View source for The Death of Expertise

{{Short description|2017 nonfiction book by Tom Nichols}}
{{Infobox book
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| name           = The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters
| image          = The Death of Expertise.jpg
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| author         = [[Tom Nichols (academic)|Tom Nichols]]
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| country        = [[United States]]
| language       = English
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| genre          = [[Non-fiction]]
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| publisher      = [[Oxford University Press]]
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| published      = April 1, 2017
| media_type     = Print, [[e-book]]
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| isbn           = 978-0-19-046941-2
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'''''The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters''''' is a 2017 nonfiction book by [[Tom Nichols (academic)|Tom Nichols]]. It is an expansion of a 2014 article published in ''[[The Federalist (website)|The Federalist]]''.<ref name=PublishersWeekly/><ref name=FederalistArticle/>
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== Summary ==
In ''The Death of Expertise'', Nichols condemns what he describes as the many forces trying to undermine the authority of [[expert]]s in the United States. He blames trends in higher education (such as focus on [[self-esteem]] and tolerance of [[narcissism]] leading to [[grade inflation]] and over-confidence in one's own abilities), the Internet, and the explosion of media options for the anti-expertise and anti-intellectual sentiment which he sees as being on the rise. While conceding that experts do sometimes fail, he says the best answer to this is the self-correcting presence of other experts to recognize and rectify systemic failures.<ref name=Oxford/>
{{Quote|text="These are dangerous times. Never have so many people had access to so much knowledge, and yet been so resistant to learning anything." |author=Tom Nichols |source=''The Death of Expertise''<ref name=Kirkus/>}}

== Reviews ==

''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' said that "The crux of the book's argument is that... the American public have grown increasingly hostile to expertise" and described ''The Death of Expertise'' as a "highly researched and impassioned book that's well timed", further noting that "Generally, Nichols displays strong reasoning, but at times he goes off the rails. It takes some time [in some sections] for him to make his point".<ref name=PublishersWeekly/>

''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' described ''The Death of Expertise'' as "A sharp analysis of an increasingly pressing problem", although Nichols (who "sounds less like an alarmist than like a genial guide through the wilderness of ignorance") fails to propose a satisfying solution.<ref name=Kirkus/> Andrew Joseph Pegoda disagreed on the last point, writing that ''The Death of Expertise'' "does what good books do... and provides some possible solutions". Pegoda also described ''The Death of Expertise'' as "extremely interesting, important, and timely" and said that "Nichols, in short, provides a brief History, informed by psychology and political science, of what he argues is a new phenomenon whereby people in the United States are not just regularly wrong or ignorant but 'proud of not knowing things'". Pegoda praised Nichols for not conflating expertise with credentials, and, while avowing that the book has some shortcomings, it has the "potential to start more important conversations".<ref name=Pegoda/>

[[Michiko Kakutani]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that  “The Death of Expertise” "turns out to be an unexceptional book about an important subject.<ref name=Kakutan/> The volume is useful in its way, providing an overview of just how we arrived at this distressing state of affairs." The review goes on to cite Nichols' author notes as one of the highlights of the volume as it points the reader to "more illuminating books and articles."<ref name=Kakutan/>

Joshua Huminski of the ''Diplomatic Courier'' described the book as "timely", citing [[Donald Trump]]'s statements on climate change and Pew Research surveys regarding genetically modified organisms. He found Nichols' explanations of the reasons for the current situation as "successful on some accounts and less so on others", but his review was generally positive ("Nichols clearly identifies multiple sources of the erosion of the belief in experts and their prominence in today's society").<ref name=Huminski/>

[[Stuart Vyse]] in ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' "strongly recommends" the book and says that "[o]ne of the best things about the book is its apolitical stance" and finds "very little to quibble with" despite having different political leanings than the author.<ref name=Vyse/>

==See also==
<!-- Please keep entries in alphabetical order & add a short description [[WP:SEEALSO]] -->
* {{annotated link|Anti-intellectualism}}
* {{annotated link|Trust Us, We're Experts|''Trust Us, We're Experts''}}
<!-- please keep entries in alphabetical order -->

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=Oxford>{{cite book |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-death-of-expertise-9780190469412 |title=The Death of Expertise (product description) |publisher=Oxford University Press |accessdate=February 15, 2017|isbn=9780190469412 |year=2017 }}</ref>

<ref name=FederalistArticle>{{cite journal |url=http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/the-death-of-expertise/ |title=The Death of Expertise |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=645–649 |journal=[[The Federalist (website)|The Federalist]] |accessdate=March 25, 2017|date=2014-01-17 |bibcode=2014JSTEd..25..645L |last1=Lederman |first1=Norman G. |last2=Lederman |first2=Judith S. |doi=10.1007/s10972-014-9398-8 |s2cid=146447547 }}</ref>


<ref name=Huminski>{{cite web |url=http://www.diplomaticourier.com/book-review-death-expertise-tom-nichols/ |title=Book Review: The Death of Expertise, by Tom Nichols |author=Joshua Huminski |date=February 1, 2017 |work=Diplomatic Courier |accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=PublishersWeekly>{{cite web |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-19-046941-2 |title=The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matter (review) |work=[[Publishers Weekly]] |accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=Pegoda>{{cite web |url=https://andrewpegoda.com/2017/02/10/ajps-take-on-tom-nicholss-the-death-of-expertise-the-campaign-against-established-knowledge-and-why-it-matters/ |title=AJP's take on Tom Nichols's "The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters" |author=Andrew Joseph Pegoda |date=February 10, 2017 |work=Without Ritual, Autonomous Negotiations  |accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=Kirkus>{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tom-nichols/the-death-of-expertise/ |title=The Death of Expertise (review) |work=Kirkus |accessdate=February 15, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=Kakutan>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/books/the-death-of-expertise-explores-how-ignorance-became-a-virtue.html |title='The Death of Expertise' Explores How Ignorance Became a Virtue |author=Michiko Kakutani |date=March 21, 2017 |work=The New York Times  |accessdate=February 5, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name=Vyse>{{cite journal |last1=Vyse |first1=Stuart|authorlink=Stuart Vyse |title=Yes, We Do Need Experts |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=2018 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=20–22 |url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/yes_we_do_need_experts |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621000338/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/yes_we_do_need_experts |archivedate=2018-06-21 |accessdate=21 June 2018}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?426290-1/tom-nichols-discusses-the-death-expertise Presentation by Nichols on ''The Death of Expertise'', March 31, 2017], [[C-SPAN]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Death of Expertise, The}}
[[Category:2017 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:American non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Anti-intellectualism]]
[[Category:Oxford University Press books]]