Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Neil Postman

Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · December 27, 2005

What happens when media and politics become forms of entertainment?

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Who it’s for
A sharp look at what entertainment does to public discourse, politics, and the institutions around them.
Themes
Entertainment-driven public discourse, Media's influence on politics, Regaining control of media
Genres
How Media Works, Media, Politics & the Internet, Television History & Criticism

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About this book

What happens when media and politics become forms of entertainment? As our world begins to look more and more like Orwell's 1984, Neil's Postman's essential guide to the modern media is more relevant than ever.

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"It's unlikely that Trump has ever read Amusing Ourselves to Death, but his ascent would not have surprised Postman.” -CNN Originally published in 1985, Neil Postman’s groundbreaking polemic about the corrosive effects of television on our politics and public discourse has been hailed as a twenty-first-century book published in the twentieth century. Now, with television joined by more sophisticated electronic media—from the Internet to cell phones to DVDs—it has taken on even greater significance. Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. It is also a blueprint for regaining control of our media, so that they can serve our highest goals. “A brilliant, powerful, and important book. This is an indictment that Postman has laid down and, so far as I can see, an irrefutable one.” –Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World

When Everything Performs

A sharp look at what entertainment does to public discourse, politics, and the institutions around them.

Come here for

  • Thinking through television’s influence on political and public life
  • Considering what happens when entertainment sets the terms of serious subjects

Expect

  • A pointed polemic spanning politics, journalism, education, and religion
  • A case for putting media back in service of larger goals

Where it sits

How Media Works69%
Media, Politics & the Internet46%
Television History & Criticism35%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Television History & Criticism
  • Media, Politics & the Internet
  • How Media Works
Authors
Neil Postman
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Published
December 27, 2005
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Entertainment-driven public discourse · Media's influence on politics · Regaining control of media
Reading lane
Television History & Criticism