The age of American unreason

by

Hardcover, 356 pages

English language

Published April 4, 2008 by Pantheon Books.

ISBN:
978-0-375-42374-1
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OCLC Number:
140101081

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4 stars (3 reviews)

From the Publisher: A cultural history of the last forty years, The Age of American Unreason focuses on the convergence of social forces-usually treated as separate entities-that has created a perfect storm of anti-rationalism. These include the upsurge of religious fundamentalism, with more political power today than ever before; the failure of public education to create an informed citizenry; and the triumph of video over print culture. Sparing neither the right nor the left, Jacoby asserts that Americans today have embraced a universe of "junk thought" that makes almost no effort to separate fact from opinion.

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5 stars

This books is an excellent survey of anti-intellectualism in America. Jacoby traces the roots of this aspect of American culture and illustrates how it continues to be perpetuated. It is especially frightening that ignorance, illogic and emotionalism have managed to be elevated to virtues in popular culture. Effective self-governance in a democracy depends on an educated population capable of making logical decisions based on dispassionate evaluations of evidence, so the anti-rational trends Jacoby describes threaten the basic foundations of the country.

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Subjects

  • Mass Communication Media And Society
  • Social Psychology
  • Philosophy
  • History - U.S.
  • Media Studies
  • Popular Culture - General
  • United States - General
  • History / United States / General
  • History & Surveys - General
  • Mass media
  • Popular culture
  • Reason
  • Social aspects
  • United States