Henry A. Giroux, a world renowned educator, author, and public intellectual agrees with English novelist John LeCarre that present-day America is sinking into madness with its media spewing out stories filled with "cruelty, deceit, lies"; it legitimates "all manner of corruption and mayhem." The media spin stories that are "largely racist, violent, and irresponsible — stories that celebrate power and demonize victims."

Even more scary is the celebration of "a narcissistic hyper-individualism that radiates a near sociopathic lack of interest in — or compassion and responsibility for — others."

Behind both of these disturbing developments, Giroux asserts, is an ever-expanding authoritarianism which is devouring and re-shaping the United States. First there is the rise of "the Disimagination Machine" (a term coined by Georges Didi-Huberman) which Giroux defines as "a public pedagogy that functions primarily to short-circuit the ability of individuals to think critically, imagine the unimaginable, and engage in thoughtful and critical dialogue."

With his usual energy and in-depth analysis, the author also takes a hard look at the politics of disposability, lockdown USA, neoliberalism at home, militarism, mass surveillance, rampant violence, and economic inequality. The best antidote to these coercive forces is education:

"Progressives and others need to make education central to any viable sense of politics so as to make matters of memory, imagination, and consciousness central elements of what it means to be critical and engaged citizens."