LEADER 01706pam 2200181 a 4500
001 891284
005 20181210092822.0
008 181225s2017 enk g 001 0 eng d
020 $a9781786630445 (pbk.) :$cNT$523
040 $aTWTNM$beng$dTWTNM
050 4$aE893$b.L36 2017
082 04$a320.473$222
100 1 $aLapham, Lewis H.,$eauthor.
245 10$aAge of folly :$bAmerica abandons its democracy /$cLewis H. Lapham.
250 $aPaperback edition.
260 $aLondon ;$aBrooklyn, NY :$bVerso,$c2017.
300 $axx, 384 p. ;$c20 cm.
500 $aOriginally published in hardcover: 2016.
500 $aIncludes index.
520 8 $aAmerica's leading essayist on the frantic retreat of democracy, in the fire and smoke of the war on terror In office as President of the United States, Donald J. Trump is undoubtedly a menace, but he isn't a surprise. He embodies the spirit of an age of folly abandoned to conspicuous consumption of vanity and greed. A self- glorifying photo-op, Trump is made to the measure of an infotainment media in which presidential candidates are game show contestants brought to judgment on election day before the throne of cameras by whom and for whom they are produced. To regard Trump as an amazement beyond belief is to give him credit where none is due, to mistake a symptom for the cause. Trump's presence in theWhite House follows from an American regime change over the last twenty-five years during which a weakened but still operational democracy gave way to a stupefied and dysfunctional plutocracy. The history of that change is a hedge against the despair of the present, making possible the revolt against what G. K. Chesterton called the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about--$cProvided by publisher.
650 0$aDemocracy$zUnited States.
650 0$aPolitical culture$zUnited States.
651 0$aUnited States$xPolitics and government$y1989-.