The Transformational Decade - by Herbert I London (Paperback)

About the Book

"The Transformational Decade shows the transformation that took place in American life from the attack on the World Trade Center to the emergence of the Obama presidency. It is not a strict history, but rather snapshots of a decade that has fundamentally altered perceptions of the United States. In some respects, this book is modeled after Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday and Since Yesterday, acclaimed books that sought to capture the spirit of the 1920s and '30s. London sees the period from 2001 to 2008 as "post yesterday," a period that broke with the past, challenged the essence of the free market, and contested America's role on the world stage. In an effort to limn these snapshots from recent history, London has written several "decade" books: The Overheated Decade, The Counterfeit Decade, and The Decade of Denial. This book, The Transformational Decade, differs in that it represents a separation from the past. London illuminates a decade that he considers to be a new and more frightful period than any in recent American history."--Publisher's website.

Book Synopsis

The Transformational Decade shows the transformation that took place in American life from the attack on the World Trade Center to the emergence of the Obama presidency. It is not a strict history, but rather snapshots of a decade that has fundamentally altered perceptions of the United States.
In some respects, this book is modeled after Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday and Since Yesterday, acclaimed books that sought to capture the spirit of the 1920s and '30s. London sees the period from 2001 to 2008 as "post yesterday," a period that broke with the past, challenged the essence of the free market, and contested America's role on the world stage.

In an effort to limn these snapshots from recent history, London has written several "decade" books: The Overheated Decade, The Counterfeit Decade, and The Decade of Denial. This book, The Transformational Decade, differs in that it represents a separation from the past. London illuminates a decade that he considers to be a new and more frightful period than any in recent American history.

Review Quotes

"There is always this complication involved in reading an analysis of our current cultural rot as seen through the eyes of Herbert London: he is himself one of the most consoling contradictions of his own diagnosis." --Midge Decter

"Anyone who cares about the future of America will want to read Herb London's wise and clear-sighted reflections in The Transformational Decade. London not only provides an expert diagnosis of the forces challenging our freedom and prosperity, he also outlines a tonic series of responses that can help salvage our moral, economic, and political future. A must-read book by one of our most articulate cultural critics." --Roger Kimball, editor of The New Criterion

"London has taken his great breadth of learning and applied it lucidly to the problems and possibilities of one of the most perplexing periods that America has ever been presented with. At the end of this book you will have many of the answers necessary to face the years ahead, a scholarly gift from Professor London." --R. Emmett Tyrrell

About the Author

Herbert I. London is president emeritus of the Hudson Institute, a world-renowned think tank in Washington, D.C., and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is professor emeritus and former John M. Olin Professor of Humanities at New York University. London has written or edited twenty-five books, including Decade of Denial: A Snapshot of America in the 1990s and America's Secular Challenge.