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The Future of Decline: Anglo-American Culture at Its Limits
As the US becomes a second-place nation, can it shed the superpower nostalgia that still haunts the UK?
The debate over the US's fading hegemony has raged and sputtered for 50 years, glutting the market with prophecies about American decline. Media experts ask how fast we will fall and how much we will lose, but generally ignore the fundamental What does decline mean? What is the significance, in experiential and everyday terms, in feelings and fantasies, of living in a country past its prime?
Drawing on the example of post-WWII Britain and looking ahead at 2020s America, Jed Esty suggests that becoming a second-place nation is neither disastrous, as alarmists claim, nor avoidable, as optimists insist. Contemporary declinism often masks white nostalgia and perpetuates a conservative longing for Cold War certainty. But the narcissistic lure of "lost greatness" appeals across the political spectrum. As Esty argues, it resonates so widely in mainstream media because Americans have lost access to a language of national purpose beyond global supremacy. It is time to shelve the shopworn fables of endless US dominance, to face the multipolar world of the future, and to tell new American stories. The Future of Decline is a guide to finding them.
The debate over the US's fading hegemony has raged and sputtered for 50 years, glutting the market with prophecies about American decline. Media experts ask how fast we will fall and how much we will lose, but generally ignore the fundamental What does decline mean? What is the significance, in experiential and everyday terms, in feelings and fantasies, of living in a country past its prime?
Drawing on the example of post-WWII Britain and looking ahead at 2020s America, Jed Esty suggests that becoming a second-place nation is neither disastrous, as alarmists claim, nor avoidable, as optimists insist. Contemporary declinism often masks white nostalgia and perpetuates a conservative longing for Cold War certainty. But the narcissistic lure of "lost greatness" appeals across the political spectrum. As Esty argues, it resonates so widely in mainstream media because Americans have lost access to a language of national purpose beyond global supremacy. It is time to shelve the shopworn fables of endless US dominance, to face the multipolar world of the future, and to tell new American stories. The Future of Decline is a guide to finding them.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
146 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 31, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 12, 2026
All the stars for Esty—one of the most talented thinkers and writers I’ve ever met, and I mourn every day I’m not in his classroom. In reality 1/2 star off for structure which I struggled with. Anyone who is thinking at all about playing a role in the future of the humanities should read this book.
July 10, 2024
This is my book of the year. It is a book of power, challenge and argument.
Esty investigates "superpower nostalgia." Deploying the history and trajectory of the British empire, Esty asks about how the United States with 'manage' decline.
Negotiating "the age of limits" requires a post-nationalist way of thinking. The surprising and powerful component of this book emerges at the end, exploring the role of the university through this decline.
He states, "The current dispensation of universities underfunds what declining America needs most: basic research and development, sustained knowledge of cultures and languages outside America / English, and a deep, critical understanding of American and global history."
Brilliant. The discussion of a nation's meaning through decline remains the focus of this century. This book is an outstanding guide.
Esty investigates "superpower nostalgia." Deploying the history and trajectory of the British empire, Esty asks about how the United States with 'manage' decline.
Negotiating "the age of limits" requires a post-nationalist way of thinking. The surprising and powerful component of this book emerges at the end, exploring the role of the university through this decline.
He states, "The current dispensation of universities underfunds what declining America needs most: basic research and development, sustained knowledge of cultures and languages outside America / English, and a deep, critical understanding of American and global history."
Brilliant. The discussion of a nation's meaning through decline remains the focus of this century. This book is an outstanding guide.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews