This is a study of how everyday life in the USA intersects with and is influenced by the power of events, on the one hand, and forces of conformity and normality on the other. Combining poststructuralist analysis with a sympathetic reading of a strain of American thought that begins with Emerson and culminates in the work of Stanley Cavell, the book investigates incidents from everyday life, political spectacles and popular culture. Whether juxtaposing reflections about boredom in rural New Mexico with the Emersonian theory of constitutional amendment, or Richard Nixon's letter of resignation with Thoreau's writing to overcome quiet desperation, or demonstrating how Disney's "Toy Story" allegorizes the downsizing of the American white-collar work force, the author's constant concern is to show how the ordinary is the primary source of the democratic political imagination.