Nick Bryant discusses how America went from having a solid democracy with cross-party collaboration to a dysfunctional nation ruled with the mindset of tribal adolescents. He follows American politics of the past 50 years, praising and admonishing each President on their actions and how they affected the trajectory of American politics. Many of the problems discussed also relate to other nations and aren’t specific to America, such as the consolidation of businesses and how that effects communities, especially in the media world, and how the dumbing down of society causes a rejection of science and reasoned debate.
This book focuses on the political decline, but I found it reads well with Kurt Andersen’s “Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire”, which tackles society and religion with equal quality of research
This is very well written – incredible writing with phenomenal research, though the first few sections were often too dense with facts, and not enough commentary, making it feel like reading an encyclopedia entry rather than an analysis. Likewise in the first few chapters, the flowery language often distracted from the message – phrases such as ‘the president triangulating with Pythagorean glee’, while nice takes you away from the prose.
An excellent book, and should be read by anyone with an interest in politics.