Amazon.com Review
The idea that American culture is entering a great age of stupidity is something we hear everyday, but what distinguishes this collection of essays on that theme is the diversity of the commentators (and the damage they survey) and the wit exhibited in their reports. Noted essayist Phillip Lopate reports on Hollywood as afraid or merely unwilling to present characters who happen to be intelligent; Ken Kalfus writes about how Star Trek exhibits took the place of real science at the esteemed Hayden Planetarium; and Jonathan Rosen offers a controversial essay arguing that tragedy is trivialized by such institutions as the Holocaust Museum. While Dumbing Down contains more than 20 insightful essays delineating how American culture is being degraded, the effect is not depressing, but rather hopeful, in the sense that problems must be identified before they can be fixed.

From Publishers Weekly
It is a tribute to this engaging, cranky collection that critic Simon's introduction registers disagreement with the essays defining rock and roll and calling for more orthodox forms of religion. Among the essayists, David Slavitt laments that university students are now "more socially ambitious than intellectually curious," Robert Park condemns our acceptance of scientific illiteracy and Heather McDonald deconstructs the declining standards in the teaching of remedial writing. George Kennan reminds us that we need "an elite of service to others." Some essays?on psychiatry or sex or the social sciences?offer too-limited takes on broad topics. But this book, thankfully, has no neat ideological wrapper: James Twitchell reminds us of the ubiquitous influence of advertising, while Carole Rifkind describes how the mall compromises public space. Literary critic Sven Birkerts worries that the computer and the Internet may become our new deity: his fear may be exaggerated, but his solution?real engagement with books and ideas?is surely worth adopting. Thornton is a literary agent; Washburn is a freelance editor.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.