Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

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.

"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

• Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
• The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
• The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School
• The Disappearance of Childhood
• Mass Media and American Politics
• Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
• Thank You for Arguing, Third Edition: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion
• Colonial America: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
• The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country
• Language in Thought and Action: Fifth Edition