There's a tendency at this moment-this alternative-facts moment-to see our situation as an aberrant newAmerican phenomenon. In fact, it is the logical progression of our national character. America was created by wishful thinkers and true believers, by hucksters and their suckers. Fantasy is in our genes. From the Pilgrims to witch hunts to P.T. Barnum to Joseph Smith and the Scopes Monkey Trial, from Walt Disney to Billy Graham, from the birther movement to, yes, Donald Trump, we have proven, again and again, to be uniquely susceptible to magical thinking, delusion, illusion, conspiracy, and bullsh*t. In other words- what do you get when you mix epic individualism with extreme religion, show business, and everything else; run it through the Great Awakening and the Great Delirium, the anything-goes Sixties and the internet age; and let it ferment for a few centuries? You get Fantasyland, a place where reality and fantasy are dangerously blurred and mingled.
About the Author :
KURT ANDERSEN is the New York Times bestselling author of novels Heyday, Turn of the Century, and True Believers, as well as the nonfiction title Reset- How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America. He has also written for film, television and the stage and contributes to New York, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair. He began his career in journalism at Time, where during the 1980s he was an award-winning writer on politics and criminal justice. He is host and co-creator of Studio 360, the Peabody Award-winning cultural magazine show. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was an editor of the Lampoon. In 2003, New York Magazine named him one of the 100 People Who Changed New York, and in 2008 Forbes.com named him one of The 25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media. He lives in Brooklyn.
Review :
"With this rousing book, [Kurt] Andersen proves to be the kind of clear-eyed critic an anxious country needs in the midst of a national crisis."--San Francisco Chronicle "A frighteningly convincing and sometimes uproarious picture of a country in steep, perhaps terminal decline that would have the founding fathers weeping into their beards."--The Guardian
"A spirited, often entertaining rant against things as they are."--Kirkus Reviews
"A provocative new study of America's cultural history . . . In this absorbing, must-read polemic, Andersen exhaustively chronicles a development eating away at the very foundation of Americanism."--Newsday
"Andersen exhaustively explores with wit and extensive research."--HuffPost
"A staggering amount of research that's both compelling and totally unnerving."--The Village Voice
"A stunning, sweeping explanation of how we got to Trump . . . the most important book that I have read this year."--Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC
"This is a blockbuster of a book. Kurt Andersen is a dazzling writer and a perceptive student of the many layers of American life. Take a deep breath and dive in."--Tom Brokaw
"This is an important book--the indispensable book--for understanding America in the age of Trump. It's an eye-opening history filled with brilliant insights, a saga of how we were always susceptible to fantasy, from the Puritan fanatics to the talk-radio and Internet wackos who mix show business, hucksterism, and conspiracy theories. Even the parts you think you know already are put into an eye-opening context."--Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci
"Kurt Andersen is America's voice of reason. What is he--Canadian? The people who should read this book won't--because it's a book--but reality-based citizens will still get a kick out of this winning romp through centuries of American delusion."--Sarah Vowell
"Fantasyland presents the very best kind of idea--one that, in retrospect, seems obvious, but that took a seer like Kurt Andersen to piece together. The thinking and the writing are both dazzling; it is at once a history lesson and an oh-so-modern cri de coeur; it's an absolute joy to read and will leave your brain dancing with excitement long after you're done."--Stephen Dubner
