Synopses & Reviews
The 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.
The searing cultural history of the last half-century, The Age of American Unreason In A Culture of Lies 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.
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.
Review
“One hopes Jacoby’s incisive book will find an audience among the unconverted who will take her warnings seriously.” San Francisco Chronicle
Review
“Forceful. . . . Cogently argued. . . . An intellectual journey of the first order.” Chicago Tribune
Review
“There are few subjects more timely than the one tackled by Jacoby. . . . Her book is smart [and] well-researched.” Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
About the Author
Susan Jacoby is the author of eleven previous books, including Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism and Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion. Her articles have appeared frequently in the op-ed pages of The New York Times and in forums that include The American Prospect, Dissent, and The Daily Beast. She lives in New York City.