Book review: Critical thinking: Conceptual perspectives and practical guidelines

Abstract

In 1938, Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast of War of the Worlds supposedly sent millions of Americans panicking, thinking the United States were under attack by alien invaders. This story is widely known and generally accepted as fact. According to a story in Slate (Pooley & Socolow, 2013), however, the reported panic surrounding this iconic broadcast was an early example of ‘fake news’! In an attempt to discredit the new broadcast media, which was drawing advertising dollars away from print media, newspapers ran stories about widespread panic that did not actually happen. Yet here we are, nearly 80 years later, and most people believe the much more entertaining version of the story rather than the truthful one.