Document Type
Book Review
Publication Date
February 2000
Journal/Publication Title
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Abstract
Review of "Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety", by Wendy Kaminer, Pantheon (2000)Abstract:This essay reviews a book by distinguished cultural critic Wendy Kaminer on the rise in American society of culturally and politically powerful forces of irrational belief that have become increasingly able to impose what amounts to their private pieties on the polity and the public square. Kaminer has a wide range of targets in mind, ranging across the religious and belief spectrum, from Christian creationists to New Age occultists. She argues that the prevalent multicultural ethic gives them ground to demand that their beliefs be taken seriously and not effectively challenged on rational grounds.
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Kenneth, "Get Smart: The Rise of Authoritarianism and Our Crackpot Culture" (2000). Book Reviews. 33.
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_bkrev/33