[Note: Last week I began this essay by undermining Steve Wasserman’s assertion that there was a “golden age” of middlebrow intellectualism based on the great books idea. This week I argue against his characterization of the recent past and present state of American intellectual life. – TL] —————————————————————- III. The So-Called “New Anti-Intellectualism” Wasserman asserts that a “new anti-intellectualism” has arisen since around 2000. In what fashion? For starters, he despairs that the old means of intellectual dissemination have been decimated: “Today, America’s traditional organs of popular criticism—newspapers, magazines, journals of opinion—have been all but overwhelmed by the digital onslaught: Read more