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The Amazon Store at MillionDollarPetPix.com ( In association with Amazon.com )The Age of American Unreason (Vintage)by: Susan Jacoby  List Price: $15.95 Amazon.com's Price: $10.85 You Save: $5.10 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Not yet published
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 109 EAN: 9781400096381 Edition: Reprint ISBN: 1400096383 Label: Vintage Manufacturer: Vintage Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 384 Publication Date: February 10, 2009 Publisher: Vintage Release Date: February 10, 2009 Studio: Vintage Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: 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. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - An Embarrassing DiatribeDuring her discussion of the history of religion in America, Ms. Jocoby writes, "It seems more likely that poorly educated settlers on the frontier were drawn to religious creeds and preachers who provided emotional comfort without making the intellectual demands of older, more intellectually rigorous Protestant denominations--whether liberal Quakerism and Unitarianism or conservative Episcopalianism and Congregationalism." What evidence does she present that those living ... Read More Rating:  - Should be required reading.I saw Susan Jacoby on PBS and knew I had to read this book. The first thing about this book that turned me off but didn't turn me away is the unnecessary use of fancy words. Before you think about reading this book, make sure you have a gargantuan vocabulary, and / or a dictionary and thesaurus (I had my dictionary in hand). I'll assume this use of fancy words is to fit the theme of intellect. It's funny that Susan uses this quote from Dwight Eisenhower, "An intellectual is a man who takes more words ... Read More Rating:  - Appendix to HofstadterI don't think there's any doubt that Jacoby's general thesis--that American culture is steadily moving away from Enlightenment ideals of rational judgment and embracing with a Toquevillian vengeance religious fundamentalism, "junk science," infotainment, anti-"elitist" politicians, and shoddy public educational standards--is more true than not. To her great credit, she goes to great pains, especially in the final five chapters, to document cultural and intellectual decline. (Besides, any number of books ... Read More Rating: - Contemplating Hofstadter and JacobyWhat is intelligence? This is a question that stumped Richard Hofstadter in his 1963 Pulitzer Prize winning book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. And I think it stumps Jacoby as well. There are, most likely, many different kinds of intelligence. And even though Hofstadter never really arrives at a convincing definition in his book nor Jacoby in hers, they know that a higher value has been placed on earning than on learning in American life. Education as an end ... Read More Rating:  - The thesis is correct, of course, but skip the first 8 chapters.With apologies to other reviewers, a 5-star or 4-star review of Jacoby's `Unreason' would require a winking unreason, although she has some very strong moments (chapters 9, 10, and 11 contain some rather interesting essays with which I generally agree). Apart from the stark inconsistencies, departures from reason, certain Hollywood-driven fictionalizations of historical events, sporadic bursts of emotionalism, and us-versus-them dogmatism (I'll touch on some of these below), I was most immediately struck by ... Read More 
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