Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone?: Confronting 21st Century Philistinism - Softcover

'Where Have all the Intellectuals Gone?', described by former Oxford don Terry Eagleton as a 'virtually important book', is a short and sharp critique of the way in which intellectual life has been degraded....Furedi's book has been welcomed by serious thinkers on both sides of the political divide, such as Eagleton on the left and philosopher Roger Scruton on the right." Spiked Culture, Down with 21st Century Philistinism, Brendan O'Neill 'Furedi is excellent on the dumbing-down of a culture which as more education than ever but less value for ideas and critical discrimination.' Tribune Books, Unite against the Philistines, Nov 2004 Article on Furedi's Book Tribune Books, Feb 2005. Article on the 'dumbing down' of history. Title mention. Sunday Times, Sept 2004 Article discussing debate occuring at Warwick University Arts Centre. Title mention. The Guardian, 10 May 2005--Sanford Lakoff "The Guardian "

The intellectual is an endangered species. In place of such people as Bertrand Russell, Raymond Williams or Hannah Arendt - people with genuine learning, breadth of vision and a concern for public issues - we now have only facile pundits, think tank apologists and spin doctors. In the age of the knowledge economy, we have somehow managed to combine the widest ever participation in higher education with the most dumbed-down of cultures. In this urgent and passionate book, Frank Furedi explains the essential contribution of intellectuals both to culture and to democracy - and why we need to recreate a public sphere in which intellectuals and the general public can talk to each other again.