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the AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON: Dumbing Down & the Future of Democracy
by Jacoby, Susan
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Good/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 1905847661
- ISBN 13
- 9781905847662
- Seller
-
Ashbourne, Derbyshire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon--one that is at odds with the nation's heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge.
Also one of David Bowies top50 favorite books.
356pp with index.
Also one of David Bowies top50 favorite books.
356pp with index.
Synopsis
Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon--one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, she surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media, triumphalist religious fundamentalism, mediocre public education, a dearth of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and the left, and, above all, a lazy and credulous public.Jacoby offers an unsparing indictment of the American addiction to infotainment--from television to the Web--and cites this toxic dependency as the major element distinguishing our current age of unreason from earlier outbreaks of American anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism. With reading on the decline and scientific and historical illiteracy on the rise, an increasingly ignorant public square is dominated by debased media-driven language and received opinion.At this critical political juncture, nothing could be more important than recognizing the "overarching crisis of memory and knowledge" described in this impassioned, tough-minded book, which challenges Americans to face the painful truth about what the flights from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Pellegrino Books
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1845
- Title
- the AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON
- Author
- Jacoby, Susan
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 1905847661
- ISBN 13
- 9781905847662
- Publisher
- Old Street Publishing
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2008
- Keywords
- Religious Fervor, McCarthy, Richard Nixon, American knowledge,
- Size
- 8vo
Terms of Sale
Pellegrino Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Pellegrino Books
Biblio member since 2013
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
About Pellegrino Books
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