Rating: 
Summary: nothing new
Review: This book basically just points out what most logical people already know. Glassner's arguements are obvious and dull. Culture of Fear isn't really worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Bad news Vs. Other Bad news
Review: This book provides us with clear and and easy to understand examples of how the media helped enflame or even create some of the fears in our society. I thuroughly enjoyed that aspect of it.
Unfortunately for me, the book also contains various suggestions as to what we really should be affraid of. It was baffling to me that after making such a great case for mistrusting the media's reporting, the author then goes on to use similar methods he criticized others for, to prove his own arguments.
There is a solid 100 pages of excellent, inquisititive writing. Regretfully, this book is over 200 pages long - that is why I had to give it two stars instead of four. (If you believe the numbers I gave you above - you Really need to read this book.)
Rating: 
Summary: Should be required reading.
Review: This book should be a must-read for everyone who has worried about road rage, airplane crashes, or school shootings. It uses solid facts and statistics to show how we as a society are exploited by advertisers, media, politicians, and special interest groups to fear the wrong things, things that just don't pose that big a threat. In exchange, we buy products we don't need to make us feel safer, vote for politicians out of a knee-jerk reaction, are kept glued to the nightly news, buy newsmagazines and newspapers with lurid headlines, and pass unnecessary, cumbersome laws. At the same time, our attention on these fears diverts us from examining more difficult societal issues, such as gun control, the state of our educational system, poverty, and overcrowded prisons, and frees us from having to share the responsibilities for these problems. The chapters on our overblown fears regarding school shootings, single motherhood, and black men are particularly enlightening. Unless you enjoy being manipulated, this book will help you recognize fear mongering for what it really is, closely examine and perhaps dismiss your prejudices, and rationally and skeptically evaluate new situations without having your emotions played like a fiddle. In this media-saturated society, it should be required reading.
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Summary: Many Of The Wrong Fears - Why? - What Is The Answer?
Review: This book was written before 9/11 and before the stock market meltdown caused in part by the Dot.Com bubble bursting. These were things that we should have been fearing, but for the most part were not.
The book gives example after example of our misplaced fears. It is a good book but not great because it does not go deep enough to provide many answers. It is a very interesting read and you will be amazed at how the majority of Americans worry about the wrong things. "The Culture Of Fear" gives some of the answers as to why this is occurring.
Why do Americans fear crime more when the crime rate is falling substantially? Why do Americans fear crime by stranger the most when over 80% of all crime is done by persons well known to the victim? Why do Americans fear exotic diseases far more than a disease such as heart disease which is far more deadly. Why do Americans fear air travel so much when commercial air travel is still the safest form of travel?
The author provides you with strong data and careful reasoning to allow you the reader to remain calm and to better understand the risks in the world around you.
Rating:
Summary: Why I Don't Listen to the Media
Review: To anyone who is disgusted with local news, can't watch CNN, and would rather read the Economist instead of US News, Time, and Newsweek, this might be the perfect book. The name is sort of a misnomer though. It should be called "Media of Fear". Nonetheless, it reinforces what I've felt all along, that the media and news are not out to report what's informative and worthy, but what is sexy - and that is fear. Even though this was written before 9/11, this is even more poignant now.Glassner explains how the media ignores statistics and common sense in order to fill the airwaves and the printed word with scare tactics. He explains how the media, influenced by political groups and human interest stories, ignore the big picture and focus on anecdotal evidence in order to sell their fear. He provides many examples of this, from airplane crashes to vaccines, and explains how these unfounded fears come about. He carefully uses both concrete evidence and statistics to prove the media wrong, and explains why and how the media choose to report the way they do. Unfortunately, for people like me who already agree with him, it doesn't provide much new information. Also, when he talks of the media, he talks of the supply side. He rarely mentions the demand side. Why is such media is actually being watched, and why are consumers falling for this, hook, line, and sinker? Finally, the writing style is not altogether fluid. It's hard to describe, but it's not a real page turner. All in all, it's a good book. It'll either confirm what you already know, or be an eye opener.
Rating: 
Summary: The Culture of Fear -- Book Summary
Review: USC sociologist Barry Glassner expresses his alarm at the precipitous heightening of fear that is currently permeating the American consciousness. According to Glassner the stakes are high:
"We had better learn to doubt our inflated fears before they destroy us. Valid fears have their place; they cause us to danger. False and overdrawn fears only cause hardship (xv)."
He argues that the opportunity costs in terms of misdirected time, research, and money can truly be staggering. So who benefits from pedaling these inflated fears and what can be done about it?
The two reasons most people give for this burgeoning culture of fear are premillennial tensions or the news media. The first concern holds so little merit as to be quickly dispatched, whereas the "media-effects theory" contains a partial clue to the puzzle. Glassner writes, "Producers of TV newsmagazines routinely let emotional accounts trump objective information" (xxii). However, he goes on later to write that the news media cannot be wholly blamed because unlike other benefactors of fear mongering the news media "sometimes bites the scare that feeds them." Glassner concludes, "The short answer to why Americans harbor so many misbegotten fears is that immense power and money await those who tap into our moral insecurities and supply us with symbolic substitutes" (xxvii). He correctly includes the important role of power and influence as catalysts for perpetuating a culture of fear, as well as the usual suspect of corporate greed. Glassner goes on to mention some of these culprits:
"Politicians win elections by exaggerating concerns about crime and drug use when, in fact, both are in decline. Advocacy groups raise money by inflating the prevalence of specific and phantom diseases. Newspapers and television news programs monger new scares on a regular basis in order to gain ratings or increase sales (260)."
Glassner's research suggests that the media serves as the sometimes-unwitting vehicle for special interests that engage the media in a constant barrage of misinformation that lends support to their cause disregardless of the truth. But if this is true, then why aren't the effects felt evenly across the industrialized countries where the purveyors of fear are most keen to operate?
A more controversial explanation questions the official data and asks whether things may in fact be getting worse. It remains a possibility that what passes as truth is really a grand conspiracy to cover up that which most people already know intuitively, thus making those people amenable to new explanations that may, unfortunately, be either closer or further from the actual truth. However, even if this were true to some extent it is unreasonable to believe that such an explanation would explain all occurrences, unless of course we were living in the movie "The Matrix."
The most likely explanation for why the culture of fear is greater in American than other nations is because the media in the United States is privately owned, creating an increased reliance on advertising dollars and the need to sensationalize, all combining to allow for increased vulnerability to manipulation by special interests. Glassner suggests that the manipulation begins when "Fear mongers make their scares all the more credible by backing up would be experts' assertions with testimonials from people the audience will find sympathetic" (207). Basically, the message becomes engrained in our minds through the repetitive onslaught of misinformation pilfered into our minds by pseduo-authorities and anecdotal evidence. In the end the public is duped by emotional appeals that outweigh any iota of discerning logic.
For purposes of comparison, it would be useful to know whether or not other countries, whose media is privately owned, possess a similar culture of fear, as opposed to those countries where the media is publicly owned. Finally, if it turns out that there is a causal relationship between private media and an increased vulnerability to outside unscrupulous agents, then certainly Michael Powell and the FCC are moving in the wrong direction by consenting to greater media consolidation. Even Ted Turner of AOL Time-Warner distinction has argued against further media consolidation for fear that it would reduce the competitive pressure needed to ensure high quality programming and news information.
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