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Historical Picture for the Modern Fourth of July?

Will internet search engines ever get better? They are supposed to be so good now, but I don't believe it. All they do is match keywords, buzzwords.  And then use your search as the input to an advertising algorithm. They don't respond to thoughts or ideas.

For instance, we are on the eve of  "our" most obscene national holiday. A more optimistic person would have merely said "most ludicrous and hypocritical" holiday. I have trained myself to tune it out, rather than dwell on it with sourness, and then lash out at what America has become.

But it would be better to find something more constructive. What if internet search engines were actually good, and I came to them with a thought instead of a keyword? What history books or novels could I read that would inform on the situation an American finds them-self in, today? 

Who else has experienced pride in their country when they were young, and then grew to despise their country? Was it only grouchy old men who did so, and if that were true, did that alone invalidate their opinions? How did they handle the transition from Pride to Disgust? Did they manage to put it to good use?

There are probably illustrations from societies that have experienced defeat.  Consider what the southern states went through, in light of the novel, "Gone with the Wind." Or consider what Germany went through in the 1920s.

But those are defeat-based pessimisms. In contrast, modern America has not been conquered by outsiders, militarily or otherwise. Perhaps the existence of nuclear weapons will ensure that it never will be conquered militarily. Instead, it has merely degenerated, voluntarily, to a travesty of what it once was. The most relevant society and historical epoch might be nominally-successful Rome, which degenerated into a militaristic empire by the time of Julius Caesar.

Comments

John V said…
You would probably like Anthony Everitt's book "The Rise of Rome".It covers the period from the origens of Rome to the end of the republic at the time of Caesar. There are incredible individual stories along the way. The parallels with the history of the U.S. are stunning. However, the empire didn't collapse until hundreds of years after the fall of the republic. From a duration standpoint, The Roman Empire was much more impressive than the U.S. Empire is ever likely to be. Maybe the U.S. can stumble along like a once proud but now dazed old animal before it also goes extinct. Then again, in today's world, events play out much faster than they did 2000 years ago.
John V said…
Almost forgot. Another good book covering thiese topics is "The Rise and Fall of Great Empires". It covers the more modern era of empires.
Ed said…
"What history books or novels could I read that would inform on the situation an American finds them self in, today?"

I don't think you are going to find it recorded in history. The United States of America is making that history as we live it. I don't think there has ever been an "indispensable nation", as President Obama claims, that has intentionally transformed itself out of existence.

Rome is held up as an example but it did not fall because it intentionally chose that path. The Russian Empire fell to the Soviet Empire, which also fell, but I don't think that either of those chose to fall. What you describe as "Modern America .. .has merely degenerated, voluntarily..." is what I am calling an intentional chosen path to give up an Empire.

This this new kind of fall, one that is based on a transformed culture. I don't know of any other historical cultural change that is like what is happening to the American Empire. Maybe that period of time moving into, and the out of, the Dark Ages? But, there was no "indispensable nation" then, so once again I can not think of any historical comparative. Alternative cultural fiction, as opposed to alternative historical fiction, may be the place to look for an answer?
I read the reviews on Amazon and am tempted to buy the Kindle version. But is the book too conventional to be worth buying? That is, is it qualitatively similar to an enlarged encyclopedia article? I read the author's resume: when it mentioned that he was an officer of the British Ministry of Culture (or some such atrocity) I became skeptical.
The French were the indispensable nation in the 1700s, and they transformed themselves, out of existence.

The Germans were the indispensable nation in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and look what happened to them.

The Turks from 1400 to 1918.

Spain in the 1500s.

I guess I don't see why the USA is so unique, other than it is the first Hegemon in the post-nuclear age.
Anonymous said…
Territorial expansionism, Social Darwinism, Manifest Destiny, Christian expansionism/exceptionalism have all been with us from Day One. Our powers-that-be embrace these doctrines shortly after arriving in Washington, abandoning all progressive campaign promises. Brainwashed, non-thinking, lemming-like citizens fall in line and eat it up because these positions are sold under the guise of national security. What can/should the freethinking segment of society do?

Chris
I don't think that freethinkers have such a bloodless dossier: the Jacobins of the French Revolution, Bolsheviks, Maoists, etc. Weren't they "freethinkers", if you are using the term in the sense of "atheist."
Anonymous said…
I'm using freethinker to mean those who form their own opinions regarding politics in particular but also "...a person who forms opinions on the basis of reason, independent of authority or tradition". Freethinking, of course, also applies to religion and not necessarily only to atheists.

Chris
sooperedd said…
Things are the way they are because we, collectively, want them that way. Right or wrong.
People get the Government they deserve.
Or, to quote Mencken (more or less): "Democracy is the theory that says the People know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
Allison said…
Have you tried google scholar? It frequently will find better results than vanilla google.
I've never heard of google scholar. Thanks.
Carl said…
Read "Sex Trouble" by Robert Stacy McCain. No military required.