Good, good book –  *IF*  – you’re interested in how deconstruction and other literary ideas back to Borges et al,  as well as the great propaganda machines of 20th century dictatorships as well as technology have contributed to the trouble we seem to have found with the idea of truth today.  This is not just a matter of critical thinking –  it’s a matter of being able to distinguish between truth and lies and who benefits from the confusion.   –  I mean –  it’s called “The Death of Truth”  and subtitled “Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump.”

Imo,  it’s  an excellent denunciation of Trump and his version of the truth as well as a little lesson on where this sort of blasé attitude toward truth came from –  the many sources.

I’ve been a fan of Michiko Kakutani for a very long time –  she was the New York Times chief literary critic for 34 years and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998 in the category of Criticism. I usually agreed with her reviews.   Currently I follow her on Twitter where she tends to blast the current political issues.

*******
The Death of Truth:  Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
by Michiko Kakutani
2018 / 208 pages
read by Tavia Gilbert – 3h 45m
rating:   8.5   / politics 
*******

Kakutani says that this questioning of and then disregard for truth, scientific or almost any other kind,  goes back way before Trump brought the attitude to his role as “leader of the free world.”

From Jorge Borges and the News-speak of 1984 (George Orwell) through the social media troll projects of the Russians,  Kakutani spells it out with plenty of examples.   At only 208 pages,  she doesn’t go beyond the surface of the various  aspects of  today’s “fake news” and “alternate facts,’   but she covers a wide variety of what’s being disseminated from Washington and other places these days.

This is an overview more than an in depth report on any one aspect of “disinformation”  from skewing the news to outright lies and their promulgation.   The book goes into a possible future, too –  eeks.

“Kakutani has written the first great book of the Trump administration. The Death of Truth is a fiery polemic against the president and should go down as essential reading. In nine exquisitely crafted broadsides, the Pulitzer winner calls upon her vast knowledge of literature, philosophy and politics to serve up a damning state of the union.” —Rolling Stone
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/michiko-kakutani-on-her-essential-new-book-the-death-of-truth-666137/

This is the discussion between Gingrich and Camereta on CNN: https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/12/01/gingrich-camerota-crime-stats-newday.cnn

Review:   http://www.vulture.com/2018/07/michiko-kakutani-on-the-death-of-truth.html

And a less glowing review:   https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2156418/death-truth-nails-fake-news-and-lying-donald-trump-flair-little-depth

The study referred to in the book –  Data Manipulation and Disinformation by Alice Marwick and Rebecca Lewis:   https://datasociety.net/pubs/oh/DataAndSociety_MediaManipulationAndDisinformationOnline.pdf