"Provocative...stimulating and insightful."—Publishers Weekly
In Dark Ages America, the pundit Morris Berman argues that the nation has entered a dangerous phase in its historical development from which there is no return. As the corporate-consumerist juggernaut that now defines the nation rolls on, the very factors that once propelled America to greatness—extreme individualism, territorial and economic expansion, and the pursuit of material wealth—are, paradoxically, the nails in our collective coffin. Within a few decades, Berman argues, the United States will be marginalized on the world stage, its hegemony replaced by China or the European Union. With the United States just one terrorist attack away from a police state, Berman's book is a controversial and illuminating look at our current society and its ills.
Morris Berman is a cultural historian and the author of The Twilight of American Culture. He has held a number of university appointments, most recently as Visiting Professor of Sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Liquid Modernity 13 Economy, Technology 49 The Home and the World 81 Pax Americana 113 Axis of Resentment: Iran, Iraq, and Israel 159 The Meaning of 9/11 201 The Roads Not Taken 235 The State of the Union 281 Empire Falls 301 Notes 331 Index 373