The Assault on Reason: Our Information Ecosystem, from the Age of Print to the Age of Trump

(Paperback)

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Now with a New Preface and Conclusion: 'Post-Truth: On Donald Trump and the 2016 Election' The United States of America is in the midst of a deepening crisis for their democracy. After the strangest election cycle in modern American history it is important that the grave threats to the American way of life that were glaringly revealed in this campaign are addressed. In The Assault on Reason, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore examines how faith in the power of reason the idea that citizens can govern themselves through rational debate is in peril. Democracy depends on a well-informed citizenry and a two-way conversation about ideas, but the public sphere has been degraded by fake news and the politics of fear, partisanship and blind faith. Now updated to investigate the rise of Trump and post-truth politics, The Assault on Reason is a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking, crucial if the vitality of democracy is to be rebuilt and good decisions made once more.

Reviews

Powerful ... His writing represents a decency and an intelligence in American political thought that has been missing in recent years -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *
Part civics lesson, part political jeremiad, part philosophical tract, The Assault on Reason reveals an angry, impassioned Al Gore ... This book shows a fiery, throw-caution-to-the winds Al Gore, who has decided to lay it all on the line with a blistering assessment of the Bush administration and the state of public discourse in America * New York Times *
He provides in this book one of the most comprehensive indictments of the Bush administration that has ever appeared in print * LA Times *
A lucid, passionately argued book ... Through drawing upon his life in politics and the expertise of skilled practitioners across a broad range of disciplines, his clear-thinking, visionary book packs a powerful punch * Good Book Guide *
As scathing as it is meticulous * Publisher's Weekly *

Author Bio

Former Vice President Al Gore is chairman of Current TV, serves as chairman of Generation Investment Management, is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc. and a senior advisor to Google, Inc. Gore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, 1978, 1980, and 1982 and the U.S. Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years. In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is the author of the bestsellers Earth in the Balance and An Inconvenient Truth. He and his wife, Tipper, live in Nashville, Tennessee. They have four children and three grandchildren.