The Art of the Public Grovel: Sexual Sin and Public Confession in America

It's now almost a stereotype to see a politician's wife standing behind her husband as he admits his affair. We distrust preachers on TV due to past transgressions. However, if you play your apology just right, you could escape-and even survive. Susan Wise Bauer paints a fascinating picture of how and why this 19th century, evangelically popular, form of apology became a required part of recovery after public offenses. Looking at Protestant revivalism, group psychotherapy, and talk TV, The Art of the Public Grovel examines the lives of those who did it well and those who didn't, including Bill Clinton, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, Ted Kennedy, Jim Bakker, Cardinal Law, Eliot Spitzer, and others. 337 pages, hardcover with dust jacket.