Another book on the decline of american, and by extension western, society. What is different about Packer's approach is he does it through stories - not fiction, but the stories of real people's lives, gathered through hundreds of hours of interviewing. The book is organized by decades, with each chapter starting with a collection of what looks like newspaper extracts highlighting some of the decade's key events and stories. He tells the stories of some important figures like the founder of Walmart. Three key characters, humble everyday people, he follows through several of the decades and we see how their life develops and changes shape against the backdrop of a changing society.
To be honest, I didn't read the whole book, but not because it wasn't worth reading. I think it is a very humanized way to look at some of the current issues we face as societies, rather than seeing the issues as statistics and and argument of ideas. No, I didn't read the whole thing because I'm starting to feel like I've read enough about what is going on, what is happening, how things are falling apart. My interests are shifting to questions like what to do about it, where did it come from, what are the deep forces behind this, what can we learn to help us move on.
No comments:
Post a Comment