Benjamin Haile DeMott (June 2, 1924,

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census. Histo ...

– September 29, 2005, Worthington, Mass.) was an American English professor and cultural critic. The author of more than a dozen books, DeMott was known for his cultural criticism in popular magazines and a trilogy, ''The Imperial Middle: Why Americans Can't Think Straight about Class'' (1990), ''The Trouble with Friendship: Why Americans Can't Think Straight about Race'' (1995), and ''Killer Woman Blues: Why Americans Can't Think Straight about Gender'' (2000). He wrote glowingly of Otis Redding, the Beatles' "

Blue Jay Way "Blue Jay Way" is a song by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles. Written by George Harrison, it was released in 1967 on the group's ''Magical Mystery Tour'' Extended play, EP and album. The song was named after a street in the Hollywoo ...

" and "the supergorgeous Mantovanian Motown Sound", while mocking

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his ...

and

Mary Ellmann Mary Ellmann (née Donoghue) (1921–1989) was an American writer and literary critic. Magazines she reviewed for included ''The New York Review of Books'', ''The Nation'', ''Encounter'', ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ''Commentary'', ''The New Republi ...

. One of DeMott's last pieces was a scalding dissection of the 9/11 Commission report that appeared in ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

'' in 2004. His final piece, "Battling the Hard Man: Notes on Addiction to the Pornography of Violence", was published in ''Harper's'' in August 2007. DeMott taught English at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

for more than 40 years. DeMott was survived by Margaret, whom he married in 1946, and their four children.

References

http://www.firstofthemonth.org/the-uses-of-benjamin-demott-part-1/ http://www.firstofthemonth.org/the-uses-of-benjamin-demott-part-2/ 1924 births 2005 deaths Amherst College faculty American social sciences writers 20th-century American novelists People from Rockville Centre, New York American male novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub