Fantasyland
Book description
You're entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts
Fantasy is the USA's primary product. From the Pilgrim Fathers onward America has been a place where renegades and freaks came in search of freedom to create their own realities with little objectively regulated truth standing in their way.âŠ
Why read it?
2 authors picked Fantasyland as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
The co-creator of SPY magazine, Kurt Andersen was my hero in high school. Heâs been an NPR radio host, a novelist, a magazine editor, and a co-author with Alec Baldwin on their Trump book. But this book feels like all the thinking heâs done in those places put in one place. Itâs a textbook of American history from the Puritans until today, through the lens of our special predilection for conspiracy, con artists, and fabulists, both on the left and the right, and how it all culminates in the 1960s. So smart, so funny, so jealous.
From Joel's list on saving democracy from populism.
This book offers an insightful exploration of why Americans make the decisions they do, as individuals and as a society. It makes a compelling case that Americans are distinct in our flightiness, our failure to perceive and live in reality. This explains both the allure and promise of America, as well as much of its weirdness and its failures.
From Steven's list on why people make the decisions they do.
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