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The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture Hardcover – June 2, 2011

4.5 out of 5 stars 550

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"My interest in politics began when I noticed that I acted differently than I spoke, that I had seen 'the government' commit sixty years of fairly unrelieved and catastrophic error nationally and internationally, that I not only hated every wasted hard-earned cent I spent in taxes, but the trauma and misery they produced..."

For the past thirty years, David Mamet has been a controversial and defining force in theater and film, championing the most cherished liberal values along the way. In some of the great movies and plays of our time, his characters have explored the ethics of the business world, embodied the struggles of the oppressed, and faced the flaws of the capitalist system.

But in recent years Mamet has had a change of heart. He realized that the so- called mainstream media outlets he relied on were irredeemably biased, peddling a hypocritical and deeply flawed worldview. In 2008 he wrote a hugely controversial op-ed for
The Village Voice, "Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain- Dead Liberal,'" in which he methodically eviscerated liberal beliefs. Now he goes much deeper, employing his trademark intellectual force and vigor to take on all the key political and cultural issues of our times, from religion to political correctness to global warming. A sample:

The problems facing us, faced by all mankind engaged in Democracy, may seem complex, or indeed insolvable, and we, in despair, may revert to a state of wish fulfillment-a state of "belief" in the power of the various experts presenting themselves as a cure for our indecision. But this is a sort of Stockholm Syndrome. Here, the captives, unable to bear the anxiety occasioned by their powerlessness, suppress it by identifying with their captors.

This is the essence of Leftist thought. It is a devolution from reason to "belief," in an effort to stave off a feeling of powerlessness. And if government is Good, it is a logical elaboration that more government power is Better. But the opposite is apparent both to anyone who has ever had to deal with Government and, I think, to any dispassionate observer.

It is in sympathy with the first and in the hope of enlarging the second group that I have written this book.


Mamet pulls no punches in his art or in his politics. And as a former liberal who woke up, he will win over an entirely new audience of others who have grown irate over America's current direction.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Mamet 's Glengarry Glen Ross won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1984. He is also the author of Writing in Restaurants and On Directing Film, both available from Penguin.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1595230769
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sentinel; First Edition, First Printing (June 2, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781595230768
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595230768
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 550

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David Mamet
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David Mamet's numerous plays include Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award), American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow, Boston Marriage, November, Race and The Anarchist. He wrote the screenplays for such films as The Verdict, The Untouchables and Wag the Dog, and has twice been nominated for an Academy Award. He has written and directed ten films, including Homicide, The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main, House of Games, Spartan and Redbelt. In addition, he wrote the novels The Village, The Old Religion, Wilson and many books of nonfiction, including Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business; Theatre; Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama and the New York Times bestseller The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture. His HBO film Phil Spector, starring Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, aired in 2013 and earned him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing. He was co-creator and executive producer of the CBS television show The Unit and is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company.

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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
550 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2011
Surely by now, many readers know David Mamet's story. An outstanding playwright, author, screenwriter, and director, fully immersed in the liberal mindset found in the entertainment industry. Then, after joining a new synagogue, meeting some conservatives, and - perhaps most importantly - reading Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" and Whittaker Chambers' "Witness", his mindset is transformed, and he recognizes the myriad follies and destructive nature of the Liberal orthodoxy.

"The Secret Knowledge", then, is perhaps Mr. Mamet's "official" coming-out party. In a word, it is brilliant. It is my opinion that the best works of the political genre - which this will certainly fall into - most often come from those who lived and thought on one side of the political spectrum, then had a reawakening and change of mindset to the other side. These individuals - like Mr. Mamet - have the requisite background and experience to speak about both sides, whereas most political authors have only known life in the "bubble" on one side or the other and only speak in shaky talking points about the other side.

What Mr. Mamet accomplishes with "The Secret Knowledge" is methodically taking apart the Liberal mindset and ideology. Through his intellectual and highly logical perspectives, he undermines the foundation - and shows the destructive nature - of this ideology on education, the economy, popular culture, society at-large, and politics. I found his analysis of the education system to be the strongest in the book. He shows how the Liberal orthodoxy - and their focus on "multiculturalism", diversity, and sensitivity - has fostered a system where youth are completely unprepared in the basic skills to succeed in the free market system, in turn making them a part of the victim class, dependent on Government and/or becoming permanent "students" to avoid the hard choices of life. His comparison of the education system to the lab experiments of mice earning pellets is at once incisive and heartbreaking.

