Empire of Illusion
The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion.
Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. In this “other society,” serious film and theatre, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins.
In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Hedges navigates this culture — attending WWF contests as well as Ivy League graduation ceremonies —…
$19.95
August 24, 2010
CHRIS HEDGES, a senior fellow at The Nation Institute, spent nearly 20 years as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He was part of the New York Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for the paper's coverage of global terrorism. He writes a weekly original column for Truthdig, and has written for Harper's, The New Statesman, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, Adbusters, Granta, Foreign Affairs and other publications. He is the author of the bestsellers Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (with cartoonist Joe Sacco); Death of the Liberal Class; Empire of Illusion; and War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, among others.
The Class
Chris Hedges
America, The Farewell Tour
Chris Hedges
Wages of Rebellion
Chris Hedges
Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt
Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco
Death of the Liberal Class
Chris Hedges
Empire of Illusion
Chris Hedges
Dominion
Stephen R. Bown
A Nation's Paper
Edited by John Ibbitson
At a Loss for Words
Carol Off
Novelist as a Vocation
Haruki Murakami
We Should All Be Feminists: A Guided Journal
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Art of Public Speaking
Dale Carnegie
The Pocket Butler's Guide to Travel
Charles MacPherson
The Inviting Life
Laura Calder
The Book of Lists
Ira Basen and Jane Farrow
Startle and Illuminate
Anne Giardini and Nicholas Giardini, eds.
In Other Words
Jhumpa Lahiri; translated by Ann Goldstein
Backward Glances
Conrad Black
The Butler Speaks
Charles MacPherson
Tell Everyone
Alfred Hermida