Remembering Neil Postman

Neil Postman 1931-2003

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Neil Postman Wikipedia.com Biographical Entry.

Collected Obits / Reflections on Neil Postman's Passing

In Memoriam: Neil Postman by Angela Penny. Flak Magazine.
Social Critic and Educator Neil Postman Dies at 72 NYU Today Vol. 17, No. 3. October 24, 2003.
An echoing silence in his wake by Peter Kavanagh. The Globe & Mail, October 11, 2003.
Remembering Neil Postman by Jim Benning. Alternet.Org. Oct. 10, 2003.
Postman as Prophet by John Zimmerman. New York Post October 12, 2003.
"Neil Postman Dies" Recollections from Peter Rukavina Oct. 10, 2003.
Neil Postman (1931-2003): Some Recollections by Jay Rosen. Oct. 7, 2003.
Obituary by Wolfgang Saxon. New York Times, October 9, 2003.
Eulogy by Son Andrew Postman delivered on Wednesday, October 8, 2003, Parkside Chapel, Forest Hills, Queens.
RememberingNeilPostman.com a website by Jonathan Druy. [Currently offline but old pages available via Internet Archive].

Books by Neil Postman

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	Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century: How The Past Can Improve Our Future. October, 1999. From the Publisher: In Building a Bridge to the 18th Century, acclaimed cultural critic Neil Postman offers a cure for the hysteria and hazy values of the postmodern world. Postman shows us how to reclaim that balance between mind and machine in a dazzling celebration of the accomplishments of the Enlightenment-from Jefferson's representative democracy to Locke's deductive reasoning to Rousseau's demand that the care and edification of children be considered an investment in our collective future. Here, too, is the bold assertion that Truth is invulnerable to fashion or the passing of time. Provocative and brilliantly argued, Building a Bridge to the 18th Century illuminates a navigable path through the Information Age-a byway whose signposts, it turns out, were there all along. Reviews Review by Howard A. Doughty. The Innovation Journal. Review by John D. Wilkins. Looking backward into the new millennium, by David Shi. Christian Science Monitor Sept. 23, 1999.
	The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School. November, 1986. From the Publisher: Postman suggests that the current crisis in our educational system derives from its failure to supply students with a translucent, unifying "narrative" like those that inspired earlier generations. Instead, today's schools promote the false "gods" of economic utility, consumerism, or ethnic separatism and resentment. What alternative strategies can we use to instill our children with a sense of global citizenship, healthy intellectual skepticism, respect of America's traditions, and appreciation of its diversity? In answering this question, The End of Education restores meaning and common sense to the arena in which they are most urgently needed. Reviews Review by Elizabeth Murphy. 1996. Review by Ellen Rose. Journal of Technology Education Volume 8, Number 1 - Fall 1996. Review by Erik Lundegaard. The Seattle Times September 1995.
	Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. April, 1993. From the Publisher: In this witty, often terrifying work of cultural criticism, the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death chronicles our transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it--with radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, education, intelligence, and truth. Excerpts. pp. 22-48; 71-72; 118-20. Reviews Review by Anthony Hempell. Critical Mass July 1995. Review by Elizabeth Murphy. 1996.
	How To Watch TV News. September, 1992. From the Publisher: America is suffering from an information glut, and most Americans are no longer clear about what news is worth remembering or how any of it connects to anything else. Thus Americans are rapidly becoming the least knowledgeable people in the industrial world. For anyone who wants to control—not by controlled by—the powerful influence of television, How to Watch TV News shows you how to become a discerning viewer.
	Conscientious Objections: Stirring Up Trouble About Language, Technology, and Education . March 1992.
	Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness. November, 1986. From the Publisher: Originally published in 1985, Neil Postman’s groundbreaking polemic about the corrosive effects of television on our politics and public discourse has been hailed as a twenty-first-century book published in the twentieth century. Now, with television joined by more sophisticated electronic media—from the Internet to cell phones to DVDs—it has taken on even greater significance. Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. It is also a blueprint for regaining controlof our media, so that they can serve our highest goals. Foreward, by Neil Postman
	The Disappearance of Childhood. August 1982. Reviews Review by Chere DiValerio. University Of Oregon.
	Teaching As A Subversive Activity. September 1971. Reviews Review by Robin Martin. Jan. 29, 1998.

