The age of American unreason
By: Susan Jacoby.
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 356
ISBN-13: 9780375423741
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
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: 1: Way we live now: just us folks; title: 2: Way we lived then: intellect and ignorance in a young nation; title: 3: Social pseudoscience in the morning of America's culture wars; title: 4: Reds, pinkos, fellow travelers; title: 5: Middlebrow culture from noon to twilight; title: 6: Blaming it on the sixties; title: 7: Legacies: youth culture and celebrity culture; title: 8: New old-time religion; title: 9: Junk thought; title: 10: Culture of distraction; title: 11: Public life: defining dumbness downward; title: Conclusion: Cultural conservation; title: Notes; title: Selected bibliography; title: Acknowledgments; title: Index.