America is a country gripped by fear. In this widely-acclaimed book, Barry Glassner exposes the people and organizations that manipulate our perceptions and profit from our anxieties. These peddlers of fear - politicians, advocacy groups, and the media - cost Americans dearly, weighing us down with needless worries and causing us to squander billions of dollars to fix mythological problems. Topics like lethal road rage get major play in the media, even though one is far more likely to be killed by lightning. Meanwhile, we fail to correct the true cause of a problem; for instance, instead of enacting tougher gun laws, we erect more prisons. Ultimately reassuring, The Culture of Fear diagnoses the predominant pathology of our age and provides a passionate cry for a return to rationality.
Reviews
...
Do your palms grow cold and clammy when you board an airplane because the gruesome details of the last crash still live in your memory? Are you convinced that kidnapping is epidemic in the U.S.? Does the prospect of violent youths in your city drive you off the streets and to your local gun dealer? If so, you may well be subject to the culture of fear that author and reader Glassner describes in this audiobook. In example after example, the professorial voice of Glassner demonstrates how the media and government work hand in glove to fill the populace with anxiety over crime, disease, and other horrors promoted by the media. If you're keen on being debunked, this audiobook will systematically strip away your gullibility and possibly lead you to kill your television. D.J.B. 2005 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly...
"[Glassner] is clearly a man on a mission... virtually everyone will leave this book with a more realistic, guardedly optimistic world view."
About the Author
Barry Glassner is chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Southern California. Formerly a journalist and an editor for ABC Radio News, he is the author of several books, including Career Crash and Bodies. His writing appears regularly in national news magazines and newspapers. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Digital Rights Information
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All copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.
