The Age of American Unreason
by: Susan Jacoby
Published by: Vintage Books: A Division of Random House
Buy From Amazon.com
Reviewed by Steven King, MBA
Susan Jacoby starts with good intentions since her desire is to survey why America is branded as anti-intellectual. A cursory investigation of many segments of our culture indicates that a quest for reason is far from the minds of most people. Her mission is admirable – her thesis, however, is not.
When a secular atheist attempts to write a book about the unreasonableness of anything, it begs the question almost immediately: What is the source of reason? People ascribing to various faith beliefs will answer that question very differently than she did.
Instead of agreeing to disagree, a stretch for anyone purporting to be secular, Jacoby wastes no time earmarking religious fundamentalism as one of the main causes of anti-rationalism in America. In just the first 20 or so pages, she indicates that those who believe in a coming Messiah only have beliefs that are “…dangerous fallacies.” Yet, in the same paragraph, she contends for the Constitutional rights that allow the religiously misguided to have their particular faith – a kind of intellectual snobbery, since in Jacoby’s opinion, atheism is the only intelligent stance on faith.
The rest of the book weaves a strange amalgamation of blame. Jacoby gleefully wanders through a minefield to determine what is to blame for America’s lack of reason. The reader will get the impression that she is pro-communism, pro-evolution, anti-technology, but pro-reading. Where she can, she’ll conflate, a word she’s particularly fond of, her current topic with an anti-religious sentiment.
One gets the sense that the young Jacoby sat all by herself in the back of the classroom, angry at life, specifying that a teacher was “stupid” if he ever mentioned religion. Then this young author would laugh sardonically at her own perception of wit.
The book is not completely without merit. Her chapter about infotainment hits the proverbial nail on the head about “why” America lacks reason. Collectively, we desire instant gratification without the cerebral task of working to understand something.
Jacoby would have produced a masterpiece if she had not used her book to bash religiosity, rather, she should have focused on “how” to encourage Americans to read.
Armchair Interviews says: Readers, consider yourself forearned.
Author’s Web site: http://www.SusanJacoby.com
From our armchair to yours...
