Craig's Reviews > The Glass Teat: Essays of Opinion on the Subject of Television

The Glass Teat (and the companion volume, inevitably titled The Other Glass Teat) are collections of columns that Ellison wrote for "underground" publications from the late 1960's into the early 1970's. Ostensibly "essays of opinion on the subject of television" as the subtitle puts it, Ellison examined American morals and values and provides a unique history of one of the most traumatic and influential decades of change in history. He also showed us how we could do better, how we could be better, and how we could help make a better world. His message seems to me to be even more important now than it was then; the technology has changed but attitudes still hold true, the politicians are just as self-serving, the religious leaders are just as corrupt, we're bombarded by banal wastes of time endlessly, and on and on. Many of the television shows and films he reviews are long forgotten, but the meaning of his message is still clear. The television screen has been replaced by the smart phone, but that just makes it worse. You know, the names have changed but the song remains the same. His writing is impassioned, at times frenzied, but what it may lack in polish doesn't impact the clarity. These two volumes are my favorite works of non-fiction.