With his razor-sharp wit and erudite reasoning, veteran journalist Charles Pierce - revered for his brilliant Esquire essays - delivers a gut-wrenching, side-splitting lament about the glorification of ignorance in the US. He explores how a country founded on intellectual philosophy has deteriorated into a nation of simpletons more apt to vote for American Idol than for an American President. But Pierce's thunderous denunciation is also a secret call to action, as he hopes that somehow, being intelligent will one day stop being a stigma.