This is quite possibly the most depressing book I have ever read. The author not only shares my view that television (or mass media) has undermined nearly every aspect of Western (particularly, but not exclusively, American) culture, but he explains exactly how the damage was done. Unfortunately I think we've passed the point of no return.

In the forward, Postman writes: "Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. . . . Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. . . . This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."