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From a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic comes an impassioned critique of America's retreat from reason. We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases. How did truth become an endangered species ? This decline began decades ago, and in this book the author takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and political campaigns, she identifies the trends - originating on both the right and the left - that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant. With remarkable erudition and insight, the author offers a provocative diagnosis of our current condition and presents a path forward for our truth-challenged times..

TRUTHFULNESS AND FALSEHOOD--POLITICAL ASPECTS--USA --- CULTURE CONFLICT--USA --- SUBJECTIVITY--SOCIAL ASPECTS--USA --- USA--POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT --- International relations. Foreign policy --- internationale economische politiek --- massacommunicatie --- Theory of knowledge