications are eye-opening: the casual disposal of people or principles if these should obstruct the path to the perfect life; mental depression from the strains of struggling to keep up with the neighbors; the loss of a sense of team mission and camaraderie; isolation from reality as people become more and more comfortable in their plush living rooms and cars, unaware of what is going on outside; and an increasing prevalence of violence, obesity, victimization, and self-indulgent lawsuits. It has even opened the door to foreign terrorism inside the American homeland.The philosophers interact with people as they hang out downtown. They host a symposium and a performance of Beethoven's "e;Tenth"e; Symphony. Karl Marx shops for souvenirs, Socrates smokes cigarettes and plays the lottery, and Plato and Kierkegaard bicycle to the ocean. They discuss the external and internal controls that may restrain the destructive behavior, agreeing that internal control, involving individual self-regulation, is more effective and desired than external control primarily because of its greater conduciveness to freedom, the crown jewel of this civilization. Their goal is to persuade Americans to emphasize self-restraint more than ever so that the "e;freedom experiment"e; has a better chance of succeeding.