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Some of the most recognized voices in American writing and academia
contribute to this provocative forum concerning the terrorist
crisis and its causes. Moderated by Lewis H. Lapham, this timely
debate features conversations with noted author and vocal critic of
U.S. foreign policy Gore Vidal; historian Barton Bernstein of
Stanford University; economist and historian Robert Higgs of the
Independent Institute; and Thomas Gale Moore of the Hoover
Institution. Voicing opinions contrary to those espoused by the
present administration and seldom heard in mainstream media, they
discuss the definition of terrorism, the impact of U.S. foreign
policy on the terrorist crisis, and the long-term significance of
the September 11 attacks. Also examined are the potential
curtailment of basic civil liberties, the effects of a global U.S.
military presence, alternatives that would lessen the terrorist
threat, and a lively question and answer session.
In twenty-five years of imperial adventure, America has laid waste
to its principles of democracy. The self-glorifying march of folly
steps off at the end of the Cold War, in an era when delusions of
omnipotence allowed the market to climb to virtual heights, while
society was divided between the selfish and frightened rich and the
increasingly debt-ridden and angry poor. The new millennium saw the
democratic election of an American president nullified by the
Supreme Court, and the pretender launching a wasteful, vainglorious
and never-ending war on terror, doomed to end in defeat and the
loss of America's prestige abroad. All this culminates in the
sunset swamp of the 2016 election-a farce dominated by Donald
Trump, a self-glorifying photo-op bursting star-spangled bombast in
air. This spectacle would be familiar to Aristotle, whose portrayal
of the "prosperous fool" describes a class of people who "consider
themselves worthy to hold public office, for they already have the
things that give them a claim to office."
Terms and phrases such as "the global village" and "the medium is
the message" are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's theories
continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions about
how and what we communicate. This reissue of Understanding Media
marks the thirtieth anniversary (1964-1994) of Marshall McLuhan's
classic expose on the state of the then emerging phenomenon of mass
media. Terms and phrases such as "the global village" and "the
medium is the message" are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's
theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our
assumptions about how and what we communicate. There has been a
notable resurgence of interest in McLuhan's work in the last few
years, fueled by the recent and continuing conjunctions between the
cable companies and the regional phone companies, the appearance of
magazines such as WiRed, and the development of new media models
and information ecologies, many of which were spawned from MIT's
Media Lab. In effect, media now begs to be redefined. In a new
introduction to this edition of Understanding Media, Harper's
editor Lewis Lapham reevaluates McLuhan's work in the light of the
technological as well as the political and social changes that have
occurred in the last part of this century.
In 1949, lawyer, historian, and journalist Carey McWilliams stepped
back to assess the state of California at the end of its first one
hundred years--its history, population, politics, agriculture, and
social concerns. As he examined the reasons for the prodigious
growth and productivity that have characterized California since
the Gold Rush, he praised the vitality of the new citizens who had
come from all over the world to populate the state in a very short
time. But he also made clear how brutally the new Californians
dealt with "the Indian problem," the water problem, and the need
for migrant labor to facilitate California's massive and highly
profitable agricultural industry. As we look back now on 150 years
of statehood, it is particularly useful to place the events of the
past fifty years in the context of McWilliams's assessment in
California: The Great Exception. Lewis Lapham has written a new
foreword for this edition.
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