Idiot America (Hardcover) ~ Charles P. Pierce (Author) Cover Art

Idiot America (Hardcover)

By: Charles P. Pierce (Author)


List Price: $26.00
Tower Price: $15.99
You Save: $10.01 (39%)
Add to BagAdd to Bag Click to go directly to the checkout.
This item qualifies for FREE Shop N' Save Shipping for orders over $25. Check individual shipping price. *Some Restrictions Apply.
Availability: In Stock
Share This:
Add To KaboodleAdd To Kaboodle  Submit To Digg!Submit To Digg!  Share On FacebookShare On Facebook  Add to FavoritesAdd to Favorites  TwitterTwitter 

Product Description



Run a Quick Search on "Idiot America" by Charles P. Pierce to Browse Related Products:

Browse more products related to "Idiot America"

Browse more products related to "Charles P. Pierce"


Review

"[Pierce] takes some of his most memorable shots at elected officials and, by extension, at their supporters....When he is skewering conservative talk-show hosts, Pierce is at his scathing, insightful best."

Publisher's note

An acerbic assessment of what the author terms the "glorification of ignorance" in the United States traces how uneducated buffoonery became popular to the point of representing American culture, in a call to action that expresses the author's hope that the nation will eventually value intellect more than reality television.

In the midst of a career-long quest to separate the smart from the pap, Charles Pierce had a defining moment at the Creation Museum in Kentucky, where he observed a dinosaur. Wearing a saddle.... But worse than this was when the proprietor exclaimed to a cheering crowd, "We are taking the dinosaurs back from the evolutionists " He knew then and there it was time to try and salvage the Land of the Enlightened, buried somewhere in this new Home of the Uninformed.
With his razor-sharp wit and erudite reasoning, Pierce delivers a gut-wrenching, side-splitting lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States, and how a country founded on intellectual curiosity has somehow deteriorated into a nation of simpletons more apt to vote for an "American Idol" contestant than a presidential candidate.
With "Idiot America," Pierce's thunderous denunciation is also a secret call to action, as he hopes that somehow, being intelligent will stop being a stigma, and that pinheads will once again be pitied, not celebrated.

Annotation

Journalist Charles Pierce laments the astounding decline of the American intellect by highlighting the glaring discrepancy between the learned values of the nation's founders and those of today's average citizen. Pierce cites such examples as the prominence of Rush Limbaugh, the candidacy of Sarah Palin, the proliferation of reality TV, and the continued disavowal of evolution as evidence that a stunning number of Americans have foregone the pursuit of enlightenment in favor of the passive absorption of empty entertainment. What's worse, according to Pierce, is that the shameful stigma that was once attached to such celebrations of stupidity is being eroded by our culture's embrace of mindless amusement as a national pastime. Pierce reinforces his thesis with insightful passages from James Madison and other founding fathers, demonstrating the expanding gap between the popular discourses of colonial and contemporary times.



Customer Reviews for "Idiot America (Hardcover)" by Charles P. Pierce (Author)

Average Customer Review
5 out of 5 stars ( [1 customer review

Share your thoughts with other customers:
 [Submit your ReviewSubmit your Review

Most Recent Customer Reviews
5 out of 5 stars A Must-Read For Us All, October 6, 2009
By earlyautumn
Pierce thoroughly analyzes at least four major happenings of the last eight year -- The Terry Sciavo fiasco, the Intelligent Design imbroglio in Dover Pa., GOP global warming denial, and the Bushies leading us into the Iraq war. He shows us that all of those events are due to the "celebration" of ignorance which has taken place in our society. Pierce writes in a manner which makes it hard to stop reading.



Explore More Great Tower Sales & Specials



Tower.com BOOK Sales, Promotions & Special Features

Tower.com Popular Book Wiki Articles

  • The Paperback
    Learn more information on the paperback format before choosing which type of book to purchase.
  • The E-Book
    What exactly is an "electronic book?" Learn before you buy with Tower Wiki!
  • The Audio Book
    Do you prefer to read or be read to? Learn more about this increasingly popular book format.

Interact with Tower.com