by Slavoj Zizek
Those of you who don't mind reading online, I recommend Slavoj Zizek's "The Plague Of Fantasies" a fascinating study of the role fantasy plays in modern life. Through his trademark blend of Hegel, Marx, and Lacan, Zizek plots for us a course through the ways and reasons we shape fantasies and how fantasies shape us. I was searching for information on the book, when low and behold, I found the entire text, thanks to the good people at google reads.
Zizek is one of the very, very, very, few if only modern "philosophers" and cultural critics, who has a unique, insightful, and non-despairing view of the modern world. He also, thank the Gods, has a sense of humor, and the ability to transform the more abstract ramblings of 20th century giants like Lacan and translate them into practical, easily definable ideas through the common cultural ground we all share; pop culture. Using references to film, literature, and occasionally television, Zizek is able to make sense of the political, psychological, and philosophical spheres which determine our understanding of reality. 
Unswayed by calls, to "dismiss theory" and focus on cultural and political problems, Zizek invites us to instead put our thinking caps back on, as it is only through theory, reflection, and deep thought, that we can separate the real problems from the false ones, and gain a historical context to understand that "new" ideas, conditions, and beliefs are still capable of being made, even in our age of post-modern, post-political, post-racial, post-everything.Anyway I'll spare you the book report and let you take a look for yourself. Enjoy and don't say I never did nothing for you.
http://books.google.com/books?id=NM5PqgKd2dsC&dq=the+plague+of+fantasies&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=z4576lHlan&sig=x49kL3M8pfSpUSwzriP7B1aaGuw&hl=en&ei=Zdc3SrndEY2KsgOM6JH-Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#PPP1,M1
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