haha, I thought that is how most of you will react; I shared (and partly still do) the exact sentiment as well upon the first reading. I have noticed parts in there, that made sense, but overall it was covered with bullshit, written by some punk French kid on a "high horse." The tone and wording itself was offensive to me.
I am a forgiving person
so I forgave him his "Frenchness", and gave it another shot, reading it from the perspective he might have had, some 125 years ago. A lot, if not most, of what he says was true then, and does resonate in American arts to this day. Sure if this book was written even 50 years ago, it would not be worth reading, but looking at it from a historical perspective, it has merit.
So, give this guy a chance Ken