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Neil Postman

Book
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Neil Postman
1985

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Watching TV in the 1960sH. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images
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The 40-Year-Old Book That Predicted Our Dystopian Politics

Neil Postman's classic "Amusing Ourselves to Death" predicted a dystopian American future.
by Sam Collings-Wells via Made By History on September 10, 2025
Neil Postman in front of a collage of the cover of "Amusing Ourselves to Death."

The One Book That Explains Our Current Era Was Written 40 Years Ago

NYT pundits and NBA writers alike can't stop recommending this four-decade-old book.
by Laura J. Miller via Slate on March 25, 2025

How Entertainment Mangled Public Discourse

Neil Postman’s jeremiad against TV seems rather quaint today—and not just because he was shouting into the wind and knew it.
by Katha Pollitt via The New Republic on November 20, 2024
People on a rollercoaster

Are We Having Too Much Fun?

In 1985, Neil Postman observed an America imprisoned by its own need for amusement. He was, it turns out, extremely prescient.
by Megan Garber via The Atlantic on April 27, 2017

We Used to Read Things in This Country

Technology changes us—and it is currently changing us for the worse.
by Noah McCormack via The Baffler on October 27, 2025
Florida governor Ron DeSantis signs the “Stop WOKE Act” bill in April 2022.

Curriculum Wars

A ‘new history’ of the politicized classroom misses the mark.
by Spencer Lane Jones via Commonweal on January 27, 2026

The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society

And the end of civilisation.
by James Marriott via Cultural Capital on September 19, 2025
Trump through a television camera.

How TV Paved America’s Road to Trump

“A brand mascot that jumped off the cereal box”: a TV critic explains the multimedia character Trump created.
by Sean Illing, James Poniewozik via Vox on November 7, 2019
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