First Sentence

"When I first encountered the ritual of American consensus, in the mid-1960s, it took the form of protest and despair: the Jewish anarchist Paul Goodman berating the country for abandoning its promise; the descendant of American slaves, Martin Luther King, Jr., denouncing injustice as a violation of the American Way; an interminable debate about national destiny, full of rage and faith, concervatives scavenging for un-Americans, New Left historians recalling the country to its sacred mission."