The System Made Me Do It: Corruption in Post-Communist
Societies. By Rasma Karklins. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2005. 219p.
$69.95 cloth, $25.95 paper.
Comedian Flip Wilson headlined his first nationwide television special
in September 1969. Risking his tentative hold on a new (white) audience,
Wilson joked about a minister's wife who justified her latest
shopping spree by claiming, “The Devil made me buy this
dress.” This declaration of self-indulgence later developed into
“the Devil made me do it” and became a staple for one of the
show's most popular recurring characters, Geraldine Jones. A comic
genius, Flip Wilson understood the importance of a tag line that would
resonate with his audience. Few fantasies can be more widespread than
abdicating personal responsibility in the pursuit of a good time.