Neil postman obituary
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At the time of his death in 2003, Neil Postman was considered one of America's foremost writers and teachers of media and education theory. Since that time, his work has continued to resonate, especially as civilization grows progressively more defined by media over-saturation.
Neil Postman was born on March 8, 1931 in New York City. He earned a B.S. from the State University of New York at Fredonia, and an M.A. and Ed.D from Columbia University's Teacher's College.
Mr. Postman's career was mostly dedicated to work as an educator. He spent 40 years as a professor at New York University, where he was the Paulette Goddard Chair of Media Ecology (a department he founded), and chair of the Department of Culture and Communication.
However, his most lasting legacy is his work as an author. Amusing Ourselves to Death is arguably his best-known work, though he wrote over twenty books on both media, education theory and linguistics, which include Conscientious Objections (1988), Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992), Teaching as a Subversive A On October 5, 2003, Neil Postman, one of America’s most insightful critics of modern media and technology, passed away at the age of 72. An NYU professor for over forty years, Postman was a prolific author and lecturer, and his twenty books and over two hundred essays and articles had a lasting resonance with contemporary life. Like so many of the best critics, Postman cannot easily be labeled “conservative” or “liberal.” Although he served for a time on the editorial board of the leftist magazine The Nation, he showed over his career a general ambivalence toward any particular political program. He will be remembered above all for pushing his readers to engage in a thoughtful recollection of the past in order to see the present, and the future, more clearly. Postman believed that by mistaking technological progress for human progress, we have lost the ability to direct our lives toward higher pursuits. In our age of technology and mass media, he argued, we indulge in the endless pursuit of appetite upon appetite, stunting individuals and stultifying society Born March 08, 1931 Died October 05, 2003 Genre Media, Culture Influences Russell Baker, Marshall McLuhan, Louis ForsdaleRussell Baker, Marshall McLuhan, Louis Forsdale...more edit data•
Neil Postman, RIP
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Neil Postman
Neil Postman, an important American educator, media theorist and cultural critic was probably best known for his popular 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. For more than four decades he was associated with New York University, where he created and led the Media Ecology program.
He is the author of more than thirty significant books on education, media criticism, and cultural change including Teaching as a Subversive Activity, The Disappearance of Childhood, Technopoly, and Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century.
Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), a historical narrative which warns of a decline in the ability of our mass communications media to share serious ideas. Since television images replace the written word, Postman argues that Neil Postman, an important American educator, media theorist and cultur
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