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The New Dark Ages: The Death of Reading and the Dawn of the Post-Literate Society
Author(s): James Marriott (Author)
- Publisher: Doubleday
- Publication Date: October 6, 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 208 pages
- ISBN-10: 0385552947
- ISBN-13: 9780385552943
Book Description
It’s not by chance that the rise of new printing technologies coincided with the age of revolutions and the decline of the aristocratic order. At the beginning of the modern era in Europe, a critical mass of people could share and debate ideas about individual rights, the purpose of government and scientific truth. With growing literacy came the world we recognize today.
Now, around the world, the number of people who read is in free fall. Literacy is declining or stagnating in most developed countries. University students struggle mightily to read the books assigned in their classes. The golden chain of knowledge linking reader to reader through the centuries is breaking. Here, London
Times columnist James Marriott argues that this—the New Dark Ages—is the most important cultural shift of our time. The age of print is giving way to the age of the screen. The world we knew is passing away and nothing will ever be the same again.In this trenchant critique, Marriott assails the culture of modern life and singles out the written word as the best defense we have for a more enlightened world. Provocative and enthralling,
The New Dark Ages argues that reading and writing are essential for innovation, creativity and complex thought. Above all, the culture of print is critical to the functioning of modern democracies, which require their citizens to grapple with ideas at length and in depth. As print dies, we risk returning to the chaos, tribalism and rage of the world before widespread literacy.Editorial Reviews
Review
—Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Work
“Anyone who wants to understand the world today needs urgently to read this book.”
“Superb. The best way to make the case for good books is to write one—and in this learned and highly entertaining jeremiad, that is precisely what James Marriott has done.”
—Tom Holland, author of Pax and Dominion“If our addiction to smartphones is sapping our ability to concentrate long enough to read a book, James Marriott’s clear, engaging and original prose may yet seduce us back to it, or at least slow our retreat from the page.”
“In this bracing and breezy book, James Marriott explains why the world feels so loud, chaotic and angry—we have lost the reflection and empathy fostered by reading. Put down your phone and read
The New Dark Ages.”—Helen Lewis, author of The Genius Myth and staff writer at The Atlantic
“Pungent, learned and bang up-to-date. . . . A spirited polemic on one of the most important cultural crises of all. Essential reading.”
“Without any question the most important book of the year. This book is a flashing emergency light for our culture. I genuinely could not love James Marriott’s writing and thinking more. Let me sign up to his literacy army right now— I would follow him anywhere.”
“Marriott brings an expansive historical framework to his persuasive argument, yet his prose remains brisk and engaging—ideal, perhaps, for the attention-challenged readers most in need of this provocative volume. A timely, incisive argument for reading as a vital defense against the screen-driven erosion of modern civilization.”
“[An] exceptional work. . . . A lively jeremiad . . . [and] a provocative nonfiction work about the scourge of smartphones, their threat to literacy, and the implications for democracy.”
About the Author
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