Real Men Read – Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, by Kurt Andersen

Thursday, September 26, 2019
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

In this sweeping, eloquent history of America, Kurt Andersen shows that what’s happening in our country today—this post-factual, “fake news” moment we’re all living through—is not something new, but rather the ultimate expression of our national character. America was founded by wishful dreamers, magical thinkers, and true believers, by hucksters and their suckers. Fantasy is deeply embedded in our DNA.

Over the course of five centuries—from the Salem witch trials to Scientology to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, from P. T. Barnum to Hollywood and the anything-goes, wild-and-crazy sixties, from conspiracy theories to our fetish for guns and obsession with extraterrestrials—our love of the fantastic has made America exceptional in a way that we’ve never fully acknowledged. From the start, our ultra-individualism was attached to epic dreams and epic fantasies—every citizen was free to believe absolutely anything, or to pretend to be absolutely anybody.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

“This is a blockbuster of a book. Take a deep breath and dive in.”—Tom Brokaw

“[An] absorbing, must-read polemic . . . a provocative new study of America’s cultural history.”—Newsday

Real Men Read is an open forum book discussion covering nonfiction books and fiction books that appeal to men…and even some women.  Our tradition in Real Men Read is to stick with books that have a colon in the title, even if it’s fiction. All are invited! Discussions are generally on the fourth Thursday of each month unless otherwise noted. To have a book set aside for you, contact Dave Anderson at 859-781-6166.

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