The author lives in New York City and is a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University. This is not a Christian book and the author has written several books in which he seeks to assess, analyze and comment on various aspects of the media as it has grown in its powerful influence to proportions where it is, itself probably more potent than any government in the world today. There is a sub-title that goes some way to expressing the subject matter contained in these pages, “How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms our Lives.” For thoughtful Christian believers there will be much here that resonates; it is a balanced and devastating critique of the all-pervasive, global superficiality that the media fosters. No one is yet able to understand quite what the media has done to our lives. It has taken on a life of its own, its control, its banality, its omnipresence and its American-ness is breeding a society drunk on entertainment. However, this book is not conservative in the sense of simply wanting to curb the media, to censor what is being shown and presented. It examines why people would have it so, why is it that men and women want to become inebriated in this way. There are no great answers to be found to these questions here, the subject is opened up. We must draw our conclusions, reassess priorities, decide whether we want to be brainwashed or not. Gitlin shows how the “media all the time” life we are caught up in fuels celebrity-worship, a light and casual attitude to life, paranoia and sarcasm. We are living in a society of manufactured images where we are systematically being robbed of true personhood. So, here is a provocative read for those prepared to take time with it.
