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Summary: three words -- intelligent, insightful & important
Review: Mr. Glassner has renewed my enthusiasm for sociology as an academic discipline and has confirmed what I have long known about the media, as well as many forums of public discourse -- pseudoscares and fear mongering often dominate discussion at the expense of real issues of importance to the American public.Although some chapters were more convincing than others and some potentially frightening topics (Y2K, global warming) noticably absent from his critique, Glassner's research is exhaustive and, despite what some of the reviews below have to say, extremely well documented. To me, the most fascinating point raised by the book is Glassner's suggestion that America's obsession with hype and scary pseudodangers is really a kind of collective defense mechanism (my words) that keeps us from acknowledging the poor choices society as a whole has made in dealing with a multitude of issues ranging from social and economic disparity to parental responsibility for the welfare of our children. To be blunt, if you have a thing for finger pointing and scapegoating, you won't enjoy this book. But, if you enjoy delving deeper into social issues than the superficial explanations proffered by the media and other sources of popular "knowledge," read The Culture of Fear.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb. Don't watch TV without it!
Review: I have read a great number of media criticisms, but this is absolutely the best I have found. On the back cover, there is a rave from Neil Postman (one of my heroes), and he is right about what a great book this is. The writer does not blame the media, he says good things about journalists who are responsible, and he skewers the others hwo spread lots of fears about crime, drugs, road rage, airline safety, women, minorities, etc. etc. etc. As an added plus, he has a great sense of humor.
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Summary: Buy the origianl book by Frank Furedi if you are interested
Review: If you are interested in this topic, buy Frank Furedi's book also entitled the Culture of Fear (1997). Furedi's book covers virtually of the same topics and you don't have to endure the bad jokes and excessive liberal, left-wing bias of Mr. Glassner. (It is pretty strange that Glassner picks the same topics and the same title as Furedi two years have Furedi's book. Glassner apparently doesn't have enough imagination to come up with his own book idea.) If you are interested in a factual discussion of the costs and benefits of gun ownership, buy the book by John Lott. Glassner's book just over does it on political feelings and facts that are too superficial. I agree with the review from The Economist magazine reprinted below by the person from Philadelphia.
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Summary: A superb, tremendously important study
Review: I saw this author destroy John Lott on Hardball last night. As the author rightly points out in the notes to his book, while he critizes people (like Lott) who use phony statistics, he also notes that to eschew statistics altogether would be foolish. This author's statistics have been checked carefully and come from peer-reviewed journals. That, in my mind, is what makes this a crucially important book and a useful antidote to conservative "misdirection." I would encourage everyone to keep an open mind and read the book before listening to the ill-informed rants below.
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Summary: Carefully researched, well argued and a great read.
Review: Wow, the comments on here from people who haven't read the book but only seen Mr. Glassner on TV are truly strange to me.Excuse me, but I READ the book, and it is incredibly well documented, plus it is fun to read. Incidentally, Glassner covers a great many topics, not just those that the ringwing loonies write Amazon about. Some of my favorite chapters are about "metaphorical illnesses" (there he criticizes the left, incidentally) and airplane crashes.
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Summary: Dumb Boring Jokes and a Lot of Unsubstantiated Opinions
Review: This guy is the darling of the politically correct media. The media may cover some things too much and teh really important left wing causes too little, but all their big government solutions -- more taxes and regulation -- will "solve" what real problems do exist.
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Summary: HE CRITIQUES FACTS WITHOUT FACTS
Review: I wish that I had read the Economist's review of Glassner'sbook before I wasted my time reading the book. The Economist (July17, 1999) sums it up perfectly: "But Mr Glassner's humour is too laboured, his liberal-Democrat soft-heartedness can be too insistent, and his figures -- for one who is often taking issue with absurd extrapolations -- are surprisingly vague. When airily dismissing other people's statistics, it is important to say where you got your own."
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Summary: Great, important, timely book.
Review: I ordered The Culture of Fear after reading a favorable review of it in the Washington Post. This book is worth it just for the parts about "killer kids." With all of the media going insane about school shooting and the like, Glassner's calm and research-oriented approach is very welcome. I see that someone sent in a comment that the book will appeal only to leftists, but I don't know what they're talking about. Glassner's book is about as balanced as anything I've ever seen. He takes out after liberals, conservatives and in-between whenever they inflict useless fears on the population. Read it and decide for yourself! As for me, I think The Culture of Fear is a really important book.
Rating: 
Summary: Important topic, flawed study
Review: Glassner addresses an important topic: US media makes a big deal out of, probabilistically speaking, unlikely dangers, while largely ignoring much more likely ones. An example of the former are plane crashes, while workplace injuries represent the latter. Unfortunately, Glassner decided to write a political tract rather than a balanced study. Readers who adhere to the leftist American liberal point of view are likely to shout ``Hear, hear,'' while reading this book, others will find it flawed, biased and, occasionally, succumbing to temptation to do a little fear-mongering itself.
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Summary: A thoughtful, encouraging book.
Review: Mr. Glassner writes well and carefully, a rare combination these days, imho. Reading this book left me feeling ecnouraged because I had long suspected that some of the myths he lays to rest were just that, myths. I have already ordered another copy to give to a worrywort friend of mine for her birthday.
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