“Explaining the New America in Plain English: Recent American History for Ordinary People,” a new book by Bill Pirkle, is published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.
“In the end, Americans are not particularly good citizens. Many don’t even vote and few follow current affairs. How many can tell you the name of their congressman? How many can tell you how many members the House of Representatives has? How many know the size of the national debt? How many can name five departments of the federal government?
But they are not the only ones to blame. They have been offered an alternative to good citizenship – entertainment. Regardless of how we compare to the rest of the world in other areas, there is one area in which we excel – entertainment. We have football games all year round, including playoffs.
We have movies, television, pop music and more to keep us entertained. Although most cannot answer the questions above, most would pass a test about movie stars, music stars and sports stars.
We have failed to follow the advice of some great men:
“For evil to triumph, it is only necessary that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance” -Thomas Jefferson.
We lack both the participation of good people and vigilance. But the question is, “If you want to control an entire people, how much do you want them to know about government and current affairs, and how engaged and vigilant do you want them to be?” The best thing they can do is sit in front of the TV all day and watch ball games or sitcoms. As long as they’re having fun, everything’s fine. This allows the status quo to change things slowly and in the background while the public looks away. It’s like the magician who does the trick with his left hand while showing you his right hand. That’s called misdirection. This book is about the consequences of misdirection.” – Author Bill Pirkle
Explaining the New America in Plain English: Recent American History for Ordinary People is a 262-page paperback with a retail price of $20.00 (eBook $15.00). The ISBN is 979-8-89341-383-0. It was published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Members of the press may request a review copy or author interview at https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/pages/media-requests or purchase the book from our online bookstore at https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/products/explaining-the-new-america-in-plain-english-recent-american-history-for-ordinary-people.
