The Age of American Unreason [Paperback]

 

 

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How long should a new nation retain its "frontier" status? The United States used the condition of "filling an empty continent" to disclaim any need for intellectual advancement for over a century. During the following decades, learning may have become more widely disseminated and an "American culture" may have arisen to overturn that imported from Europe. Still, there remained the attitude that the "intellectual" was a figure of elitism.) While that picture is necessarily false - what other single nation has garnered so many Nobel awards? - "intellectuals" have not been held in high regard in the US. As Susan Jacoby reminds us, Richard Hofstadter's 1963 "Anti-intellectualism In American Life" was a breakthrough effort in pointing up how and why his countrymen viewed higher learning as they did. Jacoby has done more than merely updated Hofstadter in this excellent overview. She exposes some of the root conditions leading to her country spawning a tide of "unreason".

Distilling Jacoby's presentation to its basic element, we realise that the foundation for today's "Age of Unreason" lies in education. While that seems a paradox in a nation with so many noteworthy science, economic and other figures, the general picture confirms her analysis. It's not the education system itself that draws her ire - although she has some serious comments on that topic - but the diversionary elements either distracting the young from learning or failing to help preparing them for education. The former is something long commented on - the video screen. Whether it's games, "children's" programmes or simply "surfin' the 'Net", the video monitor leads children away from real mental challenges or sources of useful and meaningful information. Instead, children - and no few adults - are inundated with "infotainment". It boils down to "junk thought" being broadcast in one form or another and retained by those least able to resist it.

That manufactured term is almost self-explanatory in declaring why decline of the printed page is another of Jacoby's topics of concern. Reading, she argues, is falling by the wayside because images and sound-bites provide quick, simple explanations of what is deemed "reality". The brevity of presentation and the superficial forms used to convey it have led the young away from understanding the complexity of everyday issues. Jacoby lists the symptoms of the loss of reading, from shrunken book review sections in newspapers to her own experience as a journalist. Where once she was commissioned to produce lengthy, analytical pieces on a given topic, editors now put severe limits on word-count. Reading is being downplayed and readers are demanding and expecting to be less challenged and less informed about subjects. Brief, easily absorbed snippets - whether informative or not - have become the norm.

Nowhere, of course, is better placed to provide the "quick answer" than is religion. Jacoby's discussion of the role of fundamentalism [she eschews adding "Christianity" to the description] is extensive and thorough. Evangelical Christianity has experienced a rollercoaster ride through the years in the US. There have been, according to the author, three "Awakenings" of religious intensity in North America, the first prior to independence, the second in the early 19th Century and the third in the present day. Each has been typified by an aversion to a perceived dominance by an "intellectual elite". As Hofstadter had noted in his earlier book, the Awakenings have spilled over into a broader social arena than religion alone. Since religion is perceived as the very underpinnings of a stable society, any ideas or information challenging religion, established or evangelical, loss of religious intensity is viewed as tantamount to leading to social chaos. Stability, whether informed or not, is the aim. Only faith can provide consistency.

Although there are some missing elements in this book - why should religion gain such a foothold in one of the world's most literate and scientifically advanced nations, for example - this is a work deserving a wide readership. Jacoby doesn't make detailed comparisons between her native country and elsewhere, yet, she's concerned about what the decline in intellectual growth means for the future. Perhaps she considers that obvious, but the poorly informed readers she's concerned about might be better served by a nudge in that direction. Given the number of recent works on these questions, Jacoby is hardly alone in her analysis of the intellectual condition of the US. In terms of communicating the issues, her writing skills place her at a more accessible level than some of her colleagues. In any case, the issues are clear and her approach unequivocal. This book is, therefore, essential reading. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Susan Jacoby tackles the problem of anti-intellectualism in modern day America by taking the reader through a historical survey of American rationalism before launching into her polemic on contemporary American rationality.

"The Age of American Unreason" is meant to be a follow-up to Richard Hofstadter's '63 standard text on anti-intellectualism in America. I have to say that Jacoby is only partially successfully in making her point, which is that America is dumber now than when it was founded. She attempts to backup her claim by providing a few convenient anecdotes and most importantly glosses over the complex issue of contemporary religious fundamentalism. Certainly there is much more than just the familiar evolution versus intelligent design debate of which Jacoby fails to "enlighten" (pardon the pun) us on.

I must give credit to Jacoby for her well-researched and well-documented history of rationalism up to the 60s. Unlike other reviews I have read, this is the strongest part of the book and is well worth reading if just for that epistemology. However, overall, Jacoby's argument falls flat and left me unconvinced that America is in fact in an age of unreason.

I must first admit that I listened to Ms. Jacoby's book (an Audio CD version) during my commute. Had I not done so, I doubt I would have had the determination to stick it out for the entire book. Although I found some of the arguments very compelling, especially those concerning the prevalence of "junk science" and the resurgence of the literal interpretation of the bible in terms of the origins of the universe and the age of the earth, I'm not sure I would raise the alarm over fading interest in what she considers classic literature and an under-appreciation of classical music. To a certain degree I think times change and so does the syllabus.

I'm assuming the author hopes to reach some of the "non-intellectuals" out there among policy makers, movers and shakers in the American educational/political system. I can't help feeling that fewer references to the likes of Stendhal and Aeschylus, and perhaps more anecdotal examples of how the nation has been "dumbed down" would raise the ire of readers and have made for more interesting reading.

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