Fewer than half of American adults read a novel, short story, play or poem in a year’s time. That amazing, dismal confession has stayed with me for months, since the summer report of "Reading at Risk."
The report by the National Endowment for the Arts compares 2002 to 1992 and 1982, using data from Census Bureau surveys. The comparison reveals that fewer Americans than ever before read literature — or read at all. It also reveals the rate of decline is accelerating.
