Escaping Plato's Cave: How America's Blindness to the Rest of the World Threatens Our Survival

by Mort Rosenblum

Cave Blindness

Like Plato's cave-dwellers who only saw inaccurate reflections of reality on the wall, America has been blinded to dangerous realities inside and outside our borders, argues award-winning journalist Mort Rosenblum. Our ignorance is not just deplorable, it is literally killing us--and others.

Rosenblum--who has reported from more than one hundred countries, many of which he has outlived--explains how we all can and must learn more about what's really happening in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, in matters of war, peace, business, the environment, and education.

This cri de coeur by one of our planet's most eloquent journalists is a must-read for anyone concerned about what they don't see in the newspaper or on TV. It offers both insight and practical ways for Americans to get out of the cave and see what's really going on around us.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2007

Reviews

[Iris Carlson]

Picked this up randomly from the library and enjoyed it a lot. Kind of frightening to read this almost 20 years later and see how many of our problems today are much of the same from earlier, but worse. On one hand, it's painful to think that if we had listened to people like Rosenblum, we would not be where we are today. On the other, it's a reminder that today's problems didn't just spontaneously appear, they are the result of decades of poor decisions and corruption.

I'll try to take his optimism forward, but it's hard not to look at America and think we need to just wipe it all clean and start over.

I will say - this is 50% 'America's Blindness to the Rest of the World' and 50% a book on the golden days of journalism and lamenting its decline. I'm not mad about it, but I think the book is a bit misleading.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found so many things thought provoking in this book. One, Bill Gates was the CIA deputy director who insulated the first President Bush, then a vice president, from the Iran-Contra scandal. And just think, he's still working.
Rosenblum focuses on education and reliable sources of reporting in a world of shrinking investigative foreign reporters. His recommendations of reporters and websites are numerous.
It's a good read and the recommendations of the last chapter offer hope in the face of tough times.

[Joshua Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very excited by the premise of the book but the writing was labored and tiresome. I couldn't finish it.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

High level overview.