June 1, 2018
In our current political and cultural landscape, truth and fact have become the ignored and unloved siblings of belief and bias.Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Kakutani (The Poet at the Piano: Portraits of Writers, Filmmakers, Playwrights and Other Artists at Work, 1988), who until recently was the chief book reviewer for the New York Times---already two black marks against her in the populist playbook: She reads, and she worked for the Times--offers a dark analysis of the rise of Donald Trump and the fall of any concern for facts. Firmly assertive and seriously argued (there is little humor here, but given the subject, few will blame the author), her text is also full of allusions to and quotations from writers and others, including George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Richard Hofstadter, William Butler Yeats, David Foster Wallace, and Ayn Rand. One short paragraph includes references to The Great Gatsby, Fight Club, Michael Houellbecq's "willfully repellent novels," No Country for Old Men, and the HBO series True Detective. Through it all, Kakutani's strong presence sometimes disappears in a tangled wood of allusion and quotation. Still, she sees--and ably describes--with a depressing clarity the dangers of our brave new world. The author charts the decline of reason, the culture wars, the appeals of Trump and his "dog-whistle racism" (she is relentless in her attacks on the president), the language of dictators, the skills of Russian internet trolls, the dangers of the digital age, the blather about "fake news," and, ultimately, the dire threat all of this poses for the democracy we profess to cherish. Kakutani also reminds us--as if we need reminding--that the German Nazi and Soviet Communist governments were hideous. Her final note: "without truth, democracy is hobbled."A stark sermon to the choir that urges each member to sing--loudly and ceaselessly.
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June 4, 2018
Honest, factual debate is expiring at the hands of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, according to this overwrought jeremiad. Kakutani, the Pulitzer-winning former New York Times book critic, presents a dire view of discourse in a world of fakery and fanaticism: scientific expertise on topics like climate change gets attacked as self-interested baloney; Russian disinformation operations churn out fake news that induces public confusion and sways elections; President Trump lies continually—5.9 times per day, Kakutani specifies—with impunity; America and the world are divided into warring tribes in ideological bubbles impermeable to objective data or civilized discussion. Kakutani blames not just the populist right but the postmodern, literary theory of the academic left—formerly subversive critical stances that, she argues, have bequeathed a nihilistic rejection of reason and Enlightenment values. Citing writers including Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, and David Foster Wallace, Kakutani offers a sophisticated, wide-ranging exploration of theories of propaganda and debased speech and their insidious effects. Unfortunately, she takes her critique to extremes, likening Trump to Hitler, Lenin, and Mussolini, conjuring omnipotent conspiracies of Kremlin-backed tweeters, and spying totalitarian portents everywhere. Like much anti-Trump ire, Kakutani’s polemic trades in the same histrionics that it deplores.
Starred review from July 1, 2018
A year ago Pulitzer-winning Kakutani stepped down as chief book critic for the New York Times after more than three decades; now her first book arrives. As one of the best-read individuals on the planet, Kakutani thoroughly understands the impact of language and the necessity of communication in good faith. So it's no wonder that concern over the lies and destructiveness of the Trump presidency inspired this galvanizing social critique launched by the assertion: Truth is the cornerstone of our democracy. While others, including Jon Meacham in The Soul of America (2018), have established a historical context for today's political polarization, none has so meticulously excavated the conceptual strata. Calling on such writers as Hannah Arendt, Stefan Zweig, George Orwell, Ayn Rand, and Philip Roth, Kakutani tracks the insidious influence of postmodernism, particularly the practice of deconstruction, which has reached beyond academia and art to destabilize language and enshrine subjectivity, leading to the triumph of the self over the common good, opinion over fact. With chilling specificity, Kakutani also chronicles the diabolical use of social media by overt Trump supporters and clandestine Russians to distract and exhaust us and split our democracy. Kakutani has issued an elegantly well-argued and profoundly illuminating call to protest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)
February 1, 2018
When she left her position as chief book critic of the New York Times after nearly four decades, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kakutani professed an interest in focusing on culture and politics. Here she follows through, investigating fake news, relativism, and the assumption that all opinions are equally valid to show that today the concept of truth is being demeaned. Ranging from pop culture to deconstructionists to Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
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