Misinforming a Nation

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Willard Huntington Wright. Misinforming a Nation

Misinforming a Nation

Table of Contents

COLONIZING AMERICA

MISINFORMING A NATION

II. THE NOVEL

III. THE DRAMA

POETRY

V. BRITISH PAINTING

VI. NON-BRITISH PAINTING

MUSIC

SCIENCE

IX INVENTIONS, PHOTOGRAPHY, AESTHETICS

X. PHILOSOPHY

XI. RELIGION

XII TWO HUNDRED OMISSIONS

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Willard Huntington Wright

Published by Good Press, 2020

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Such matters might be within the range of forgiveness if the contents of the Britannica were what were claimed for them. But that which does concern me is the palpable discrepancies between the statements contained in the advertising, and the truth as revealed by a perusal of the articles and biographies contained in the work itself. The statements insisted that the Britannica was a supreme, unbiased, and international reference library—an impartial and objective review of the world; and it was on these statements, repeated constantly, that Americans bought the work. The truth is that the Encyclopædia Britannica, in its main departments of culture, is characterized by misstatements, inexcusable omissions, rabid and patriotic prejudices, personal animosities, blatant errors of fact, scholastic ignorance, gross neglect of non-British culture, an astounding egotism, and an undisguised contempt for American progress.

Rarely has this country witnessed such indefensible methods in advertising as those adopted by the Britannica's exploiters. The “copy” has fairly screamed with extravagant and fabulous exaggerations. The vocabulary of hyperbole has been practically exhausted in setting forth the dubious merits of this reference work. The ethics and decencies of ordinary honest commerce have been thrown to the wind. The statements made day after day were apparently concocted irrespective of any consideration save that of making a sale; for there is an abundance of evidence to show that the Encyclopædia was not what was claimed for it.

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