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Summary: Culture of Fear inspires laughter
Review: Critical thinkers appreciate compilations that question popular assumptions and provide data to reveal common societal beliefs as surprising myths or at least exaggerations. "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine has long been devoted to debunking popular misconceptions. The Culture of Fear by its title and cover promises to be an appealing compilation, but soon the content betrays the book's promise. Asbestos abatement, one of the most misguided and expensive boondoggles of the twentieth century achieves mention as a way in which "...we express outrage at technology and industry run afoul." Apparently, when one doesn't understand the scientific basis sufficiently to engage it, a meaningless social statement is supposed to be a satisfactory substitute. Melvin Benarde's Asbestos: the Hazardous Fiber or the carefully done research on asbestos in C. Moore's Haunted Housing are examples of how to confront a fear myth through discussions of substance. The citations in The Culture of Fear in general are weak and one-sided--most are taken from magazines and newspapers, not primary reviewed sources. The effort of trying to tackle everything from automobiles, gun control, and political correctness to Susan Zimmerman's views on breast implants without data or substance makes a book about "fear" fairly laughable. Those looking for a book of substance would be far better off reading Crossen's Tainted Truth and Paulos' Innumeracy. The Culture of Fear comes across as a long editorial used to bolster the author's personal political views rather than as a work to inform.
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Summary: Obvious agenda
Review: In the first 56 pages, the author advocates the gun restriction, gun bans, and gun confiscation. Each issue all boils down to the same problem for this author, guns. I am saddened to see that in the reviews present on the Amazon page up front and center, this fact is not presented. The author makes no real discussion of the legality, constitutionality, or feasability of his lust to rid the world of firearms, just takes his pot-shots and runs.
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Summary: Fight fear with some reason.
Review: I first found out about Barry Glassner's book by watching Michael Moore's excellent documentary Bowling for Columbine. After reading the book I found that Moore's entire thesis on what is wrong with America's fear-driven consumer culture needs this book to back it up. The movie is wonderful and raises very important issues. You should definitely watch it if you have not. This book takes a long, hard look at those issues and the sociological causes and effects of fear in American society. Glassner carefully covers unreasonable fears by examining important data and statistics. This book is especially important in the post-9/11 era we are currently living in. This book should be read by those overwhelmed by the coverage of violent crime on the daily news and especially those living in fear of their neighbors. Culture of Fear is an important book for our times.
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Summary: Why news channels in the US are a joke
Review: Whatever the author discusses has been the subject of numerous books and movies. So its not earth-shattering in that respect.
Crux of the book is that a few powerhouses controlling the media filter out just enough information to misguide the general public. The media might not be lying all the time but not telling the complete truth either. Can the media be resposible for mass hysteria and propaganda? Can the media control thoughts of general population? If you are unsure of the answer, you'd be startled to find out. It resonates what Noam Chomsky says in his Manufacturing Consent documentary. Although the book is not a bad read, but if you know all this, you can simply skip it. If you want proof then go ahead and get this book. If you like it, I suggest you rent out Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent DVD too.
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Summary: Contradicts itself
Review: The weird thing about this book is that the author explains how "fear mongers" use the media to mislead the public and thus promote their alarmingly conservative agenda. He then does an about-face and uses the EXACT SAME TECHNIQUES to explain why we should fear those things that liberals find scary. As someone who isn't overly political, I found this book to be more silly (insofar as it contradicts itself) than intolerable.
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Summary: Bowling for Columbine is Better
Review: The PBS show "Bowling for Columbine" is better and available on DVD. This book is very similar in many ways. Although better organized, it sheds little real additional information. If you prefer reading, this might be the approach for you. Even so, consider the show first and then read this.
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Summary: Shining a Light on Shady Journalism
Review: This book is somewhat of an eye opener as it reveals a lot of the hidden truths of contemporary journalism. This isn't a revalation for most people, but the statistical evidence that it readily offers for commonplace examples keep it interesting. Despite my interest in the topic, this book didn't really hook me like I thought it would. For me it grew a bit tiresome and drawn out. Not what I expected, but I don't regret reading it either.
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Summary: This book hits the spot!
Review: Although many of the same issues are in Chambliss' 1999 book "Power, Politics, and Crime," this author does an excellent job of making Americans aware of how institutions such as the media can easily manipulate the population. For those who are interested in this topic, I suggest you read the book for yourself. Do not be one of those peoples who blindly make assumptions by reading only the title. Read the whole book and discover the truth!
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Summary: Not Just Another Liberal Rave
Review: Mr. Glassner does a fantastic job backing his premise with well-rounded statistic and trend analysis. I was skeptical of the book because I thought it might be just another negative view of the media and government, pointing out every single one of their flaws (yes, I agree there are boatloads). The arguments are sound and well supported, and while I went into the book agreeing with Mr. Glassner, I would be hard pressed to find a good counterargument if I hadn't. This is the book everybody should read in order to understand the media's detrimental (I do believe unintentionally detrimental) approach.
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Summary: More hype...
Review: Not quite the "eye opener" I thought it would be. Mr. Glassner plainly puts his ducks in a row, however, in some instances he is as guilty of misinformation as the media he rails against.
In his example of Gulf War Syndrome - though it may be true that the precise cause of the illness has not been identified - the whole point of media attention on our veterans was that they were being denied benefits from the government they faithfully served. A point the author neglected to mention.
At length, the book made me consider "trust." There are too many instances of people or organizations - scientist are by no means excluded - acting in their own self-interest, whatever it may be [selling books, selling ad space, selling products, or obtaining research funding].
The critical point is to gather your information from multiple sources - more than just different network news channels - and to be leery of "professionals" pandering to emotions.
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