On one side, he makes no attempt to disguise his contempt for what Republicans have become over the past few decades. Packer is extraordinarily fair-minded, more so than any analysis of our time that I've read. I can do it no justice in any summary I might write here. His desciption of these different Americas - all of which I found convincing - make up a large part of the book, but his project goes far beyond mere taxonomy. Packer explores in detail these narratives, showing where they overlap, where they diverge, what values motivate them, and what visions of America and patriotism and community shape them. I didn't find this to be the case rather, I found his analysis nuanced and useful. I suppose some might argue that creating categories like this is reductive and facile. In "Last Best Hope" Packer offers a kind of taxonomy of the conceptual nations that currently make up America, four narratives that have grown out of an array of cultural, historical, political, and economic currents: Free America, Smart America, Real America, and Just America. (Which of course recalled Yeats', "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity," as how could it not?) "Our thought leaders sound like carnival barkers, our citizenry seems to be suffering through early-state National Cognitive Decline." It won't be an easy fix, given the circumstances. Packer doesn't soften what obstacles must be overcome if we hope to save ourselves. In a passage that explains the book's title, he somberly writes, What do we see in the mirror now? An unstable country, political institutions that might not be perpetuated, a people divided into warring tribes and prone to violence - the kind of country we used to think we could save. We look for answers in private panaceas, fixed ideas, group identities, dreams of the future and the past, saviors of different types - everywhere but in ourselves." "Americans can no longer think and act as fellow citizens. We are two countries inhabiting different worlds. The "where we are" diagnosis Packer lays out here is bleak and familiar. In short, it's timely, earnest, impassioned and, yes, important. I found it an astute, honest, and fair description of where the United States is today in terms of culture and politics, how we got here, and what we need to do if we hope to bring the country together and make it governable. "Last Best Hope," though, impressed me entirely. I liked Packer's last book, "The Unwinding," well enough, but in the end I found it unsatisfying. I'm reluctant to accidentally misrepresent or trivialize any of the author's points. For another, I'm very reluctant to quote or say too much about a book that isn't out yet. For one thing, there's simply too much in the book - too much to think about, absorb, wrestle with - to cover in a review like this. In its strong voice and trenchant analysis, Last Best Hope is an essential contribution to the literature of national renewal. Today, we are challenged again to fight for equality and renew what Alexis de Tocqueville called “the art” of self-government. To point a more hopeful way forward, he looks for a common American identity and finds it in the passion for equality-the “hidden code”-that Americans of diverse persuasions have held for centuries. In lively and biting prose, Packer shows that none of these narratives can sustain a democracy. 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 Last Best Hope, George Packer traces the shocks back to their sources. With pitiless precision, the year exposed the nation’s underlying conditions-discredited elites, weakened institutions, blatant inequalities-and how difficult they are to remedy. 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. In the year 2020, Americans suffered one rude blow after another to their health, livelihoods, and collective self-esteem. Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state, and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and divides
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