Preface
Introduction. The Death of Expertise
Chapter 1. Experts and Citizens
Chapter 2. How Conversation Became Exhausting
Chapter 3. Higher Education: The Customer Is Always Right
Chapter 4. Let Me Google That for You: How Unlimited Information Is
Making Us Dumber
Chapter 5. The "New" New Journalism, and Lots of It
Chapter 6. When the Experts Are Wrong
Conclusion. Experts and Democracy
Tom Nichols is Professor of National Security Affairs at the US
Naval War College, an adjunct professor at the Harvard Extension
School, and a former aide in the U.S. Senate. He is also the author
of several works on foreign policy and international security
affairs, including The Sacred Cause, No Use: Nuclear Weapons and
U.S. National Security, Eve of Destruction: The Coming Age of
Preventive War, and The Russian Presidency.
He is also a five-time undefeated Jeopardy! champion, and as one of
the all-time top players of the game, he was invited back to play
in the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Nichols' website is
tomnichols.net and he can be found on Twitter at @RadioFreeTom.
"Nichols expands his 2014 article published by The Federalist with
a highly researched and impassioned book that's well timed for this
post-election period... strongly researched textbook for laymen
will have many political and news junkies nodding their heads in
agreement." - Publishers Weekly
"Tom Nichols is fighting a rear-guard action on behalf of those
dangerous people who actually know what they are talking about. In
a compelling, and often witty, polemic, he explores why experts are
routinely disregarded and what might be done to get authoritative
knowledge taken more seriously." - Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus
Professor of War Studies, King's College London, and author of
Strategy
"We live in a post-fact age, one that's dangerous for a whole host
of reasons. Here is a book that not only acknowledges this reality,
but takes it head on. Persuasive and well-written, The Death of
Expertise is exactly the book needed for our times." - Ian Bremmer,
President and Founder, Eurasia Group
"Americans are indifferent to real journalism in forming their
opinions, hoaxes prove harder to kill than a slasher-flick monster,
and the word 'academic' is often hurled like a nasty epithet. Tom
Nichols has put his finger on what binds these trends together:
positive hostility to established knowledge. The Death of Expertise
is trying to turn back this tide." - Dan Murphy, former Middle East
and Southeast Asia Bureau Chief, The Christian Science
Monitor
"Tom Nichols has written a brilliant, timely, and very original
book. He shows how the digital revolution, social media, and the
internet have helped to foster a cult of ignorance. Nichols makes a
compelling case for reason and rationality in our public and
political discourse." - Robert J. Lieber, Georgetown University,
and author of Retreat and Its Consequences
"Tom Nichols does a breathtakingly detailed job in scrutinizing the
American consumer's refutation of traditional expertize. In the era
of escapism and denial, he offers a refreshing and timely book on
how we balance our skepticism with trust going forward." - Salena
Zito, national political reporter for The Washington Examiner, CNN,
The New York Post, and RealClearPolitics
"Timely...useful...in providing an overview of just how we arrived
at this distressing state of affairs." - New York Times
"This may sound like a rant you have heard before, but Nichols has
a sense of humour and chooses his examples well. His anger is a lot
more attractive than the standard condescension." - Financial
Times
"A genial guide through the wilderness of ignorance." - Kirkus
Reviews
"Nichols is a forceful and sometimes mordant commentator, with an
eye for the apt analogy." - Inside Higher Education
"Americans are indifferent to real journalism in forming their
opinions, hoaxes prove harder to kill than a slasher-flick monster,
and the word 'academic' is often hurled like a nasty epithet. Tom
Nichols has put his finger on what binds these trends together:
positive hostility to established knowledge. The Death of Expertise
is trying to turn back this tide." - Dan Murphy, former Middle East
and Southeast Asia Bureau Chief, The Christian Science
Monitor
"Excellent"- The Washington Post
"Nichols' perspective is an essential one if we are to begin
digging ourselves out of the hole we find ourselves in."- National
Public Radio
"A sweeping indictment of the deliberate, widespread and ultimately
self-destructive devaluing of knowledge in America."- Politico
"Buy this book. And read it. Regularly."- Physics World
Amazon Best Nonfiction of 2017
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