Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon, Permanent Crisis: The Humanities in a Disenchanted Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021. Pp. 326. US$35.00 (cloth).

Abstract

researchers old enough to recall similar promises about other media technology just rolled their eyes” (p. 165). Finishing the book with a history of classroom computers allows the narrative to end very near the present, and the book was published recently enough that it could include a discussion about the relationship between screens, schools, and students during the COVID-19 pandemic. It gives the whole book more current relevance. Also, the idea that conservatives mobilized against each of the new screen technologies for fear that “new experiments in classroom screen media had intensified public schools’ efforts to erode family authority and traditional values” (p. 96) seems particularly relevant in the current historical moment, a time of reactionary movements promoting book banning (such as the removal of Art Spiegelman’s Maus by a Tennessee school board in January of 2022) and ongoing battles against critical race theory. We have a tendency to project our greatest hopes regarding education onto school screens. Generations of reformers have argued that each new iteration of “the screen,” whether it be Hollywood films, the television, or the personal computer, will democratize educational access and revolutionize the way our children learn. Looking at the history, though, is crucial, as Cain’s book clearly shows us that each new medium has struggled to keep itself from reinforcing (or even amplifying) existing inequalities, has justified its own necessity by downplaying the importance of effective teachers, has provided increased access of commercial interests into the public sphere, and often has failed to clearly envision its objectives.