The age of American unreason in a culture of lies / Susan Jacoby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jacoby, Susan, 1945-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reason--Social aspects.

Reason.

United States--Civilization--1945-.

United States.

Civilization.

United States--Social conditions--1945-.

Social conditions.

Mass media--Social aspects--United States.

Mass media.

Mass media--Social aspects.

Popular culture--United States.

Popular culture.

Reason--Social aspects--United States.

Social values--United States.

Social values.

Social psychology--United States.

Social psychology.

National characteristics, American.

Physical Description:

xxviii, 364 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

Second Vintage Books edition, January 2018.

New updated edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Vintage Books, 2018.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Introduction

1: Way we live now: just us folks

2: Way we lived then: intellect and ignorance in a young nation

3: Social pseudoscience in the morning of America's culture wars

4: Reds, pinkos, fellow travelers

5: Middlebrow culture from noon to twilight

6: Blaming it on the sixties

7: Legacies: youth culture and celebrity culture

8: New old-time religion

9: Junk thought

10: Culture of distraction

11: Public life: defining dumbness downward

Conclusion: Cultural conservation

Notes

Selected bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index.

Notes:

"Originally published in hardcover in slightly different form in the United States by Pantheon Books....in 2008"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780525436522

0525436529

OCLC:

989962322