Collected Articles About Neil Postman

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Guest Writer Andrew Postman: Introduction to the 20th Anniversary Edition of Amusing Ourselves to Death by His Dad, Neil Postman
Pressthink January 20, 2006.
A Tribute to Neil Postman
by Rob Mercer Schuchhardt. The New Pantagruel Winter 2004.
Neil Postman: Defender of the Word
by Lance Strate. ETC 2004. [PDF format]
Neil Postman: A civilized man in a century of barbarism
by Jay Rosen. Salon.com. Oct. 10, 2003. [subscription required].
Profile: Neil Postman
from "Nine Pioneers of Mental Environmentalism" Adbusters Nov/Dec. 2001.
Neil Postman is no Progressive
by Jay Walljasper. Conscious Choice, January 2000.
Neil Postman's Criticisms of the Television Medium
by Jonathan Goldstein. Student @ University of Wales.
ETC: 1994 - Post(Modern) Man, or Neil Postman As A Postmodernist
by Lance Strate. Originally presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Speech Communication Association in Miami Beach, FL, Nov. 18-21, 1993, as part of a program entitled "Communication, Education, and Culture: Perspectives on the Scholarly Activity of Neil Postman." [PDF format]
"Amusing Ourselves to Death: Aldous Huxley vs. George Orwell", Postman's words illustrated by Stuart McMillen. (www.recombinantrecords.net)

Articles, Essays and Addresses by Neil Postman

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Science and the Story That We Need
First Things 69 (January 1997): 29-32.
Profile of Philo Farnsworth
electrical engineer and inventor of the television. Time Magazine
Of Luddites, Learning & Life
TECHNOS Quarterly Winter 1993 Vol. 2 No. 4.
Deus Machina
TECHNOS Quarterly Winter 1992 Vol. 1 No. 4/Spring 2001 Vol. 10 No. 1.
The Humanism of Media Ecology
Keynote Address Delivered at the Inaugural Media Ecology Association Convention. Fordham University, New York, New York. June 16–17, 2000.
The American Experiment
Teacher Magazine / Education Week September 6, 1995.
The Error of Our Ways
Teacher Magazine. August 1, 1995.
Informing Ourselves To Death
given at a meeting of the German Informatics Society (Gesellschaft fuer Informatik) in Stuttgart, sponsored by IBM-Germany October 11, 1990.
The Educationist as Painkiller
Originally published in English Education (1988), 7-17. It was also published in Conscientious Objections (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 82-96. [Via NeilPostman.org]
Commentary: Learning in the Age of Television
Teacher Magazine / Education Week December 4, 1985.
"My Graduation Speech"
From Neil: "If you think my graduation speech is good, I hereby grant you permission to use it, without further approval from or credit to me, should you be in an appropriate situation."

Articles in ETC

Social Science as Theology (ETC Vol. 41) [.pdf format].
Language Education in a Knowledge Context (ETC Vol. 37). [.pdf format].
"Propaganda" ETC Vol. 36. [.pdf format].

Interviews with Neil Postman

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Stirring Up Trouble About Technology, Language & Education
Interview with Eugene Rubin. Aurora Feb. 2002.
An Interview with Neil Postman
Modern Reformation Sept./Oct. 1997.
Neil Postman Ponders High Tech
Online Newshour. January 17, 1996.
YouTube - Neil Postman on Cyberspace
YouTube.com Circa. 1995.
Booknotes Interview
with Brian Lamb. August 30, 1992.
Interview with Neil Postman
with Peter Downie at NYU, summer 1991, for Progress and Prophesy.
Television and the Decline of Public Discourse
Interview with Robert Nelson. The Civic Arts Review Vol. 3, No. 1, Nov. 1990.
Interview with CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation