About this item

During the twentieth century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. The clock was turned back on a century of economic progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market all-powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy that served only its own interests, and leaving the huge majority of Americans with dwindling economic prospects and hope.



About the Author

Kurt Andersen

KURT ANDERSEN's latest books are Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-year History and, with Alec Baldwin, You Can't Spell America Without Me: The Really Tremendous Inside Story of My Fantastic First Year as President Donald J. Trump.His novels are True Believers, Heyday, winner of the Langum Prize for Historical Fiction and a New York Times bestseller, and the national bestseller Turn of the Century. He's also the author of Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and The Real Thing. In addition, he is host and co-creator of the Peabody Award-winning public radio program and podcast Studio 360. He also co-founded Spy magazine, among other startups, and served as editor-in-chief of New York. He has been a critic and cultural columnist for The New Yorker and Time. He has also created television shows and pilots, and written screenplays and stage plays. He currently contributes regularly to Vanity Fair, Time, and The New York Times.



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