In 1983, two centuries after the publication of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, another philosophical treatise-polemical in nature, with a title that conscious and disrespectfully alludes to the earlier work —appeared in West Germany. Pete Sloterdijk's Critique of Cynical Reason stirred both critical acclaim and consternation and attracted a wide readership, especially among those who had come of age in the 1960s. Sloterdijk finds cynicism the dominant mode in contemporary culture in personal and institutional settings; his book is less a history of the impulse than. an investigation of its role in the postmodern 1970s and 1980s, among those whose earlier hopes for social change had crumbled and faded away. Sloterdijk thus brings into cultural and political discourse an issue which, though central to the mood of a generation, has remained submerged throughout the current debate about modernity and postmodernity.

With Adorno and Horkeimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment as his primary jumping-off point, Sloterdijk also draws upon, and contends with, the poststructuralist concepts of Deleuze and Guattari. He defines cynicism as enlightened false consciousness—a sensibility "well off and miserable at the same time," able to function in the workaday world yet assailed by doubt and paralysis; and, as counterstrategy, proposes the kynicism of antiquity—the sensuality and loud, satiric laughter of Diogenes. Above all, Sloterdijk is determined to resist the amnesia inherent in cynicism. The twentieth-century German historical experience lies behind his work, which closes with a brilliant essay on the Weimar Republic —the fourteen years between a lost war and Hitler's ascent to power, and a time when the cynical mode first achieved cultural dominance.

A witty take on what’s wrong--and right--with cynicism today, now in paperback!

We are now living in the midst of the most cynical era in American history. Disaffection from government institutions is at an all-time high. Ordinary citizens perceive political leaders to be more manipulative and jaded than ever. Skepticism pervades our cultural and social attitudes and interactions, and is prominently featured in the films we see, the books we read, and the media we experience. In this biting and controversial analysis, William Chaloupka scrutinizes the cynicism that is our common condition, examining both its uses in the politics of backlash and resentment and its surprisingly positive aspects.

Everybody Knows traces cynicism from its classical origins but emphasizes its recent emergence in American culture and politics, following a trajectory from H. L. Mencken to Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton to Fargo. Cutting neatly across ideological divisions, Chaloupka discusses the ways in which cynicism is rooted in all democratic politics and analyzes the role of the media-in particular, television news, political ads and speeches, and books such as E. J. Dionne’s Why Americans Hate Politics and William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues-in dissecting and encouraging cynicism.Chaloupka describes mass cynicism, which permeates popular culture; outsider cynicism, capable of cranky, even violent disruption; and the cynicism of those in power. He argues that those who issue broad pleas for civility or a renewal of community spirit usually misunderstand the cynicism they wish to treat. He also discusses the value of a cheeky, subversive “kynicism” to evoke the lively democratic practice American society must foster.Early reviews call Everybody Knows “original and compelling,” “pithy, engaging, and funny,” and “the best book on American politics in quite a while.” Sure to be widely read and debated, this entertaining book will inspire readers to take a new look at the cynicism prevalent in contemporary American society.