Curtis White writes of a dominant cultural force currently shaping America - it is the Middle Mind. And it's evident in the vast numbers who want to save the Arctic Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling, but insist on driving an SUV. It is neutral, widespread, easily digestible, and requires no thought. White, the social critic whom Molly Ivins calls a splendidly cranky academic, questions this predicament of a nation blindly following the path of least resistance and concludes with a call to recover the once powerful and creative American imagination.