This book has probably had a greater impact on my understandings of history and how popular culture shapes/obscures the public perception of events than all other books combined. ( )

After I added this book I re-assigned all of my star ratings to make sure that only a few books receive 5 stars. This book had a profound effect on me and changed my thinking about most everything. I learned or, or at least more of importance, from this one book than from some college courses. I continue to read parts of this book every now and then. Fawcett arranges the book in a very unique manner: a set of 13 short stories runs along the top half of the page and a single essay runs along the lower half. It sounds like an affectation, but it works and so effectively that the book would not make as great an impression if it were layed out in the traditional style. In this time of short attention spans Fawcett has devised a way to make separate "inputs" into your brain, causing you to "multi-task" and thereby think about the ideas in the essay and in the stories in relation to each other. I found insights in these pages I have never come upon ever before or since. ( )