The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things

by Barry Glassner

Book Overview

The bestselling book revealing why Americans are so fearful, and why we fear the wrong things--now updated for the age of TrumpIn the age of Trump, our society is defined by fear. Indeed, three out of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465014909
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

This book changed my life

After viewing Barry Glassner's impressive interview in Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" (I also recommend his book "Stupid White Men"), the next day I had to have "Culture of Fear." For years I tuned in to 24-hour news outlets. I was increasingly anxious and had a growing dislike for society. After reading and studying this book, I am much more aware of the print and other media's scare tactics. Each chapter dissects the headlines, separates the truth from fiction, and makes it plainly evident why we are afraid of the wrong things. I now feel a little better about our culture, and armed with this knowledge, I won't be so easily duped by the mainstream media anymore.

Glassner proves again that he is America's best sociologist.

Barry Glassner's appearance in Micheal Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" made this book a hot sell among fans of the film. Glassner's insight into the fear injected into all Americans through the media via distorted statistics and blatant overcoverage is outrageous. His discussion of everything from plane crashes to portrayls of blacks, from effects of abotion to aliens leaves the reader in awe. Though even more in awe at the book's conclusion as he makes predictions about what may be necessary to unite a country divided over fear.

Should be required reading...

Barry Glassner's "The Culture of Fear" is a timely examination of the gluttonous Misinformation Age. Every day we are saturated with stories of freak accidents, diseases, and gruesome crimes, all of which are statistical anomalies. I'm reminded of the Newsweek cover that came out about ten years ago proclaiming that a woman over 35 had a better chance of being killed by a terrorist than of getting married. That article, and others like it, lead Susan Faludi to write "Backlash", a groundbreaking look at how the media and institutions in power distort information. "The Culture of Fear" is just as groundbreaking and fascinating as Faludi's book. I'm sure sociology classes across the country are reading both of them.One need only look at recent news reportage to see that Glassner has a vital point to be made. The child kidnappings over the recent summer dominated headlines and sensationalized news programs. Yet, as Glassner points out, of the 64 million kids in the US (1999 statistics) only about 200 a year are kidnapped by nonfamily members. The vast majority -- still only .001 of all children -- are kidnapped in custody disputes. None of this minimizes the pain of the families involved, but why do these stories tie up the news for months on end?Consider the following contrast: on the day that Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home, 30,000 children in the Third World died because they lacked the items of necessity that most US kids take for granted. Where is the coverage on this? Where is the outrage?Glassner seems to believe that it is precisely the staggering state of crisis we live in that has lead to trivial and sensationalized news. The real ills of society -- corporate malfeasance, massive job insecurity, abusive families, addiction, imbalances of power both at home and abroad -- are simply too overwealming for an emotionally taxed culture to handle. Just as we grab for junk food because it's easier than preparing something better for us, we grab for junk news.And, just as junk food is bad for us in the long run, so, says Glassner, is the state of the news. Our collective fears over the crime rates have lead to tougher penalties and more prisons, including tough sentences for comparitively minor crimes. The prevelence of guns, along with irrational fears about the likelihood of finding ourselves in peril, have made us the First World nation with the highest rates of handgun death, both homicide and suicide. And meanwhile, real outrages like the Enron scandal barely rate a mention in the voting booths. By feeding our irrational fears, we are ignoring the real problems that plague us."The Culture of Fear" is a fascinating and important book. It would be an excellent choice for book clubs and high school ethics classes.

look askance at major media

Glassner took 5 years off from teaching sociology at USC to write "Culture of Fear." It certainly shows. This book is a meticulously-footnoted indictment of mass media's distortion of reality. Among the things that Glassner skewers is the media's portrayal of teen moms & young black men as destroyers of American society, road rage, plane crashes, & health woes related to breast implants. The basic premises that Glassner covers are these:1) Mass media creates panics & hysterias from a few isolated incidents. 2) Anecdotal evidence takes the place of hard scientific proof. 3) The experts that the media trots out to make comments really don't have the credentials to be considered an expert. 4) Entire categories of people are christened as "innately dangerous" (like the aforementioned teen moms and young black men)Sometimes Glassner's tone towards media is very snide, which may turn the reader off. Nonetheless, I came away with a new distrust of nightly news magazines, the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and others. Glassner goes for breadth rather than depth; many of the topics that he covered could be books in their own right. If you lean towards the Christian Conservative side, you won't like this book. Same goes for 2nd Amendment proponents, some Republicans and Libertarians.

big scares hide our failure to address deeper problems

Glassner's criticisms of the tendencies of our media and our politicians to hype alleged dangers fall on both the right and the left. Perhaps most important, he shows how America's leaders, and the people who elected them, are using these big scares to avoid talking about the real things wrong with our society. We worry about road rage instead of addressing serious transportation issues; worry about child kidnapping instead of about the lack of adequate food, housing, and health care for many of the nation's children; worry about crack cocaine instead of the vast numbers of people abusing alcohol and the lack of treatment for almost any drug problems.One warning: if you love your gun, you won't like the book, because Glassner emphasizes that for many of our alleged violence problems, "IT'S THE GUNS, STUPID."A quote that sums up the book: "We waste tens of billions of dollars and person-hours evry year on largely mythical hazards like road rage... on programs designed to protect young people from dangers that few of them ever face, on compensation for victims of metaphorical illnesses... We can choose to redirect some of those funds to combat serious dangers that threaten large numbers of people. At election time we can choose candidates that proffer programs rather than scares. Or we can go on believing in martian invaders."