{"product_id":"the-age-of-american-unreason-in-a-culture-of-lies-isbn-9780525436522","title":"The Age of American Unreason in a Culture of Lies","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe prescient and now-classic analysis of the forces of anti-intellectualism in contemporary American life--updated for the era of Trump, Twitter, Breitbart and fake news controversies.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe searing cultural history of the last half-century, \u003ci\u003eThe Age of American Unreason In A Culture of Lies\u003c\/i\u003e 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; the triumph of internet over print culture; and America's toxic addition to infotainment. Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation and sparing neither the right nor the left, Susan Jacoby asserts that Americans today have embraced \"junk thought\" that makes almost no effort to separate fact from opinion. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e At today's critical political juncture, nothing could be more important than recognizing the crisis described in this impassioned, tough-minded book, which challenges Americans to face the painful truth about what the flights from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.“There are few subjects more timely than the one tackled by Jacoby. . . . Her book is smart [and] well-researched.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eMichiko Kakutani, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Forceful. . . . Cogently argued. . . . An intellectual journey of the first order.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“One hopes Jacoby's incisive book will find an audience among the unconverted who will take her warnings seriously.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Provocative, well-written and often witty.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Jacoby’s is a moderate, sensible, well-founded position, shared by many Americans, yet it somehow rarely got voiced amid the raging hyperbole of the culture wars. “\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSalon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Jacoby deploys sharp insight on our present straits”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Trenchant …One hopes her incisive book, just in time for the 2008 elections, will find an audience among the unconverted who will take her warnings seriously.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“A surprising and uncommonly sophisticated treatment of a familiar topic.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Observer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Age of American Unreason\u003c\/i\u003e picks up where Richard Hofstadter left off. With analytic verve and deep historical knowledge, Susan Jacoby documents the dumbing down of our culture like a maestro. make no mistake about it, this is an important book.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eDouglas Brinkley, residential historian and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Deluge\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"This is one of the most eye-opening books I've read in a long time. Jacoby charts the intellectual and cultural currents that have characterized the United States since its founding and explains just how and why Americans have recently become so, well, dumb. Anyone who cares about the future of our country will want to read it.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eMarcia Angell, editor in chief emerita, \u003ci\u003eNew England Journal of Medicine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Jacoby has written a brilliant, sad story of the anti-intellectualism and lack of reasonable thought that has put this country in one of the sorriest states in its history.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eHelen Thomas, author of \u003ci\u003eWatchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Jacoby's fearless jeremiad, at once passionate, witty, and solidly grounded in facts, aries at a propitious moment, when many Americans are perceiving that ignorance conjoined to arrogance can be deadly. This book deserves to be widely read, and especially by concerned parents. As Jacoby insists, it is only within families that some immunity to mind-numbing 'infotainment' can now be acquired. First, however, there must be a will to resist—and if this stirring book can't rally it, nothing can.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eFrederick Crews, author of \u003ci\u003eFollies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"To a country of underachievers and proud of it, this book delivers a magnificent, occasionally hilarious kick in the pants. Snap out of it, Jacoby says: Getting it right matters. Tough talk and wicked wit in the tradition of Richard Hofstadter's \u003ci\u003eAnti-Intellectualism in American Life\u003c\/i\u003e and Neil Postman's \u003ci\u003eAmusing Ourselves to Death.\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJack Miles, author of \u003ci\u003eGod: A Biography\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eSUSAN JACOBY is the author of twelve previous books, most recently \u003ci\u003eStrange Gods\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNever Say Die, The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought, The Age of American Unreason, Alger Hiss and the Battle for History, Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, and Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past\u003c\/i\u003e. Her articles have appeared frequently in the op-ed pages of \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times \u003c\/i\u003eand in forums that include \u003ci\u003eThe American Prospect, Dissent,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300638249189,"sku":"NP9780525436522","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525436522.jpg?v=1767738025","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-age-of-american-unreason-in-a-culture-of-lies-isbn-9780525436522","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}