Book review: The Secret Knowledge by David Mamet

The twenty-first book I read in 2015 is The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture by David Mamet.  I remember the uproar which occasioned his "switching sides" in the culture wars when the book was published in 2011 but had never read it.

Mamet, true to his metier, writes like the Ecclesiast.  In fairness, I must point out that, contrary to his dire predictions, the government bailout of General Motors did not lead to the nationalization of the auto industry, as he direly predicts, unless I've missed the memo.

He points out cogently, however, that the same public voices which are scandalized by the salary of the CEO or businessman have no objection to the multimillion-dollar paydays of athletes, actors, lawyers, lobbyists, or university presidents.

On a less political note, I find his statement on  writerly research and verisimilitude pleasing:

"Writers are asked, 'How could you know so much about [fill in the profession]?' The answer, if the writing satisfies, is that one makes it up.  And the job, my job, as a dramatist, was not to write accurately, but to write persuasively. If and when I do my job well, subsequent cowboys, as it were, will talk like me."