Book, Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (revised edition). You are required to read and review the entire book. You should spend no more than the first two pages of your review summarizing the contents of the book. In this section, you could discuss what the author writes about, and what he does not discuss. As an example, what elements in the book are treated with priority and privilege? What is required in this section is more than just a simple synopsis of the book. Instead, you should give an accurate and balanced description of the book’s relevant content.
The next two pages of the review should consist of your critical reflections on the book. What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses? Again, as an example, you might discuss the language that the author uses, and what this has to say about inclusivity, or his understanding of the role(s) of women, children and men. Remember that this review should be a contribution to scholarly discussion and, therefore, be free of purely personal polemic. In this section, you may also wish to examine the theoretical framework used by author, and how that framework leads to the work that he has written.
Finally, you should have a one-page conclusion in which you discuss the impact of the book for the academic study of Islam in particular and religion in general. This conclusion could take any number of directions. For example, you might wish to discuss what the author presumes about the nature and function of religion in America. Or you might want to talk about the relevance of a book written 35 years ago to our contemporary situation.
The grading criteria will be based on style and presentation, taking into account such factors as language, usage, grammar, spelling, etc. Please consult the grading standards outline before you begin your book review.
Here is the book: