The Age of American Unreason

Download or read book The Age of American Unreason written by Susan Jacoby and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-02-12 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.