Content tagged with “society” under “My Library”

There are 29 item(s) tagged with “society” in this section.

See items tagged with “society” across the entire site.

Other tags used by these items: faith, critical-thinking, philosophy, psychology, television, politics, south-dakota, postmodernism, thinking, race, nyc, interpersonal, emergence, scandanavia, business, class-warfare, women, social-media, tech, wealth

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
April 2, 2025
Words
177

“This book was written in 1985. The author died in 2003, and this is a second edition published posthumously in 2005. I don’t know if anything was changed, but it has an introduction by the author’s son (also an NYU professor, I gather). The author doesn’t like television, and he argues for about…”

Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
January 13, 2023
Words
146

“This is a book about how we don’t like reality anymore. We like the illusion of reality. As a society, we’re addicted to farce. It’s almost hilarious that this was written in 2009. If only the author had seen what was coming. He talks about ‘the illusion of literacy,’ by contrasting it against…”

Everything, All the Time, Everywhere: How We Became Postmodern
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
November 16, 2023
Words
245

“I gave this book every chance, I really did. I didn’t abandon it, but I skipped around a lot. It’s purportedly about postmodernism . Or, perhaps about a history of how we ended up postmodern? I wasn’t sure. Each chapter was basically a history of many things, often pop-culture. I would read a…”

Primates of Park Avenue
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
June 27, 2015
Words
118

“I read this book for the pure titillation level, because I’m fascinated by high society in general and New York culture in particular. And the book delivered on that level – there are some horrifying anecdotes where of a woman trying to fit into Upper East Side mommies. Women who use Birkin bags as…”

The Road to Character
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
April 22, 2021
Words
322

“This was a good book, though not quite what I expected. I guess I didn’t expect anything, but the introduction didn’t quite set the book up for what it was. The intro discusses a radio show replay the author heard. It was an episode of ‘Command Performance’ that happened right after V-J day back in…”

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
October 4, 2023
Words
183

“This book caused quite a stir when it was published in 1994. This is the quote that upset a lot of people: The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there isn’t one. The author was basically saying that evangelical Christians have stopped thinking rationally about anything. Unfortunately, it was…”

The Second Mountain
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
April 30, 2021
Words
206

“I like David Brooks. I like how he writes. It flows nicely. And this is good, because this book doesn’t really go in a straight line. It meanders. It wanders around a point, completely unfocused. ‘The First Mountain’ we climb is superficial success – money, job, romance. ‘The Second Mountain’ is a…”

Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
February 16, 2023
Words
128

“I had trouble with this book. It’s an examination of how trends move through cultures and are used to gain status. But, weirdly, it’s almost too basic. The author starts with a long-winded explanation of ‘status’ …which will surprise no one. It’s one of those things we all know, and I’m just not…”

Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
June 14, 2020
Words
254

“An entertaining and well-researched examination of the ‘club economy’ – a world where ‘club promoters’ worked ‘models and bottles.’ There exists a job where you get models to nightclubs to just…exist. It turns out that rich men spend stupid amounts of money in the presence of attractive women, so…”

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
December 25, 2021
Words
545

“This is the story of class in America. Specifically the ‘lower’ class. In contrast to the Utopian image of Colonial America, the early years of the country were marked with extreme poverty. Before the slave trade geared up, most of the people sent to the New World were poor white people,…”

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World
Section
Deane’s Library
Type
Book Review
Date
September 4, 2023
Words
847

“Last year, I had lunch with a friend. She is very much on the Left, politically. I mentioned that I thought Bill Gates was a great humanitarian. She responded in a way that unsettled me (I’m paraphrasing). Sure he gives a way a lot of money, but we really need to examine how the world let someone…”