Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal [Paperback]

One ofThe New York Times's 100 notable books of 2021

[George Packer's] account of Americas decline into destructive tribalism is always illuminating and often dazzling. William Galston,The Washington Post

Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses Americas descent into a failed state, and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides

In the year 2020, Americans suffered one rude blow after another to their health, livelihoods, and collective self-esteem. A ruthless pandemic, an inept and malign government response, polarizing protests, and an election marred by conspiracy theories left many citizens in despair about their country and its democratic experiment. With pitiless precision, the year exposed the nations underlying conditionsdiscredited elites, weakened institutions, blatant inequalitiesand how difficult they are to remedy.

InLast Best Hope, George Packer traces the shocks back to their sources. He explores the four narratives that now dominate American life: Free America, which imagines a nation of separate individuals and serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy; Smart America, the world view of Silicon Valley and the professional elite; Real America, the white Christian nationalism of the heartland; and Just America, which sees citizens as members of identity groups that inflict or suffer oppression.

In lively and biting prose, Packer shows that none of these narratives can sustain a democracy. To point a more hopeful way forward, he looks for a common American identity and finds it in the passion for equalitythe hidden codethat Americans of diverse persuasions have held for centuries. Today, we are challenged again to fight for equality and renew what Alexis de Tocqueville called the art of self-government. In its strong voice and trenchant analysis,Last Best Hopeis an essential contributilһ