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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empireby Morris Berman
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:An explosive work that demonstrates that America has entered an inescapable social, cultural, and economic dark age. We retain the rhetoric of liberal democracy, but freedom of choice really means Wendy's vs. Burger King.--Morris Berman The Twilight of American Culture appeared in 2000 like a prophetic thunderbolt, warning that America's corporate culture and rampant materialism would set off an international counter-response. In his new work, Morris Berman discusses the coming collapse of the American economy, burdened by costly wars and insurmountable debt, the disappearance of democratic ideals, and the emergence of a new seamless propaganda machine that has destroyed popular discourse to the point that we now dwell in a miasma of propagandistic fog. We have been brought to this pass by our values and daily behavior, Berman avers. Dark Ages America is a clarion jeremiad in the tradition of Philip Slater's landmark work, The Pursuit of Loneliness, and Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism. Review:"In this provocative, scattershot jeremiad, cultural historian Berman (The Twilight of American Culture) likens America to ancient Rome on the brink. On the geopolitical plane, he contends, the United States is a belligerent, overstretched empire, saddled with huge deficits and a hollowed-out economy, vulnerable to terrorist blowback and, worse, collapse if foreign creditors finally pull the plug. The rot is cultural and spiritual, too: Americans are cold, alienated shopaholics immured in suburban anomie, each encased in a private bubble of iTunes and media noise and indifferent to the public good. Culprits include globalization, technology and, more fundamentally, the individualism and commercialism that is the bedrock of American identity. Because American civilization is a 'package deal,' the author considers it impervious to piecemeal reform and, given Americans' ingrained 'stupidity' and willful blindness, unsalvageable. Berman's attempts to tie every American dysfunction to an all-encompassing sickness of soul overreaches, leading him to lump together serious issues like poverty and the Abu Ghraib outrages with trivialities like annoying cell phone yakkers or the 'freedom fries' phenomenon, which he bemoans as 'symbolic of an emptiness at the core.' Often stimulating and insightful in its particulars, his indictment, like the jingoism it abhors, is too sweeping and essentialist to fully capture American reality." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Book News Annotation:Berman (visiting professor is sociology, Catholic U. of America)
argues that the American Empire is headed towards inevitable collapse
and that the country is about to experience an era that is similar to
the Dark Ages that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, sharing
such characteristics as the triumph of religion over reason,
breakdown of education and critical thinking, legitimization of
torture, and marginalization on the world stage. This is not the
result of the "War on Terror," but the September 11th attacks may
well have pushed us further along the downward trajectory that the US
has been on the since the 1960s and 1970s. Berman offers no
solutions, believing none to exist, and contents himself to describe
the cultural and political characteristics of the decline.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Book News Annotation:Berman (visiting professor is sociology, Catholic U. of America)
argues that the American Empire is headed towards inevitable collapse
and that the country is about to experience an era that is similar to
the Dark Ages that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, sharing
such characteristics as the triumph of religion over reason,
breakdown of education and critical thinking, legitimization of
torture, and marginalization on the world stage. This is not the
result of the "War on Terror," but the September 11th attacks may
well have pushed us further along the downward trajectory that the US
has been on the since the 1960s and 1970s. Berman offers no
solutions, believing none to exist, and contents himself to describe
the cultural and political characteristics of the decline.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Synopsis:From the bestselling author of "The Twilight of American Culture" comes an explosive work that demonstrates that the country has entered an inescapable social, cultural, and economic "dark age." Synopsis:An honest and unflinching look at the final phase of the American empire, and the sources of our decline. The Twilight of American Culture appeared in 2000 like a thunderbolt, warning that America's corporate culture and rampant materialism would set of an international counter-response. In his new work, Morris Berman discusses the coming collapse of the American economy, the erosion of democratic ideals, and the emergence of a seamless propaganda machine that has destroyed popular discourse to the point that we now dwell in a miasma of propagandistic fog. Berman's central point is that it is the specific details of the way we live--our values and daily behavior--that have brought about this state of affairs, from which there can be no return. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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