{"product_id":"empire-of-illusion-the-end-of-literacy-and-the-triumph-of-spectacle-9781568586137","title":"Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle","description":"\u003cb\u003eA prescient book that forecast the culture that gave rise to Trump -- a society beholden to empty spectacle and obsession with image at the expense of reality, reason, and truth.\u003c\/b\u003e An instant bestseller, \u003ci\u003eEmpire of Illusion\u003c\/i\u003e is a striking and unsettling exploration of illusion and fantasy in contemporary American culture. Traveling to the ringside of professional wrestling bouts at Madison Square Garden, to Las Vegas to write about the pornographic film industry, and to academic conferences held by positive psychologists who claim to be able to engineer happiness, Hedges chronicles our flight from an ever-worsening reality.  The cultural embrace of illusion and celebrity culture have accompanied a growing system of casino capitalism, which creates vast wealth for elites. Corporations have ruthlessly dismantled and destroyed our manufacturing base and impoverished our working class. Hedges exposes the mechanisms that undermine our democracy and divert us from the economic, environmental, political, and moral collapse around us. A culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion dies, Hedges argues, and we are dying now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bold Type Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/05\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781568586137\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.13h x 6.39w x 0.69d","brand":"Chris Hedges","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36660025426076,"sku":"9781568586137","price":16.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_be5f75ad-299f-46d8-91c8-2b99e14e5765.jpg?v=1603895979","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/empire-of-illusion-the-end-of-literacy-and-the-triumph-of-spectacle-9781568586137","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}