Throughout the book, Mr. Mamet uses his tremendous writing skills to devastating effect, yet does so with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel. He provides many excellent citations - on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum - to bolster his arguments. Perhaps he leans too heavily on Hayek and Thomas Sowell, though considering Hayek was the catalyst for his conversion, it makes sense. But most important of all - and unlike the vast majority of other books in the political genre, often written by the blowhards and "shouting heads" of the media - Mr. Mamet takes apart the Liberal orthodoxy in a completely rational manner. The "agree-with-me-or-else" themes so prevalent in media today are completely nonexistent in "The Secret Knowledge".

Mr. Mamet surely knows how this book will be received in some circles, and how it will impact his professional career. Yet as he indicates in "The Secret Knowledge" and in recent media interviews, he is completely at peace with whatever criticism comes his way. Of course, for an individual who has made his living in an industry where his work is so publicly and mercilessly critiqued, we should expect nothing less than Mr. Mamet's come-what-may perspective. However it is ultimately received, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Secret Knowledge", and have recommended it to many friends and family. I think it is a very important read, and is almost essential reading in this hyper-partisan, politically-charged society. As a side note, I am glad to have a writer - and talent - like Mr. Mamet on the conservative side of the political spectrum. He is a welcome addition, and I will look forward to whatever observations he has on society in the future.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2011
The great irony that arrived on my iPad (via Kindle) with David Mamet's excellent book is that, as the dramatic authority of confidence games (e.g., House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner), for most of his life he was taken in by the confidence game of modern far-left Liberalism. (Born and raised in Chicago, he still got conned.) Mamet is erudite, literary, and incisive in this set of linked essays. I rarely use the Kindle's highlight function, but I found myself highlighting more passages in the first third of his book than all 260 of the other books I have read on Kindle. His writing is that great. He resides in that specialized domain of an H. L. Mencken, or a Richard Mitchell (whose Underground Grammarian and several books are available free on the Web). He draws from Hayek and Sowell, among others, but is more fun to read. Here are some of my favorite highlights:

Chap. 1: "We cannot live without trade. A society can neither advance nor improve without excess of disposable income. This excess can only be amassed through the production of goods and services necessary or attractive to the mass. A financial system which allows this leads to inequality; one that does not leads to mass starvation."

Chap 2: "I will now quote two Chicago writers on the subject, the first, William Shakespeare, who wrote 'Truth's a dog must to kennel; he must be whipped out, when Lady the brach may stand by the fire and stink'; the second, Ernest Hemingway, 'Call 'em like you see'em and to hell with it.'"

Chap 3: "The grave error of multiculturalism is the assumption that reason can modify a process which has taken place without reason, and with inputs astronomically greater than those reason might provide."

Chap 4: "College, while it may theoretically teach skills, also serves to delay the matriculation of the adolescent into society."

Chap 5: "No, the luckless product of our Liberal Universities, skill-less, will not touch that item his culture named taboo: work. So we see the proliferation, in the Liberal Communities, of counselors, advisors, life coaches, consultants, feng shui 'experts,' as the undereducated chickens come home to roost."

Chap 6: "A subjective system can never be shown to have failed. If its goals are indeterminate, general, and its progress incapable of measurement, how can its performance be faulted?"

Chap 7: "From the Left's point of view one need not work, and may not only Hope to be provided for, by this government, but may insist upon it."

Chap 8: "A Slave is not permitted to make these distinctions. Al of his behavior is circumscribed by the will of his master. The necessity of making distinctions is the essence of freedom, where one not only can but must choose...The essence of freedom was and is choice."

Chap 9: "...I was from Chicago. It was a rough city, ruled by Machine Politics, which ruled the state, and currently rules the country."

