The New Dark Ages

“In this worthy heir to Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Marriott makes an urgent and compelling case that the death of reading is accelerating, and the consequences might prove worse than we feared.”
—Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Work

“Anyone who wants to understand the world today needs urgently to read this book.”
—Naomi Alderman, New York Times bestselling author of The Power

“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.”
—Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read

“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.”
—Andrew Marr, author of The Real Elizabeth

“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.”
—Marina Hyde, columnist at The Guardian and co-host of The Rest Is Entertainment

“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.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“[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.”
—Shelf Awareness (starred review)