Circling the Drain: George Carlin and James Hillman on Culture and Language

One of the best ways to critique a culture is to examine its language. This timely book is the first and only to pair two unconventional thinkers who strove to illuminate the darker corners of our the subversive comedian George Carlin and the renegade founder of archetypal psychology, James Hillman. Its aim is to demonstrate, through the minds of these equally rebellious, unconventional, nonconforming, and controversial men, the effect that language has on our modern culture, and vice versa. Carlin was more than just a hilarious and clever comedian. He deserves to be recognized as an intelligent and subversive thinker who deeply understood the human psyche and modern culture. His style and method of thinking were as penetrating and honest as a skilled psychologist’s. Hillman spent much of his career criticizing the profession of psychology as well as American culture in general. His work is intellectually demanding and the tone is usually serious and often combative.With a foreword by Carlin's daughter, Kelly Carlin.