Fantasyland provides much needed historical context of how America arrived into the current Twilight Zone/Black Mirror/my alternative facts best your alternative facts moment of history we currently inhabit. Anderson fills the book with well known and not so well known history, while some chapters seemed unnecessary, there's enough steady and entertaining analysis to sustain the full book. Anderson documents how Americans have been dreamers since the beginning.The first Europeans to settle in Virginia were there for the pipe dream of gold. After decades of finding none they had to settle on a less glamorous life - agriculture. The Puritans threw religion into the mix, radicals who believed their way of life was superior. When the Puritans splintered among themselves, each faction certain they had discovered the truth of the gospel. Historically, America's split both ways. The rationalism of the framers left a marked impression, while at the same time magical thinking and paranoia continued to hold sway throughout the 19th Century. Most of the book covers the last thirty years when America took a deep dive into the unreal. Anderson traces the modern descent into craziness to the 1960s. The counterculture's passion for The Lord of the Rings, New Age, and drug experimentation led to a certain way of thinking, the truth is within you. Facts and evidence don't matter. Meanwhile fundamentalist Christianity experienced a resurgence. Tired of science challenging sacred biblical history and public schools banning prayer, holy rollers took aim at science. A creationist world view makes sense because was say so. A plague of both your houses goes the argument. Fantasyland helps explain what happened in 2016 in a tangential way, a year many viewed as an anomaly. Anderson looks at fits of paranoia in the past, the only difference is that William Jennings Bryan or Joseph McCarthy were never elected president. While people rage at the phantoms on the internet, there are millions of people getting things done and keeping things rolling. There's enough room for the crazies and the dreamers, lately it appears a threshold was crossed. Can we go back? Coming of age in the 90s, conspiracy theories was such a part of the Zeitgeist. While I found them fascinating, less so as I got older, they were to be taken with a grain of salt. Taking them all seriously is a trip down the rabbit hole. While the media realized stories on Roswell and the Kennedy assassination brought high ratings, they were always done with a note of skepticism. Now, people take these things as the Truth and act on that information (not helped by a certain national leader who traffics in them.) Anderson's optimistic that the pendulum will swing the other way. I hope he's right. Anderson, Kurt. Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500 Year History. New York: Random House, 2017.
"I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries." - Carl Sagan Social media hits us everyday with jeremiads telling us democracy is on the brink of collapse. At times, I'm inclined to agree, there's no doubt democracy is being tested right now, I also think there are encouraging signs democracy will rebound. To quote the good Dr. Bennell from the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, "we only know the true worth of something when we are in danger of losing it."
A month ago Fortune Magazine online ran an article arguing that Amazon should take over all the libraries to save tax payers money, run them like a business. The author, economist Panos Mourdoukoutas, faced an onslaught of irate librarians on Twitter, who eviscerated his proposal. Fortune eventually removed the article. When you piss off librarians, you've really stepped in it.
Libraries are still open. Patrons are free to read Helen Keller, Karl Marx, George Carlin, Phylis Schlafly, or James Baldwin.
Public libraries are one of the last places a citizen can go for free and have access to all sorts of beneficial services. Even the smallest towns in America still have libraries. Privatizing them for profit would be the last frontier for the ultra libertarians I suppose. Just like those "for profit" schools, if everything were just run like a business, all social problems would magically disappear. While Amazon provides amazing services, I have real issues with the company, with stories on how they treat their warehouse employees. Perhaps it's because libraries exemplify socialism that works that really gnaws at the ultra capitalists. Supporting free services through slightly higher taxes keeps libraries going, so just think of how checking out a book is a radical act! Just imagine if the same were true for health care and education. I guess a paradigm shift still needs to be made on those grave issues. The haves lose their cool at the idea of paying higher taxes towards health care and education for the have nots. Why must the earners and producers support the weak who will never provide for themselves? Consider the Fox News conniption fit over Democratic-Socialist (and soon to be congressional representative) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's policy ideas on these issues. But I've never heard an affluent person complain about their tax money enabling a poor person to read The Jungle or Oliver Twist - for free!!!!! As long as libraries are vibrant, we can take some comfort. The Library of Congress remains one of the great landmarks of Washington DC, especially the display of Jefferson's personal collection of books, one of the most impressive during his time. The exhibit reminds us a democratic culture cultivates books, free thought, and new ideas. A nation of readers will be wise and strong. And maybe, just maybe, libraries point the way to a brighter future.
