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| The Age of American Unreason | 
 enlarge | Author: Susan Jacoby
Publisher: Pantheon
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  92 reviews
Sales Rank: 1155
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.6
ISBN: 0375423745
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.91
EAN: 9780375423741
ASIN: 0375423745
Publication Date: February 12, 2008
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Product Description
Combining historical analysis with contemporary observation, Susan Jacoby dissects a new American cultural phenomenon--one that is at odds with our heritage of Enlightenment reason and with modern, secular knowledge and science. With mordant wit, she surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." Disdain for logic and evidence defines a pervasive malaise fostered by the mass media, triumphalist religious fundamentalism, mediocre public education, a dearth of fair-minded public intellectuals on the right and the left, and, above all, a lazy and credulous public.
Jacoby offers an unsparing indictment of the American addiction to infotainment--from television to the Web--and cites this toxic dependency as the major element distinguishing our current age of unreason from earlier outbreaks of American anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism. With reading on the decline and scientific and historical illiteracy on the rise, an increasingly ignorant public square is dominated by debased media-driven language and received opinion.
At this critical political juncture, nothing could be more important than recognizing the "overarching crisis of memory and knowledge" 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...
 Too Long, Thinly Documented and Lacking Recommendations February 15, 2008
402 out of 596 found this review helpful
"The Age of American Unreason" aims to update us (post Richard Hofstadter's 1963 "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life") on how American culture devalues knowledge and rationalism. Supporting material include findings that only about half of Americans read a book in any year, only 26% accept Darwin's theory of evolution, and only a minority can name the four gospels or the first book of the Bible. Jacoby also contends that anti-intellectualism and knowledge is worse in the U.S. than any other developed economy - but offers no evidence.
How did we get to this state? McCarthyism, liberal Soviet defenders, the growth of religious fundamentalism and junk-science, and a celebrity-focused culture are proffered candidates for blame. Again, however, little is offered as evidence except in the case of junk science - fomented by right-wing backers. Regardless, Jacoby also fails to peel back the onion further - eg. "Why has fundamentalism grown?" Jacoby does make an important point stating that the impact of anti-intellectualism is much greater today than the 1800's when science and medicine had much less to offer.
Other candidates should also be considered for blame - the growth of particularly strong anti-intellectualism among inner-city African-American youth, endless self-promoting junk science "research" from other sources (eg. drug companies, various "diet gurus," many social 'scientists'), elevation of race- and gender-based courses to major fields of study, the growth of "political correctness" and cultural relativism, truth-twisting by politicians, misleading and overly simplistic books and articles (eg. concluding causation via correlation), weak academic standards, and media's minimal efforts at investigative journalism.
Jacoby also fails to note that the average citizen's aversion to knowledge and rationalism can at least be partially explained. After all, who wants more work after their eight+ hours on the job and fighting traffic, preparing and eating breakfast and dinner, PLUS taking care of the children and other family matters? Further, separating junk science from the real thing requires considerable subject matter (often deliberately withheld) and statistical background. As for politics, even some knowledgeable people I know see involvement as a waste of time - "nothing changes," "they all lie," and "only big donors have input," while leaders since Harry Truman have bemoaned economists' inability to come to useful conclusions.
On the other hand, it is troubling to see how readily misinformed Americans acquiesce to acceptance of non-thinking ideology and major misdirections in American governance. And it hurts to see those pathetic performances on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader," and U.S. pupils vs. foreigners.
My recommendations for "The Age of American Unreason" are to shorten and strengthen it considerably by deleting most of the boring history and replacing most of the weak anecdotal "evidence" with more quality surveys and other statistics. As for improving America's intellect, I suggest increasing parent and pupil motivation and respect for learning by making it academically much more difficult to enter college, as it is in Asia, and adding a requirement for understanding logic and statistical reasoning. Finally, lawmakers should demand that PBS provide additional documentaries, and encourage ABC, CBS, NBC etc. to do likewise.
 how stupid are we, apparently, VERY February 16, 2008
127 out of 201 found this review helpful
Jacoby delivers a scathing indictment of our poorly informed American public. The statistics she cites to validate our massive ignorance as a country are chilling. We need to look no further that our current two term president and the voters who chose him to ascertain just how stupid many Americans really are.
These are things that need to be said and known. There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Can we elect a president who will comprehend the steps that need to be taken right away to reverse this rising tide of anti-intellectualism?
Or, will the forces in power continue to manipulate their herd of mindless sheep who give them their supposed electoral majority? Time is running out. We have a president who only recently mentioned the incredible disaster of climate change. The clock is ticking. The industrial time bomb is melting the polar ice caps. Oceans are rising. Only morons think otherwise. The highly paid corporate "experts" who pooh pooh the problem are shills.
How stupid are we? If you are smart, you'll read this book.
Taking the temperature of contemporary American culture February 19, 2008
110 out of 123 found this review helpful
Susan Jacoby's beautifully written and convincingly argued book should be sine qua non reading for ALL parents, as well anyone who has anything to do with education. She clears away any doubts one might entertain about the benefits of even the most "educational" videos for young children, backing up her points with evidence from reliable sources. According to a recent study carried out by the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital, overexposure to videos like "Brainy Baby" may actually be impeding language development in babies.
The book's acute analysis of political "communication" and media punditry should also be required reading for anyone who aspires to make an informed and wise choice in the crucial political battle currently being fought for the future of our nation. Her observations are all the more interesting in light of the current attack on "eloquence" in political speech--with its specious implication that one cannot be eloquent and effective simultaneously.
There are purely intellectual pleasures as well to be had from Jacoby's wonderfully ambitious reach into American history. I particularly enjoyed her investigation of the idea that, from the very beginning, our democratic culture rested on a contradiction: [Jacoby, 37] "The health of democracy, as so many of the founders had proclaimed, depended on an educated citizenry, but many Americans also believed that too much learning might set one citizen above another and violate the very democratic ideals that education was supposed to foster."
I particularly recommend the downloadable vodcast of Jacoby's interview with Bill Moyers [Feb. 15th] http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html . Given the very substantial interest the book has already sparked, there may be some hope for us yet.
 A Full Blown, Grand Mal Seizure February 24, 2008
80 out of 129 found this review helpful
Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason is a deeply felt and deeply flawed treatise on how uncultured and unlearned Americans are. I started out enjoying this book, though I was somewhat bored at the over-long history lesson that comprises the first few chapters. That Jacoby herself is intelligent and well read is very clear throughout the pages of this uneven book. Unfortunately, as the reader progresses through the book, Ms. Jacoby starts to involuntarily twitch--just every so often. But by the time she gets to writing about how evil conservatives are and how horrible Bush is, she is foaming at the mouth and yanking her hair out at the roots with shrieks of anger.
She paints almost every Republican as a gap-toothed, NASCAR-lovin' hillbilly from the South. If she has to admit there are conservative intellectuals, then she writes that they buffalo the public, lying and deceiving as they go (and this is easily done because U.S. citizens aren't as smart as Ms. Jacoby is). With her retrospectoscope in full use, she lashes out at anyone who supported (or supports) the war in Iraq, Reagan, or either of the Presidents Bush. Not all conservatives belong to the "Religous Right" and subscribe to the foolishness of "intelligent" design. Ms. Jacoby is so predictable as to be embarrassing; but when it comes to President Clinton, she's blushing furiously at how "charming" he is. It's obvious she's in love.
Isn't it clear to rational people that there are wise and intellectual liberals AND conservatives? Not all liberals are crazy pinkos, and not all conservatives have a tattoo reading "I love Jesus" on their chests. Ms. Jacoby doesn't try nearly hard enough to seem fair-minded where politics is concerned, and her bias weakens her arguments.
It becomes clear by halfway through the book that this is a unevenly documented partisan rant by someone near retirement age. So many paragraphs and arguments smack of a warbly voiced "Back in my day..." The '60s were so wonderful, and ooh those Kennedy boys! In one chapter, Ms. Jacoby writes about how disturbed she is when a college student she meets doesn't seem to know about FDR's fireside chats. That's too bad, but there's so much knowledge available in this information age. No doubt this college student is perfectly bright and is preparing for her career by attending college. Going to the university cannot be, at least for most of us, one big humanities degree. The world's a competitive place; and if a young person wants a good job in business, law, or medicine, they have to focus their studies--at least to a certain degree.
I was also embarrassed for Ms. Jacoby when she relates her recent visit to a university where she stayed in a student dorm. There were no love-ins, peace rallies, or Bush-bashing parties going on! Ms. Jacoby states that in her day, a "real writer" gracing the dorm would have had at least a few people at her feet, begging to learn from her wisdom. She seemed miffed that no one at least asked for her autograph.
There are good points raised in The Age of American Unreason. She rightly shows that religion is a stumbling block to rational thinking and action. She excoriates the culture of those who read US magazine, watch "reality TV", and get excited about Paris Hilton's latest manicure. Ms. Jacoby is right on target when she laments how few people read books anymore. It seems that if an adult is reading a book these days, it's chick lit, diet/exercise, or the ironically titled "Good News" Bible.
Unfortunately, I can't wholeheartedly recommend this book because it's so fanatical in parts. She documents much of ignorance seen in U.S. society today, but she doesn't write nearly enough regarding what should be done to remedy the problem. Some editing and Valium would have really helped the author write this book, and then maybe it could be more strongly recommended.
 A painful, unflattering look in the mirror February 23, 2008
76 out of 82 found this review helpful
Jacoby is at her best when she reasons close to the facts, documents her claims, and builds logical sequences from those facts. She is at her worst when she engages in speculative, broad brush generalizations that seem to be presonalized impressions.
Her book has the texture of being written from two mindsets, one more objective and untimately far more informative, and the other, more subjective and tendentious without the assurance that those impressions are carefully grounded in evidence.
Because of this dual natured, dual flavored style some reviewers have accurately sensed the weak side of Jacoby's thought processes and taken umbrage. Which isn't entirely unfair, only incomplete and one sided criticism.
Where Jacoby shines, and when she shines she shines brightly, is the spot on deconstruction of the "belief path" that America has taken over the last three decades from the Reagan Revolution, some would say the seeds were planted in the Nixon administration (this with Nixon's calculation that the religion card could be played for maximum political advantage) until the NeoConservative debacle of the present.
Jacoby makes a strong case that Americans are not inherently stupid, anti-rational, or ahistorical clamoring rubes (although a superficial reading of her book could leave one with that emotive sense of her thrust), rather that the American media, American educational structure, and the introduction of disruptive technologies have colluded to produce an atmosphere so sterile and lacking of nutrition that Americans are growing up as stunted, incomplete, intellectually damaged citizens dangerously unprepared for the global tasks we will soon face.
This is a most terrible actuality to see as it truly is. The average, average mind you means that a good percentage are above this number, watch seven hours of television in a 24 hour period, what's worse is that the average American now watches indiscriminately, using television as an escapist drug, not as a source of information. Her evidence (which I badly wish she had closely documented and footnoted) is that today the viewer will watch 7 hours of television regardless of what is being broadcast. In other words, the viewer doens't care what is on, only that there is something marginally viewable. One must wonder, when does vegatation become outright addiction of the same power as opiate addictions ?
This stuporous, bovine, cud chewing, glazed over, hypnotic fog appears to be matched with a near contempt for science, rigorous logic, reasoned philosophy, or even the conversational reference to any of the above. When a high percentage of science teachers are unaware that large reptiles ceased to inhabit the Earth and mammals began their ascent at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, thus humans and dinosaurs could not possibly have lived at the same time, if you can imagine, and assuming her statistic is accurate, that 25% of high school biology teachers actually believe in Human-Dinosaur cohabitation.... the only thing one can conclude is that our educational system is so broken it would take another massive meteor impact to change anything, as the phase goes, "Houston, we have a problem"...
Yes, we do... a serious dysfunction that goes all the way to the core of our society...
Regardless of its imperfections, Jacoby has written an essential book for taking stock of this social-political-educational moment in American history, and we would be fools not to begin asking hard questions as to who and what we have allowed ourselves to become as a people.
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