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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...
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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...
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The Age of American Unreason (Hardcover)
Description A scathing, witty indictment of American modern-day culture examines the current disdain for logic and evidence fostered by the mass media, religious fundamentalism, poor public education, a lack of fair-minded intellectuals, and a lazy, credulous public, condemning our addiction to infotainment, from TV to the Web, and assessing its repercussions for the country as a whole. 35,000 first printing. The spiritual descendant of Richard Hofstadter's ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN AMERICAN LIFE,...
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The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby
May 17, 2009: This book is a put down of religiuos fundamentalism and conservatism and a promotion of left wing liberal dogma. The blurb on the back cover saying that Jacoby spares" niether the right nor the left" is false. How could anyone with any objectivity discuss "anti-rationalism" and "unreason" and "junk thought" over the "last forty years" and not discuss the irrationality of political correctness, except to say: "The right loves to pin the label of political correctness (meaning...
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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...
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Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon---the addiction to infotainment, from television to the Internet, which has resulted in a lazy and credulous public.
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May 17, 2009: This book is a put down of religiuos fundamentalism and conservatism and a promotion of left wing liberal dogma. The blurb on the back cover saying that Jacoby spares" niether the right nor the left" is false. How could anyone with any objectivity discuss "anti-rationalism" and "unreason" and "junk thought" over the "last forty years" and not discuss the irrationality of political correctness, except to say: "The right loves to pin the label of political correctness (meaning...
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Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon---the addiction to infotainment, from television to the Internet, which has resulted in a lazy and credulous public.
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Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, this scholar dissects a new American cultural phenomenon: our infotainment addiction. From TV to the internet, she claims it's resulted in a lazy and credulous public, at odds with our heritage of reason and science. "One of those books you'll argue about as you [listen], then think about for months to come."—Entertainment Weekly » Read More
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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, Jacoby surveys an antirationalist 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...
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The Age of American Unreason (Vintage)
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...
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The Age of American Unreason (Paperback)
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...
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"Ms. Jacoby doesn't expect to revolutionize the nation's educational system or cause millions of Americans to switch off AMERICAN IDOL and pick up Schopenhauer. But she would like to start a conversation about why the United States seems particularly vulnerable to such a virulent strain of anti-intellectualism."
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Description The spiritual descendant of Richard Hofstadter's ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN AMERICAN LIFE, Susan Jacoby's THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON explores the deplorable state of America's cultural education, and finds a disturbing proliferation of "junk thought," a resistance to logical thinking, and a general undermining of the Enlightenment ideals upon which the country was founded.
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(US)
