Turning Back the Clock

Turning Back the Clock. The time: 2000 to 2005, the years of neoconservatism, terrorism, the twenty-four-hour news cycle, the ascension of Bush, Blair, and Berlusconi, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In this series of provocative, passionate, and witty essays, Umberto Eco examines a wide range of phenomena, from Harry Potter, the Tower of Babel, talk shows, and the Enlightenment to The Da Vinci Code. What led us, he asks, into this age of hot wars and media populism, and how was it sold to us as progress? (Publisher)

Turning Back the Clock is one of several essay collections by Eco. How to Travel with a Salmon and Travels in Hyperreality are two other notable collections, with the former still widely available.