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The decadent society : America before and after the pandemic

Douthat, Ross Gregory, 1979-2020
Books
"The era of the coronavirus has tested America, and our leaders and institutions have conspicuously failed. That failure shouldn't be surprising: Beneath social-media frenzy and reality-television politics, our era's deep truths are elite incompetence, cultural exhaustion, and the flight from reality into fantasy. Casting a cold eye on these trends, The Decadent Society explains what happens when a powerful society ceases advancing-how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemate, and demographic decline creates a unique civilizational crisis. Ranging from the futility of our ideological debates to the repetitions of our pop culture, from the decline of sex and childbearing to the escapism of drug use, Ross Douthat argues that our age is defined by disappointment-by the feeling that all the frontiers are closed, that the paths forward lead only to the grave. Correcting both optimism and despair, Douthat provides an enlightening explanation of how we got here, how long our frustrations might last, and how, in renaissance or catastrophe, our decadence might ultimately end."--Back cover.
Edition:
First Avid Reader Press trade paperback edition.
Imprint:
New York : Avid Reader Press, [2021]©2020
Collation:
viii, 262 pages ; 22 cm.
Notes:
"'The Decadent Society' was previously published with the subtitle, 'How we became the victims of our own success'" --Title page verso.
ISBN:
9781476785257 (pbk)9781476785257
Dewey class:
909.83
Language:
English
BRN:
449854
LocationCollectionCall numberStatus/Desc
Brighton LibraryAdult Non Fiction - History909.83 DOUAvailable
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