The Assault on Reason

Last updated
The Assault on Reason
The Assault on Reason.jpg
Author Al Gore
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Penguin Press
Publication date
May 22, 2007
Pages308
ISBN 1-59420-122-6
OCLC 81252666
973.931 22
LC Class E902 .G67 2007

The Assault on Reason is a 2007 book by Al Gore. In the book, the former U.S. Vice President heavily criticizes the George W. Bush administration for its actions in furthering the "assault on reason". He argues that there is a trend in U.S. politics toward ignoring facts and analysis when making policy decisions, calling the Congress, the judiciary, and the press complicit in the process. Gore's prescription is that the average citizen must be proactive in "restoring democracy". He expresses hopes that the medium of the Internet will supersede television and what he argues is its inherent bias, creating a "marketplace of ideas" that has not been present since the replacement of the printed word with mass media.

Contents

The book ranked number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover nonfiction during the first four weeks of its release, and was on the top-35 list for fifteen weeks. [1] Actor Will Patton narrates the audio version.

Awards

Notes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naomi Wolf</span> American writer (born 1962)

Naomi Rebekah Wolf is an American feminist author, journalist and conspiracy theorist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gore Vidal</span> American writer (1925–2012)

Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the social and cultural sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Beyond literature, Vidal was heavily involved in politics. He unsuccessfully sought office twice as a Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the U.S. House of Representatives, and later in 1982 to the U.S. Senate.

Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court had ordered a statewide recount of all undervotes, over 61,000 ballots that the vote tabulation machines had missed. The Bush campaign immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the decision and halt the recount. Justice Antonin Scalia, convinced that all the manual recounts being performed in Florida's counties were illegitimate, urged his colleagues to grant the stay immediately. On December 9, the five conservative justices on the Court granted the stay for Bush, with Scalia citing "irreparable harm" that could befall Bush, as the recounts would cast "a needless and unjustified cloud" over Bush's legitimacy. In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that "counting every legally cast vote cannot constitute irreparable harm." Oral arguments were scheduled for December 11.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clinton–Lewinsky scandal</span> 1998 American political sex scandal

The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal was a sex scandal involving Bill Clinton, the president of the United States, and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Their sexual relationship began in 1995—when Clinton was 49 years old and Lewinsky was 22 years old—and lasted 18 months, ending in 1997. Clinton ended a televised speech in late January 1998 with the later infamous statement: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." Further investigation led to charges of perjury and to the impeachment of Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives. He was subsequently acquitted on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day U.S. Senate trial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Kristol</span> American writer (born 1952)

William Kristol is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine The Weekly Standard. Kristol is now editor-at-large of the center-right publication The Bulwark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tipper Gore</span> Former Second Lady of the United States and co-founder of the PMRC

Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore is an American social issues advocate, activist, photographer and author. She was the second lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 through her marriage to 45th vice president Al Gore in 1970, although they separated in 2010.

<i>Myra Breckinridge</i> Novel by Gore Vidal

Myra Breckinridge is a 1968 satirical novel by Gore Vidal written in the form of a diary. Described by the critic Dennis Altman as "part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality which swept the western world in the late 1960s and early 1970s", the book's major themes are feminism, transsexuality, American expressions of machismo and patriarchy, and deviant sexual practices, as filtered through an aggressively camp sensibility. The controversial book is also "the first instance of a novel in which the main character undergoes a clinical sex-change". Set in Hollywood in the 1960s, the novel also contains candid and irreverent glimpses into the machinations within the film industry.

<i>Hegemony or Survival</i> Book by Noam Chomsky

Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance is a study of the American empire written by the American linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was first published in the United States in November 2003 by Metropolitan Books and then in the United Kingdom by Penguin Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Tribe</span> American lawyer and law school professor

Laurence Henry Tribe is an American legal scholar who is a University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. He previously served as the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard Law School.

<i>Whats the Matter with Kansas?</i> (book)

What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2004) is a book by American journalist and historian Thomas Frank, which explores the rise of populist anti-elitist conservatism in the United States, centering on the experience of Kansas, Frank's native state. In the late 19th century, says Frank, Kansas was known as a hotbed of the left-wing populist movement, but in recent decades, it has become overwhelmingly conservative. The book was published in Britain and Australia as What's the Matter with America?

<i>Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder</i>

Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder: Savage Solutions is a political book written in first person by conservative radio personality Michael Savage.

The Independent Institute is an American libertarian think tank based in Oakland, California. Founded in 1986 by David J. Theroux, the institute focuses on political, social, economic, legal, environmental, and foreign policy issues. It has more than 140 research fellows. The institute was originally established in San Francisco, was re-located in 1989 to Oakland, and since 2006 has had an office in Washington, D.C. The institute is organized into seven centers addressing a range of issues. According to the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, the institute is ranked number 42 in the "Top Think Tanks in the United States".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Harris</span> American neuroscientist, author, and podcaster

Samuel Benjamin Harris is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and Islam in particular, and is known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett.

<i>An Inconvenient Truth</i> 2006 film by Davis Guggenheim

An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 American concert film/documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film features a slide show that, by Gore's own estimate, he has presented over 1,000 times to audiences worldwide.

<i>The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy</i> 2007 book by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is a book by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, published in late August 2007. It was a New York Times Best Seller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Gore</span> Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001

Albert Arnold Gore Jr. is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 2000 presidential election. He lost the electoral college vote 266–271 to Republican nominee George W. Bush, despite winning the popular vote by approximately 543,895 votes. The election concluded after the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 5–4 in Bush v. Gore against a previous ruling by the Supreme Court of Florida on a re-count that would have likely given Gore a razor-thin lead in the state of Florida, had the re-count continued as planned. Gore is one of only five presidential candidates in American history to lose a presidential election despite winning the popular vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Gore and information technology</span>

Al Gore is a former US Senator who served as the Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. In the 1980s and 1990s, he promoted legislation that funded an expansion of the ARPANET, allowing greater public access, and helping to develop the Internet.

<i>The Revolution: A Manifesto</i> Book by Ron Paul

The Revolution: A Manifesto is a New York Times #1 best seller by Republican former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul. The work was published on April 30, 2008 by Grand Central Publishing. According to Paul, the book is based on written notes during his 2008 presidential campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental activism of Al Gore</span>

Al Gore is a United States politician and environmentalist. He is the former Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), the 2000 Democratic Party presidential nominee, and the co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has been involved with the environmental activist movement for a number of decades and has had full participation since he left the vice-presidency in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty Fund</span> American private educational foundation

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Carmel, Indiana which promulgates the libertarian views of its founder, Pierre F. Goodrich through publishing, conferences, and educational resources. The operating mandate of the Liberty Fund was set forth in an unpublished memo written by Goodrich "to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals".