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Author Targets Pop Culture's 'Empire Of Illusion' Vapid talk shows, celebrity gossip, empty promises that you, too, can be happy and rich. Writer Chris Hedges took on war and the Christian right. Now, he targets pop culture and what he calls the cultural embrace of fantasy.

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Author Targets Pop Culture's 'Empire Of Illusion'

Heard on Talk of the Nation

Author Targets Pop Culture's 'Empire Of Illusion'

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In his new book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Chris Hedges describes the polarities of the two societies he says we are now living in: One side is based in reality and able to separate illusion from truth; the other side is rooted in fantasy. The latter, Hedges says, is the growing majority. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist talks about Empire of Illusion and what he views as the erosion of American culture.

Guest:

Chris Hedges, author of Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and foreign correspondent for the New York Times for 15 years.