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Title: Public Spaces, Private Lives: Democracy Beyond 9/11 by Henry A. Giroux ISBN: 0-7425-2526-0 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Non NBN) Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Democracy and the Knowledge of the Masses
Comment: In this latest cultural manifesto, Giroux analyzes how the current political focus on market-driven privileges and the elimination of everything "public" is affecting the education and culture of the masses. The result is a culture of cynicism in which the majority of people who are not included in the conservative elite are entrenched in public apathy, and disillusionment with a system that promises to do absolutely nothing for them. Giroux's recommendation for alleviating this social disaster is his specific field of "cultural pedagogy," as espoused in his generally dense uber-academic writing style. In layman's terms, we should refocus education of the public to include a greater emphasis on cultural and social knowledge, so people have stronger tools for making themselves part of the political system once again.
Key insights here include the contention in Chapter 5 that modern conservatism (in politics) and neo-liberalism (in economics) are pushing a utopian vision of perfect and efficient markets, which is an ideology as extreme and as divorced from reality as fascism or communism, and may prove to be just as destructive. Also, throughout the book and especially in Chapter 4, Giroux uncovers the elitism in right-wing attacks on education and media and how they are meant to exclude the non-elite masses from social power.
However, things take a major wrong turn in Chapter 3 as Giroux analyzes the film "Fight Club." This is a typically verbose academic over-analysis with an overload of obscure theories, tying the film in to huge social and political trends, then criticizing it for not discussing (and condemning) other huge trends and cultural effects. Giroux forgets that a film is a visual medium based on entertainment in addition to advancing ideas, and 90 minutes of audio/video is not sufficient for vast analyses such as Giroux's densely written academic thesis. Meanwhile, the book consists of five essays that were apparently written originally for different academic journals. This leads to a large amount of repetition throughout the book as Giroux makes the same statements (especially with introductory background and observations) for different audiences. But once you get past those problems, this is a very enlightening and insightful look at the dire trends in public society and how it could be destroyed by the current crush of private ideologies. [~doomsdayer520~]
Rating: 1
Summary: Surface View of Fight Club
Comment: I bought this book for once reason- to read the analysis of Figh Club in it, as it's one of my favorite works and I enjoy reading criticism of it. Giroux's take on the film was so basic and surface it was an utter waste of my time and money. At least "The Cinema of Generation X" by Peter Hanson had more substance to it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Another Tour de Force by Giroux
Comment: This book marks a new watershed in his trademark theorizing of schools and society. Taking on corporate-produced cynicism he draws on several important theorists to articulate a viable oppositional pedagogy. An absolute must read.
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Title: The Abandoned Generation: Democracy Beyond the Culture of Fear by Henry A. Giroux ISBN: 1403961387 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pub. Date: 19 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Stealing Innocence : Corporate Culture's War on Children by Henry A. Giroux ISBN: 0312239327 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pub. Date: 04 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Channel Surfing: Racism, the Media, and the Destruction of Today's Youth by Henry A. Giroux ISBN: 0312214448 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Education as Enforcement: The Militarization and Corporatization of Schools by Kenneth J. Saltman, David A. Gabbard ISBN: 0415944899 Publisher: Falmer Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Mouse that Roared by Henry A. Giroux ISBN: 0847691101 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing (via NBN) Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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