As Americans struggle to make sense of a series of uncomfortable economic changes and disturbing political developments, a worrying picture emerges: of ineffective politicians, frequent scandals, racial backsliding, polarized and irresponsible new media, populists spouting quack economics remedies, growing suspicion of elites and experts, frightening outbreaks of violence, major job losses, high-profile terrorist attacks, anti-immigrant agitation, declining social mobility, giant corporations dominating the economy, rising inequality and the appearance of a new class of super-powered billionaires in finance and technology-heavy industries.
2019? No, this is a description of American life in the 35 years after the Civil War. The years between the assassination of President Lincoln, in 1856 and that of President McKinley in 1901. "The Big Shift," Foreign Affairs, May/June 2019.
