De Zengotita, Thomas

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De Zengotita, Thomas

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Columbia University, B.A., 1974, M.A., 1975, M.Phil., 1977, Ph.D., 1985.

ADDRESSES: Office—New York University, Draper Program, 14 University Pl., New York, NY 10003-6607.

CAREER: Writer, editor, and educator. New York University Draper Graduate Program, New York, NY, adjunct associate professor; Dalton School, instructor.

WRITINGS:

Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor of articles to magazines and journals, including Nation, Shout, and Cultural Anthropology. Contributor of fiction to Fiction and Logos. Harper's magazine, contributing editor.

SIDELIGHTS: A contributing editor to Harper's, writer Thomas de Zengotita often focuses on the media and its influences on culture and society. In his 2004 book Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It, de Zengotita takes the reader on a tour of how media—from television to the Internet—shapes people's reactions to events. According to the author, the media has permeated every corner of both the individual and collective consciousness. As a result, media influences not only how people choose a dish soap, but also shape their idea of what is real. Thus, performance and reality have become fused, in de Zengotita's opinion. Reading this book is, according to Judith Stone, writing in O, "like spending time with a wild, wired friend." A critic for Kirkus Reviews called Mediated a "mostly pessimistic, mostly ironic extended commentary about the contemporary American experience." Vanessa Bush, writing in Booklist, found the book an "amazing look" at the ways in which perceptions are shaped by mass media, and concluded that the work is "completely absorbing, amusing and insightful." In her review for Library Journal, Audrey Snowden referred to the book as "smart, provocative, and funny."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2005, Vanessa Bush, review of Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It, p. 921.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2005, review of Mediated, p. 30.

Library Journal, February 15, 2005, Audrey Snowden, review of Mediated, p. 141.

O, March, 2005, Judith Stone, "Losing Our Minds: A Provocative Look at the Way TV, Radio, E-Mail, and Ads Distort—and Replace—Reality," review of Mediated, p. 170.

Psychology Today, May-June, 2005, review of Mediated, p. 36.