Babbitt

Zenith, real estate, the right clubs. George Babbitt has the American scoreboard and an empty afternoon. Lewis’s satire is boosterism, a brief rebellion, and the snap-back of the tribe. The smile that sells a lot, and the man behind it who wanted a different street. The Party, the church, the Good Citizens’ League — then a crack, a different crowd, a return to the desk. Lewis coined a type and then gave him a pulse. Still uncomfortably near. A type coined, then given a pulse, still uncomfortably near.