In a series of feisty and ultimately hopeful essays, one of America’s sharpest social critics casts a shrewd eye over contemporary culture to reveal the worst—and the best—of our habits of discourse, tendencies in education, and obsessions with technological novelty. Listeners will find themselves rethinking many of their bedrock assumptions, such as: Should education transmit culture or defend us against it? Is technological innovation progress or a peculiarly American addiction? When people of all ages watch the same television programs— and television producers don’t discriminate between the audiences for Sesame Street and Dynasty—is childhood anything more than a sentimental concept? Neil Postman sends shock waves of wit and critical intelligence through the cultural wasteland.