{"product_id":"age-of-folly-isbn-9781784787110","title":"Age of Folly","description":"\u003cb\u003eAmerica’s leading essayist on the frantic retreat of democracy, in the fire and smoke of the war on terror\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn twenty-five years of imperial adventure, America has laid waste to its principles of democracy. The self-glorifying march of folly steps off at the end of the Cold War, in an era when delusions of omnipotence allowed the market to climb to virtual heights, while society was divided between the selfish and frightened rich and the increasingly debt-ridden and angry poor. The new millennium saw the democratic election of an American president nullified by the Supreme Court, and the pretender launching a wasteful, vainglorious and never-ending war on terror, doomed to end in defeat and the loss of America’s prestige abroad.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll this culminates in the sunset swamp of the 2016 election—a farce dominated by Donald Trump, a self-glorifying photo-op bursting star-spangled bombast in air. This spectacle would be familiar to Aristotle, whose portrayal of the “prosperous fool” describes a class of people who “consider themselves worthy to hold public office, for they already have the things that give them a claim to office.”“Without doubt our greatest satirist—elegant, honorable, learned and fair. I love reading him.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e —Kurt Vonnegut\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Lewis Lapham—born of Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken—is the most provocative and engaging essayist in the country.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e —George Plimpton\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “One of the last liberal thinkers, a man of elegant humor. Should he wander onto the premises of Fox TV, he’d surely be shot down like a dog.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e —Liz Smith\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Lapham’s indignation is ecumenical, his scorn spread as smoothly as butter from left to right and north to south across the face of contemporary America.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Lapham is a wonderful writer, a connoisseur of the perfect word.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eBusiness Week\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The combination of Lapham’s urbane prose and lethal wit … makes for delightful reading.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eForbes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “To read Lapham’s work, so erudite and conscientious, is to realize that saving our democracy will take bold-face truth-telling, bravery and a populace willing to change: An alchemical improbability. However, if you can read this book and not want to commit to the work necessary to save our democracy, you are already lost.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Although frequently dark, \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Folly\u003c\/i\u003e comes with much humor and elegant writing … Lapham’s sharp prose pricks the self-importance of the powerful, who too often parade with claim to omniscience and omnipotency … Highly recommended.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Illustrates] how and why our democracy has given way to a dysfunctional plutocracy of the super-rich, by the super-rich, and for the super-rich. Taken together, the book’s essays, published between 1990 and 2016 in \u003ci\u003eLapham’s Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHarper’s\u003c\/i\u003e, serve as a powerful and alarming American history … With \u003ci\u003eAge of Folly\u003c\/i\u003e, Lapham provides the historical context needed to understand our current political moment.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Adam Boretz, \u003ci\u003eThe Millions\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eLewis H. Lapham\u003c\/b\u003e is the founding Editor of \u003ci\u003eLapham’s Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e and the  Editor Emeritus of \u003ci\u003eHarper’s\u003c\/i\u003e. His columns received the National Magazine Award in 1995 for exhibiting “an exhilarating point of view in an age of conformity,” and, in 2002, the Thomas Paine Journalism Award. He was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame in 2007. His other books include \u003ci\u003eMoney and Class in America\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFortune’s Child\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eImperial Masquerade\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Wish for Kings\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHotel America\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWaiting for the Barbarians\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTheater of War\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Agony of Mammon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGag Rule\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003ePretensions to Empire\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Verso","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303336366309,"sku":"NP9781784787110","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781784787110.jpg?v=1767721137","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/age-of-folly-isbn-9781784787110","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}