Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22917 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

Amazon.com
Americans are afraid of many things that shouldn't frighten them, writes Barry Glassner in this book devoted to exploding conventional wisdom. Thanks to opportunistic politicians, single-minded advocacy groups, and unscrupulous TV "newsmagazines," people must unlearn their many misperceptions about the world around them. The youth homicide rate, for instance, has dropped by as much as 30 percent in recent years, says Glassner--and up to three times as many people are struck dead by lightening than die by violence in schools. "False and overdrawn fears only cause hardship," he writes. In fact, one study shows that daughters of women with breast cancer are actually less likely to conduct self-examinations--probably because the campaign to increase awareness of the ailment also inadvertently heightens fears.

Although some sections are stronger than others, The Culture of Fear's examination of many nonproblems--such as "road rage," "Internet addiction," and airline safety--is very good. Glassner also has a sharp eye for what causes unnecessary goose bumps: "The use of poignant anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, the christening of isolated incidents as trends, depictions of entire categories of people as innately dangerous," and unknown scholars who masquerade as "experts." Although Glassner rejects the notion that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, he certainly shows we have much less to fear than we think. And isn't that sort of scary? --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly
In this oddly comforting audiobook, Glassner (Derailing Democracy) deconstructs many commonly held beliefs about the threats of the modern world and aims to expose the media's role in keeping citizens fearful. Frightened citizens, he posits, make better consumers and more easily swayed voters. In a methodical fashion, he raises a series of public safety threats—the prevalence of road rage, middle-class heroin addiction and husband abuse, to name just a few—and then systematically tries to strike them down with statistics. More provocative are later chapters when he attempts to debunk such modern phenomena as Gulf War Syndrome and illnesses caused by breast implants. Glassner's delivery is serious but not emotionless; he keeps an even keel most of the time, but emotion does seep into his voice, most notably when talking about gun control. His reading style stands in sharp contrast to filmmaker Michael Moore, whose apparently improvised introduction is passionate and compelling; in fact, Glassner, who was featured in Moore's film Bowling for Columbine, sounds a bit dull coming right after Moore. But he is clearly a man on a mission, and even though many listeners might disregard some of his explanations as oversimplifications, virtually everyone will leave this book with a more realistic, guardedly optimistic world view.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
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. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

I finished it
I finished this book, considering I hate reading and haven't read a book since high school, that should mean something. I'm not a fan of people shoving their opinions down my throat, but I picked this book up out of curiosity. And I had a feeling the author and I would agree on more things than disagree.

I really do place most of the blame of this countries problems, fear, irrational paranoia, and emphasis that we are all alone and need to depend on the government for protection on the media- the news programs specifically. They chose what to report on, they chose what slant to bring to the story, they leave out details, and hardly ever report on the honesty, humanity, and morality of man.

This book just confirmed what I already believed. Although it was refreshing to know that I'm not the only one that finds the media destructive. He touches on good points. Even things I wasn't scared of, but the American public may be concerned about. Some of his statements, seem to be unfounded and he could have backed them up more with facts. He can sometimes assume facts because of his personal beliefs. But overall the book was good. I don't feel the need to read it more than once though.

Many true notions
This book is great for the social and cultural notions of the last 20th and early 21st century. It speaks to an important and growing discourse of critiquing the media.

Some Things Haven't Changed ...
Some things haven't changed in the last ten years since this book was written. I do believe that the media has gotten worse over the years since this book was written. After reading this book, I am about ready to boycott the newspaper/TV medias but ... they still do provide a service to the public, so I can't just write them completely off yet. But this book has made that idea a temptation.

I orginally gave this book a four star but upon further reflection, I had to give it a three-star rating. I do believe it was well-written, researched as thoroughly as possible, but there's a taint of bias in his studies, or at least in the first half of the book. He mentioned his anti-guns bias repeatedly and after the third time of reading about it, I want to say, ok, I get your point. That bias left a shadow over the entire first half of the book that it made me weary of his points before I even finished the book. The bias would have been better if it was left alone after the first time he mentioned it.

Other than that, he validated his points with examples after examples throughout the entire book. The reader doesn't necessarily have to agree with his reasonings, but he does make good points about how the media ignores the facts and runs away with the scare tactics. After reading "Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over For Bush" and this book, I am even more inclined to think less of the media. There is a point that someone who works in the media said that rings true even back to my newsroom days: "News is what happens to your editors." (page 201)

But that doesn't excuse reporters and editors from creating scare tactics or sensational news to frighten people. Yes, sensational news sell copies, and it does seem that the media has forgotten their responsibility to the people as a whole, which is to provide unbiased reporting of facts and news to the public. I know that it is almost impossible to keep your own opinions out of it (which is why they have columnists), but to constantly provide news that frighten Americans without checking all the facts of the story, is in my opinion, just wrong.

This book is a must-read for aspiring journalists or for anyone who wants to be in the know. It is detailed and insightful. It will disgust the reader in spots and provide more information in other spots. It is not an entertaining book but one that will provide thoughtful musings on the state of the media these days. Some things just haven't changed in the last 10 years.

7/9/08