He put together his observations about Taiwan society and culture during this period in his book The Berkeley Spirit. The book covered a wide range of material--from the misguided reverence that people in Taipei gave to those returning from study abroad, to pollution in Hualien, to his doubts about the Changhua County Government's plans to tear down a Confucian Temple.
書中廣泛討論當時台北人迷信「歸國學人」的心態、花蓮的公害污染問題，甚至對當時彰化縣政府想拆孔廟提出質疑，在在展現他積極介入社會觀察的企圖心，也是他文學生涯中的一個重要轉折。民主的覺醒與省思之後楊牧重返西雅圖，但即使身處海外，他對故鄉台灣的體察也未曾停止。