The time: 2000 to 2005, the years of neoconservatism, terrorism, the twenty-four-hour news cycle, the ascension of Bush, Blair, and Berlusconi, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In this series of provocative, passionate, and wittyessays, Umberto Eco examines a wide range of phenomena, from Harry Potter, the Tower of Babel, talk shows, and the Enlightenment to "The Da Vinci Code/" What led us, he asks, into this age of hot wars and media populism, and how was it sold to us as progress?In "Turning Back the Clock, " the bestselling author and respected scholar turns his famous intellect toward events both local and global to look at where our troubled world is headed."