Analysis of Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges and News for All the People by Juan Gonzalez and Joseph Torres (Book Review Sample)

Name Professor Course Date Analysis of Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges and News for All the People by Juan Gonzalez and Joseph Torres Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges In an intense sorrowful work, which has five chapters, Chris Hedges highlights the political, economic, moral and environmental collapse that the American society has taken. In the first chapter titled The Illusion of Literacy, the author traces the manner in which the media has created pseudo-events or illusions of life, which supersedes the reality in the minds of its lovers. This influence is palpable in events such as reality television and professional wrestling being more significant than real world problems. The second chapter titled The Illusion of Love discusses the concern of growing pornography use in the last four decades. The author achieves this through underscoring the nightmares of this pornography industry blatant in its abuse of women rights as well as the industry embracing rape culture. The third chapter titled The Illusion of Wisdom addresses the higher education system from the stance of the elite schools such as Cambridge, Yale, Stanford and Harvard. The author argues that the modeling of these schools has been in a manner that only the corporate and political elites receive their services hence analytical, and intelligence skills are features of prizes. In the fourth chapter titled The Illusion of Happiness, the author discusses how the issue of happiness has been a creation and dictation of the corporate world through their notion of social engineering and positive psychology. For this reason, corporations sell the matter of happiness to people. The last chapter, The Illusion of America acts as a summary of the first four chapters by highlights the illusion that exists in the United States in its rights, freedom, justice and liberty. The assertion attributes to the cruel manner that the American society treats its underprivileged people. As a result, the main argument of the author in the book is the manner in which the United States is an empire of illusion based on its systems such as the education system, media, corporations and the political elites. The argument by the author that the United States is an empire of illusion attributes to the following. At the outset, the author alleges that the American literacy system is an illusion evident in the role of media assaulting its literacy. The author asserts, “And a culture dominated by slogans and images seduces those who are functionally literate but who make a choice not to read” (Hedges 45). The quote stresses the role of media in manipulating the literary among the people to become an illusion. Secondly, the author underlines the notion of the United States being an empire of illusion from the perspective of the illusion of love created through pornography, which demeans rights of women along with encouraging the people to embrace rape culture. Thirdly, the author substantiates his assertion of the United States being an empire of illusion through underlining the delusion in its education systems, which is a system for the elites. The author alleges, “The neglect of the humanities has allowed elites to organize education and society around predetermined answers and questions” (Hedges 103). The quote emphasizes the role of the elites in influencing the American education system to promote their interests. Lastly, the author cements his argument through highlighting the false impression created in the attainment of happiness. The author avers, “Those who fail to exhibit positive attitudes, no matter the external reality, are in some ways ill. Their attitudes, like those of recalcitrant Chinese during the Cultural Revolution, needs correction” (Hedges 119). The statement validates the reality that American happiness is psychologically engineered. Chris Hedges, the author of this work, is an American journalist, author, activist and Presbyterian minister. The author has other works such as War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Death o the Liberal Class, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt and Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt. Chris Hedges laments about the American culture to be a reflection of a nation infested by late capitalists as well as being morally nihilistic. For this reason, the author attempts to ask the American society to reevaluate and retrace its foundations of democracy. The author alleges that the tribulations of the contemporary American society should not be on the presidency but rather the capitalistic system that shapes its culture. According to the author, in the future, the American society will be a virtual corporate of slaves under the manipulation and control of the law enforcement power. In presenting the book, the author fears that the primary division in the American society will be the functionally illiterate majority and the marginalized literate minority because of the corporate entertainment and public relations images and slogans of the political elites. Moreover, Chris Hedges worries about the worsening of the American social conditions as well as future environmental catastrophes if there are no proper actions taken. In conclusion, the author presents the book with wisdom and courage in spite of the dark theme of the book. The author uses firsthand examples that an average American citizen can identify with such as pornography, professional wrestling and education system to underscore the theme of the book. Moreover, the use of straightforward language ensures that the book is relevant for even young scholars who can read and understand it. The book is an essential read for American middle and low-income households as well as aspiring intellectuals and researchers. News for All the People by Juan Gonzalez and Joseph Torres The book is a detailed account of the racial and class conflicts evident in the American media. The account traces its way from the first colonial newspaper to modern age internet media. Juan Gonzalez and Joseph Torres highlight American government decisions that resulted in the creation of the country’s system of news, political confrontation attributed to press role, in addition to, the advent of media conglomerates and cut-edge technologies. The authors expose the role of media in racial segregation through unearthing many examples of how the media in press and print nurtured racial violence through their coverage. Moreover, the authors underscore the way in which Hispanic, African American, Asian and Native American journalists fought to fashion substitute and liberal presses. These media houses through these journalists from the minority Americans in the start of the 1970s were subject to forced acquisition by large media corporations. In an interesting story-driven work, the text uses the works of individual media persons along with journalists to intertwine role of the federal government and corporate confrontations, which was responsible for the creation of the segregated media system. The authors underscore this role of the government through presenting an instance of the commerce secretary giving the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) group a radio license in spite of its notoriety in promoting racial segregation during the period. Another example offered by the authors is evident in the effort by Robert L. Vann who fathered a national campaign to pull down the African American comedy Amos ‘n’ Andy from airing. As a result, the main argument of the two authors is to underscore the class and racial conflicts in the American media, besides, highlighting their history. This argument by Gonzalez and Torres attribute to the following reasons. Firstly, the authors emphasize this theme through tracing its steps back to colonial eras to expose how the media reported about African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. A compelling instance is evident from the authors alleging, “Colonial printers, as we would expect, reported domestic events from the perspective of the European settlers who were their only readers” (Gonzalez and Joseph 21). The quote stresses the bias in the colonial media based on race, where the media promoted the ...