{"product_id":"9781568586137","title":"Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePulitzer prize-winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion above all else.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this \"other America,\" serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of Christopher Lasch's \u003ci\u003eThe Culture of Narcissism\u003c\/i\u003e and Neil Postman's \u003ci\u003eAmusing Ourselves to Death\u003c\/i\u003e, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture-attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies-to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PublicAffairs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47056821420272,"sku":"9781568586137","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781568586137","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}