Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

Name: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Rating: 4.470588207244873 (17 reviews)

Chris Hedges

Jul 2009 · Sold by Bold Type Books

17 reviews

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240

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About this ebook

From a bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a scathing polemic against the spectacle-obsessed culture that has taken over American life.

“A trenchantly argued critique of the near-destruction of the American Dream by unfettered capitalism.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

An instant bestseller, Chris Hedges’s Empire of Illusion is one of the most striking and unsettling explorations of illusion and fantasy in contemporary American culture.

Traveling to the ringside of professional wrestling bouts at Madison Square Garden, to a pornography convention in Las Vegas, and to academic conferences held by positive psychologists—who claim to be able to engineer happiness—Hedges chronicles the encroachment of artifice and propaganda in all corners of American life. He exposes the mechanisms used to divert us from confronting the economic, environmental, political, and moral collapse around us.

A culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion dies, Hedges argues, and we are dying now.

From a bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a scathing polemic against the spectacle-obsessed culture that has taken over American life. “A trenchantly argued critique of the near-destruction of the American Dream by unfettered capitalism.” —Philadelphia Inquirer An instant b...

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Ratings and reviews

17 reviews

Jim Macdonald

January 6, 2016

The books intent was there and clear. And could have been tremendously enlightening. The execution though was atrociously poor; with a style way too acidic and bitter. This book is laced throughout with pundit style rhetoric ruining any flow of ideas; with constant reiteration of blame being directed at the manipulative capitalist oligarchy. To finish it off with a weak ending... Is sad. Unless you adhere naively with resentment and hatred towards the 1%.... Don't read this book. It's all spectacle.

1 person found this review helpful

Lee “Lee” Russell

November 15, 2016

Enjoyed how he described the aspects of illusion in detail. This guy knows his stuff, and can put it in simple terms for understanding. Good read for sure!

A Google user

This is a fascinating and sometimes disturbing set of observations on contemporary America. Convincingly researched and coldly direct. A wake up call to a nightmare perhaps too late to reverse.

About the author

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. He was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he was their Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief. He is a New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Death of the Liberal Class, and American Fascists. He holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University and writes at chrishedges.substack.com. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. He was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he was their Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief. He is a New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including War is a Force That Gives Us Mea...

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