When America Stopped Being Great
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
The presidency of Donald Trump is commonly seen as an historical accident. In When America Stopped Being Great, Nick Bryant argues that by 2016 it had become almost historically inescapable. In this highly personal account, drawing on decades of covering Washington for the BBC, Bryant shows how the billionaire capitalised on the mistakes of his five predecessors, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and how also he became a beneficiary of a broken politics, an iniquitous economy, an ailing media, a facile culture, disruptive new technology and the creation of a modern-day presidency that elevated showmanship over statesmanship. Not only are we starting to see the emergence of a post-American world, Bryant fears we are seeing the emergence of a post-American America.
The history of Trump's rise is also a history of America's fall - not only are we witnessing America's post-millennial decline, but also the country's disintegration.
Customer Reviews
A sobering stocktake of what went wrong with US
The greatest aspect of this book is Nick’s identification of the root cause of US decline: the polarisation of American society in all aspects, from polity, economy, to the very basic social fabrics. Now the blue and red Americans not only disagree on basic facts, they also disagree on who they are and what they are for.
I felt sad reading through the chapters, particularly about the reality that the politicians, business leaders and the rich-and powerful do not seem to think that they have a resonsibility to build this country anymore. They are here to take, as much as they can take; they are here to fight, as much as they can win; they are here to destroy, as much as they dislike. In all these chaotic decades, the White House has stopped being the centre of the nation’s leadership, but the greatest political prize to win, and win at any cost to anyone, ruthlessly, recklessly and mindlessly.
God help America!