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Staff Pick
It can be challenging to listen to the events of the day, wondering if there is truth in what is being shared by news outlets amidst the political chaos. In The Death of Truth, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michiko Kakutani takes us through the decline of truth, which started years ago with foreshadowing by many writers including George Orwell, and offers thoughts on the path forward. Recommended By Kim S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic comes an impassioned critique of America’s retreat from reason.
We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases.
How did truth become an endangered species in contemporary America? This decline began decades ago, and in The Death of Truth, former New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and politics, Kakutani identifies the trends — originating on both the right and the left — that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant.
With remarkable erudition and insight, Kakutani offers a provocative diagnosis of our current condition and points toward a new path for our truth-challenged times.
Review
“Kakutani has written the first great book of the Trump administration. The Death of Truth is a fiery polemic against the president and should go down as essential reading. In nine exquisitely crafted broadsides, the Pulitzer winner calls upon her vast knowledge of literature, philosophy and politics to serve up a damning state of the union.” Rolling Stone
Review
“The Death of Truth is destined to become the defining treatise of our age. Not only does it brilliantly and incisively diagnose the roots of our decaying social and political order; it also shows why we must rescue the truth before it is buried under a regime of lies. Everyone should read this book.” David Grann
Review
“Without the truth we will be neither prosperous nor virtuous nor free. This book begins the self-defense of American culture. May it reach a generation that will make narcissism passé and factuality sexy.” Timothy Snyder
About the Author
Michiko Kakutani is a Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic and the former chief book critic of The New York Times.
Michiko Kakutani on PowellsBooks.Blog
The 2016 presidential campaign and the first year of the Trump presidency made it clear that facts and the very idea of truth are under assault.
The Washington Post calculated that President Trump made 2,140 false or misleading claims during his first year in office — that’s an average of nearly 5.9 claims a day...
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