Leon Redbone - "Walking Stick" Live at the 1973 Buffalo Folk Festival

Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Anderson presents a history of the United States, looking at just what it is about us that makes us different from so many other industrialized nations. We were indeed created and populated by people willing to accept fallacies and ideas that were often rejected by contemporaries across the ocean. The Disneyfication of America began before Walt created his first theme park, as is evident in how showman like Barnum and Buffalo Bill were able to make believers our of generally skeptical folks.

The books looks at how Evangelical religion and ultra-conservative politics merged to become a force that shaped the political and social framework of the nation over the past century.

I found the book fascinating, but am sure that folks to the Right of me politically and more accepting of mainstream religion might have a problem with some of Anderson's positions. If nothing else it makes clear what it is about the "American" way that can lead to our current situation and the rise of "reality TV" stars to the highest office in the land.


View all my reviews

Powerful poem about sexual abuse delivered by Halsey at New York Women’s...

pete seeger which side are you on