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Synopsis
Amusing Ourselves to Death has established itself as a key text in cultural and media studies. Television, Postman argues, has taken the place of the printed word at the center of our culture, and in doing so has trivialised the once serious and coherent discussion of all public affairs. Even our political and religious leaders today depend more on camera angles and showmanship than on reason and rhetoric. Postman makes a convincing, often wittily argued, case that we are moving not towards George Orwell's vision of the future but towards Aldous Huxley's Brave New World in which people become addicted to technologies which take away their capacities to think: their critical faculties are destroyed and their sense of history is lost.
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From Publishers Weekly
From the author of Teaching as a Subversive Activity comes a sustained, withering and thought-provoking attack on television and what it is doing to us. Postman's theme is the decline of the printed word and the ascendancy of the "tube" with its tendency to present everythingmurder, mayhem, politics, weatheras entertainment. The ultimate effect, as Postman sees it, is the shrivelling of public discourse as TV degrades our conception of what constitutes news, political debate, art, even religious thought. Early chapters trace America's one-time love affair with the printed word, from colonial pamphlets to the publication of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. There's a biting analysis of TV commercials as a form of "instant therapy" based on the assumption that human problems are easily solvable. Postman goes further than other critics in demonstrating that television represents a hostile attack on literate culture. October 30
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
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Amusing Ourselves to Death (Paperback)
Published by
Methuen Publishing Ltd, London, 1987
ISBN 10: 0413404404
ISBN 13: 9780413404404
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Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Television has conditioned us to tolerate visually entertaining material measured out in spoonfuls of time, to the detriment of rational public discourse and reasoned public affairs. In this eloquent, persuasive book, Neil Postman alerts us to the real and present dangers of this state of affairs, and offers compelling suggestions as to how to withstand the media onslaught. Before we hand over politics, education, religion, and journalism to the show business demands of the television age, we must recognize the ways in which the media shape our lives and the ways we can, in turn, shape them to serve out highest goals. Postman takes an enlightening look at the long-term effects of mass media--how it transforms the world, and the ways in which the media onslaught can be challenged. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780413404404
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
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Methuen Publishing Ltd, GB, 1987
ISBN 10: 0413404404
ISBN 13: 9780413404404
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
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Condition: New. 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 Num Pages: 224 pages, bibliography, index. BIC Classification: JFD; JMH; VSP. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 198 x 128 x 14. Weight in Grams: 190. . 1987. New edition. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780413404404
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
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Condition: New. 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 Num Pages: 224 pages, bibliography, index. BIC Classification: JFD; JMH; VSP. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 198 x 128 x 14. Weight in Grams: 190. . 1987. New edition. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780413404404
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
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