Now with a New Preface and Conclusion: “Post-Truth: On Donald Trump and the 2016 Election”   
 
What has happened to our country and how can we fix it?
 
We are in the midst of a deepening crisis for our democracy. After the strangest election cycle in modern American history it is important that we address the grave threats to our way of life that were glaringly revealed in this campaign. In The Assault on Reason, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore examines how faith in the power of reason—the idea that citizens can govern themselves through rational debate—is in peril.

Our democracy depends on a well-informed citizenry and a two-way conversation about ideas, but our public sphere has been degraded by fake news and the politics of fear, partisanship, and blind faith. Now updated to investigate the rise of Trump and post-truth politics, The Assault on Reason is a call to rebuild the vitality of American democracy by restoring the nation’s information ecosystem so that we can start making good decisions again.

About the Author

Al Gore was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1976 and the US Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the 45th vice president of the United States on 20 January 1993 and served eight years. He is chairman of Generation Investment Management, a London-based firm that is focused on a new approach to Sustainable Investing. He also serves as chairman of Current, an independently owned cable and satellite television network for young people based on viewer-created content and citizen journalism. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc., a senior advisor to Google, Inc., and a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.