Amusing ourselves to death : public discourse in the age of show business

A brilliant powerful and important book....This is a brutal indictment Postman has laid down and, so far as I can see, an irrefutable one. --Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World. Examines The Effects Of Television On American Society, Arguing That Media Messages, Which Were Generally Coherent, Serious, And Rational When In Print, Have Become Shriveled And Absurd Due To The Medium Of Television. The Medium Is The Metaphor -- Media As Epistemology -- Typographic America -- The Typographic Mind -- The Peek-a-boo World -- The Age Of Show Business -- Now--this -- Shuffle Off To Bethlehem -- Reach Out And Elect Someone -- Teaching As An Amusing Activity -- The Huxleyan Warning. Neil Postman. Elisabeth Sifton Books. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 173-175. Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. It is also a blueprint for regaining control of our media, so that they can serve our highest goals. Examines the ways in which television has transformed public discourse--in politics, education, religion, science, and elsewhere--into a form of entertainment that undermines exposition, explanation and knowledge At different times in our history, different cities have been the focal point of a radiating American spirit. Om fjernsynets indflydelse på den vestlige kultur