Why America Failed

August 22, 2011
In this provocative and passionate polemic, Berman (The Twilight of American Culture) explores America’s embrace of free market capitalism, which he says has been the dominant U.S. narrative since the country’s inception. Ever since the British touted the strategic advantages and lush bounty (timber, fish, furs) that England would gain by colonizing North America, an ever-expanding economy coupled with “endless technological innovation” has been our trademark, turning us into “a nation of hustlers” and marginalizing any alternative, such as Transcendentalism, the traditional Southern agrarian society, and the environmental movement of the 1970s. Berman takes to task the reign of Wall Street and the worship of technology, arguing that relentless consumerism has left us anxious, rudderless, and spiritually bereft. Although this is a lively and thought-provoking study of a complex topic, Berman sometimes presents a one-sided version of events—for instance, he links our high level of violent crime to selfish individualism, omitting evidence showing that crime rates have steadily declined in the past 15 years. Despite cherry-picking data, he presents his argument with verve and vivid examples.