The age of American unreason
Subtitle: in a culture of lies
By: Susan Jacoby
Edition: Second Vintage Books edition, new updated edition.
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 364
ISBN-13: 9780525436522
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Mass media; Popular culture; Social values; Reason; Civilization; American National characteristics; Social conditions; Social psychology
Description: "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"--Provided by the publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: the way we live now : just us folks; title: The way we lived then : intellect and ignorance in a young nation; title: Social pseudoscience in the morning of America's culture wars; title: Reds, pinkos, fellow travelers; title: Middlebrow culture from noon to twilight; title: Blaming it on the sixties; title: Legacies : youth culture and celebrity culture; title: The new old-time religion; title: Junk thought; title: The culture of distraction; title: Public life : defining dumbness downward; title: Cultural conservation.