The Assault on Reason (SIGNED)

Gore, Al

ISBN 10: 1594201226 / ISBN 13: 9781594201226

Published by The Penguin Press, New York, 2007

About this Item

F/F in mylar. A 1st edition/1st printing in fine condition with full number line. Signed by author on title page. There is no wear to jacket. The jacket is not price clipped, the covers are clean and bright and the edges are sharp. No tears or creases. The binding is straight and tight. NO remainder mark. Hardcover/Cloth 308 p.

Seller Inventory # 5861

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Assault on Reason (SIGNED)
• Publisher: The Penguin Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1594201226
• ISBN 13: 9781594201226
• Binding: hardcover/cloth
• Edition: 1st
• Condition: F/F
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degration of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason

At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11. Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played to fears of terrorism.

We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate's thinking, and America is in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous administration in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this and of even greater concern is this administration's disinterest in the process by which the truth is ascertained, the tenets of fact-based reasoning-first among them an embrace of open inquiry in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did we get here? How much damage has been done to the functioning of our democracy and its role as steward of our security? Never has there been a worse time for us to lose the capacity to face the reality of our long-term challenges, from national security to the economy, from issues of health and social welfare to the environment. As The Assault on Reason shows us, we have precious little time to waste.

Gore's larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.

About the Author

Former Vice President Al Gore is currently the chairman of both Current TV and Generational Investment Management. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976 and the U.S. Senate in 1984 and 1990, and served eight years as vice president of the United States, from 1993 to 2000. He is the author of the 1992 bestseller Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. He lives with his wife, Tipper, in Nashville, Tennessee.