Chris Hedges

Tue., Jul. 28, 7:30 p.m., free, Free Library, Central Branch, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341, freelibrary.org.

by Shaun Brady

reading/signing

Quoting Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, Chris Hedges compares the respective dystopias of Orwell and Huxley in his fall-of-civilization screed, Empire of Illusion. Orwell, Postman wrote, "feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture." There's no mistaking whose lead Hedges follows, as he bemoans the dumbing-down of America via reality TV, gonzo porn and irrelevant intellectual-speak. But Hedges fails to acknowledge the legacy of mass opiates throughout human history, making him merely the latest Chicken Little, ignored while the heavens crash down upon a populace distracted by anything from gladiators to Gosselins.