Idiot America How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free (Hardcover)
| Author: Charles P. Pierce |
Product Details:
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House Inc
ISBN-10: 0767926145
ISBN-13: 9780767926140
Sku: 210598330
Publish Date: 6/2/2009
Dimensions:
(in Inches) 9.25H x 6L x 1.25T
Pages:
293
See more in Political Science
| With his razor-sharp wit and erudite reasoning, Pierce delivers a gut-wrenching, side-splitting lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States, exploring how a country founded on intellectual curiosity has somehow deteriorated into a nation of simpletons. |
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From the Publisher:
An acerbic assessment of what the author terms the "glorification of ignorance" in the United States traces how uneducated buffoonery became popular to the point of representing American culture, in a call to action that expresses the author's hope that the nation will eventually value intellect more than reality television. |
Annotation:
Journalist Charles Pierce laments the astounding decline of the American intellect by highlighting the glaring discrepancy between the learned values of the nation's founders and those of today's average citizen. Pierce cites such examples as the prominence of Rush Limbaugh, the candidacy of Sarah Palin, the proliferation of reality TV, and the continued disavowal of evolution as evidence that a stunning number of Americans have foregone the pursuit of enlightenment in favor of the passive absorption of empty entertainment. What's worse, according to Pierce, is that the shameful stigma that was once attached to such celebrations of stupidity is being eroded by our culture's embrace of mindless amusement as a national pastime. Pierce reinforces his thesis with insightful passages from James Madison and other founding fathers, demonstrating the expanding gap between the popular discourses of colonial and contemporary times.
Journalist Charles Pierce laments the astounding decline of the American intellect by highlighting the glaring discrepancy between the learned values of the nation's founders and those of today's average citizen. Pierce cites such examples as the prominence of Rush Limbaugh, the candidacy of Sarah Palin, the proliferation of reality TV, and the continued disavowal of evolution as evidence that a stunning number of Americans have foregone the pursuit of enlightenment in favor of the passive absorption of empty entertainment. What's worse, according to Pierce, is that the shameful stigma that was once attached to such celebrations of stupidity is being eroded by our culture's embrace of mindless amusement as a national pastime. Pierce reinforces his thesis with insightful passages from James Madison and other founding fathers, demonstrating the expanding gap between the popular discourses of colonial and contemporary times.
Praise
"[Pierce] takes some of his most memorable shots at elected officials and, by extension, at their supporters....When he is skewering conservative talk-show hosts, Pierce is at his scathing, insightful best."
- Joseph Rosenbloom
06/21/2009