And that's just the first nine essays, in which I've highlighted many paragraphs. Mamet is essential reading for thoughtful conservatives and libertarians, and anyone else willing to stand the challenge of examining unchallenged assumptions. A tour de force. Thank you, David.
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Top reviews from other countries

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bernardo
5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing take on things. Readable and thought provoking.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2017
Intriguing take on things. Readable and thought provoking.
Martin O
2.0 out of 5 stars Trauriger Niedergang eines scharfen Geistes
Reviewed in Germany on May 17, 2016
Als ich mir das Buch gekauft habe, habe ich wohl angenommen, dass ich mit den allermeisten der politischen Ansichten Mamets nicht übereinstimmen würde. aber es hat mich interessiert, warum Mamet zu seinen Positionen gekommen ist und was genau der Knackpunkt war, der ihn dazu brachte.

Bedauerlicherweise ist das Buch mehr Glaubensbekenntnis als Analyse. Die allermeisten Positionen werden nicht argumentiert, sondern schlicht und ergreifend behauptet. Den "Liberalen" (im amerikanisch-politischen Sinn des Wortes, also auf Deutsch in etwa "Kryptokommunisten") werden Positionen unterstellt, die von Naivität bis hin zu absichtlicher und arglistiger Zersetzung der amerikanischen Werte reichen. Dabei werden diese Werte auch in einem Aufwaschen mit den judäo-christlichen Werten gleichgesetzt, was ich persönlich auch für eine starke Simplifizierung halte. Alle Argumentationslinien laufen in etwa nach dem Motto ab: "Staatliche Regierung ist schlecht, weil von Menschen gemacht, die andere nur manipulieren und für sich das beste herausholen wollen. Das zeigt die Geschichte. Der Markt ist viel besser geeignet, die Bedürfnisse der Menschen zu erfüllen. Alles, was keinen Markt findet, seien es Menschen, seines es Ideen, hat keinen Wert."

In einem Aufwaschen wird hier Harry Truman und sein New Deal für die Verschärfung der Weltwirtschaftskrise verantwortlich gemacht, die Affirmative Action als gelebten Rassismus gebrandmarkt und die Sozialversicherung Obamas ohnehin als Kulmination kommunistischen Gedankengutes, das die USA endgültig in den Abgrund reißen wird verteufelt. Diskussionen über etwaige negative Auswirkungen des Kolonialismus oder aber des Sklavenhandels lässt Mamet ebenso wenig zu wie auch nur die leiseste Kritik am Kurs Israels (letzteres kann ich immerhin nachvollziehen.

Jetzt könnte das Ganze durchaus unterhaltsam sein, bedauerlicherweise schafft es Mamet nicht, ein Thema oder auch nur einen Gedankengang halbwegs systematisch zu entwickeln, springt von These zu These, von bissiger Fußnote zur nächsten, muss auch hier noch geschwind auf die angeborene Schlechtigkeit (aller?) Politiker hindreschen und dort noch schnell auf die Sozialwissenschaften im allgemeinen.

Ganz überraschen hätte es mich nicht sollen, sind doch auch seine Bücher über Filmtheorie nicht vom leisesten Selbstzweifel befallen (Man lese nur seine Ausführungen gegenüber Studenten über die Wirkung von Filmschnitt). Dennoch habe ich vier Monate und unzählige Anläufe gebraucht, um das Buch in stets homöopathischen Dosen zu lesen. Mehr als fünf-zehn Seiten am Stück waren aufgrund der mieselsüchtigen, selbstgerechten und zu Teil auch ausgesprochen dummen Grundstimmung des Buches nicht zu schaffen.
Hank
5.0 out of 5 stars Mamet Nails It
Reviewed in Canada on December 11, 2013
Former Progressive Mamet writes logically & convincingly about the folly of today's Progressive Movement. I recommended this book to a college professor friend in California who is a dyed-in-the-wool socialist (as so many of his colleagues are), and was almost startled by the virulent seething hatred that came my way.

Heh. Loved that reaction. Shows that Mamet has his facts right, and his book cuts the liberals to the bone. I recommend it highly.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2015
Excellent and insightful book. David Mamet digs deep.
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Quiet Country
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read.
Reviewed in Canada on April 22, 2013
I love the power of Mamets writing. He always nails it. This book should be read by everyone who thinks they know what's going on, so they can find out what's really going on.