The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump by Michiko Kakutani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book by Pulitzer prize winning critic Michiko Kakutani could, in a way, be seen as a companion piece to Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen. While Anderson's book looked at a history of America and our countries susceptibility to showman and con artists, from our very beginnings, this book centers on the later part of the Twentieth Century and the early decades of this one that have brought us to where we are. The books subtitle, Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, sums up where the author is coming from and she does it quite well.

Kakutani looks back, as does Anderson, on how critical thought and the bending of "reality" began during the cultural and social turmoil of the Sixties. How did many Americans begin the split into two very separate cultures, both unaccepting of what the other felt were legitimate concerns. Social critics as far back as Orwell and Huxley predicted some of the very things that we are seeing taking place. The anti-establishment rhetoric of the Sixties radicals was taken up by the Right and used to turn even more citizens against the institutions that were meant to protect us.

The author examines the writings of folks on both the Right and Left, plus a close look at the individuals Russia who developed the techniques there that were used successfully here in 2016, and continue.

This book probably won't change minds, but it is fascinating in allowing the reader to see how we have gotten here. What we can do about it, and if we can regain the civility and unity we once had, remains to be seen.


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