"Empire of Illusion" is a must-read for those who want to understand the mechanisms that divert our attention from the economic, political, and moral collapses around us. Chris Hedges takes us on a journey to the world of professional wrestling, pornographic film industry, and academic conferences. He exposes the cultural embrace of illusion and the celebrity culture that accompanies it. Hedges argues that corporations have ruthlessly dismantled and destroyed our manufacturing base while generating vast wealth for the elite. By reading this book, users can gain a comprehensive understanding of how the media, entertainment industry, and popular culture lure us into illusions and keep us amused.

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We now live in two Americas. One - now the minority - functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other - the majority - is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority - which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected - presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society. In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture - attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies - to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.

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