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| Anti-intellectualism in American life |  | Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Pages: 434
ASIN: B0007FZWJW
Publication Date: 1974
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 Old Friend August 6, 2008
Last time I read this book I was travelling by plane from Charleston W. Va to Knoxville TN, in fall of 1968. The book was so fascinating that I read most of it non stop during the ride and waiting to change plans at a small mountain airport. The book suited my mood and my contemplations of society at that time. Unfortunately, I left the book on the plane when I arrived at my destination. I made mental note to buy it back, but never did, until reding another recent book on a kindred theme. On re-reading, I noticed that very little has changed, both in my mindset and in the surrounding society. The book did not lose its taste nor actuality. Highly recommended
Beam me up Scotty July 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Hofstadter's book was published in 1963, a period when I was a timid third grader, hands crossed, attending a Catholic school in suburban Detroit. As I fast forward to today, thinking back at the state of intellectualism in the days of Camelot, besieged as it was by the ever present threat of nuclear attack, a spirit of intellectual discovery from the the depths of the seas to farthest reaches of space enthralled America's collective imagination; I cannot help but liken the state of today's critical thought to that of a dark age, where so many of our educator scholars sit at their cubicles, cafe expresso in hand, dispassionately perusing internet articles foretelling the end of world. It would be so easy to pass off everything wrong to the ignoramus leadership of George W. Bush, and naively come to the conclusion that reason and enlightenment will automatically resume itself with his all too welcomed departure; and while we all hope that such a scenario will play itself out in this way, the history of anti-intellectualism in America reveals a tradition of an effiminate aristocracy of old, wholly contrary to egalitarian notions of a practical eduction. One need not look further than the America's primary and secondary schools throughout the last half of nineteeth and early twentieth century to support Hofstadter's assertions. Where else in the developed world are teachers paid less on a per capita basis than in the United States. Is it any small wonder that with such abysmal pay persons who are attracted to the field frequently neither prodigiously read or write? How can someone who has not mastered their craft, whatever that might me, be able to serve in the role of mentor in an area for which they have limited proclivities. It is not at all unusual for today's teacher to have little if any time to read literature for pleasure due to all of the bureaucratic responsibilities foisted on them professionally. We have somehow devolved to the point that teachers have become robots, whose role increasingly that of feeding children at a trough for an almighty test. When will we be allowed to scholars and deal with the real issues vexing this generation of young people?
 anti-intellectualism in american life March 15, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Anti-Intellectualism in American Life I found this book shocking as to the lack of education in the late 1800's to 1930's. I also found it difficult to read due to small print & depth of subject. I had to read several paragraphs over. It was referenced on
"The Today Show" in connection with Susaan Jacobys "The Age of American Unreason." I decided to read the oldest book 1st & have not yet read Jacobys'
Timeless June 26, 2007
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Hofstadter published this book in 1962 but it is even more valid today. The background on the history of Evangelicalism in America is one of the best histories, and it explains the vast audience of fundamental religion in America today. The only thing that has changed in the intervening 45 years is that the Evangelicals have become politically active and have established their own universities under the leadership of Evangelists Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell. Former President Jimmy Carter has written a book exposing the faults in the Creationists religion. Anti-Intellectualism is more prevalent in America today than when this book was published. This is a must read for those who want to under stand how America got this way.
Fear of Intellect June 1, 2006
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I am always amazed how ordinary Americans who say they believe in education find that those who are educated are members of an "elite." As if that meant something bad. Hofstadter unveils our schizophrenia over being educated and our parallel discourse of how we feel that it is undemocratic (in the old sense of the word)to be "smarter" than others because of "book learning." It is an old mistrust, yet we flock to colleges and universities anyway to do exactly that. Very strange conflicts run through American culture when we raise the old fear of being "better than others" because we have received an education. Excellent and insightful book, and still relevant today.
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