num_pages: 232
description: We now live in two Americas. One - now the minority - functions in a print-based literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other - the majority - is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority - which crosses social class lines though the poor are overwhelmingly affected - presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this other America serious film and theater as well as newspapers and books are being pushed to the margins of society. In the tradition of Christopher Laschs The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postmans Amusing Ourselves to Death Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture - attending WWF contests the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas and Ivy League graduation ceremonies - to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.
language: English
title: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
publisher: Nation Books