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Ours was the shining future : the story of the American dream / David Leonhardt.

by Leonhardt, David, 1973- author.

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New York : Random House, [2023]

American Dream.

United States -- Economic conditions -- 20th century.

United States -- Economic conditions -- 21st century.

United States -- Social conditions -- 20th century.

United States -- Social conditions -- 21st century.

9780812993202 (hardcover) :

0812993209 (hardcover) :

xxxiv, 492 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Introduction -- Part one: The rise. A union town -- Trustees of the common welfare -- Sacrifice for the long term -- Enforcing racial democracy -- Part two: The fall. The young intelligentsia -- The problem of crime -- A new way of looking at the world -- Clear the track for business -- This little village called America -- Whence shall come our experts? -- Conclusion.

"Two decades into the twenty-first century, the stagnation of living standards has become the defining trend of American life. Life expectancy has declined, economic inequality has soared, and, after some progress, the Black-white wage gap is once again as large as it was in the 1950s. How did this happen in the world's most powerful country? And what happened to the "American dream"--the promise of a happier, healthier, more prosperous future--which was once such an inextricable part of our national identity? Drawing on decades of writing about the economy for The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Leonhardt examines the past century of American history, from the Great Depression to today's Great Stagnation, in search of an answer. To make sense of the rise and subsequent fall of the American dream, Leonhardt tells the story of the modern American economy as an ongoing battle between two competing forms of capitalism: one that envisions prosperity for most, and one that serves the individual and favors the wealthy. In vivid prose, Ours Was the Shining Future traces how democratic capitalism flourished to make the American dream possible, until the latter decades of the twentieth century when, bit by bit, the dream was corrupted to serve only the privileged few"-- Provided by publisher.

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