Description

What happened to America? Is there still hope?

We have arrived at a critical moment in American history. The United States is divided, its democracy is shaken. But all is not lost.

The remarkable fruit of two decades of research, Last Best Hope is a riveting, urgent, clear-sighted analysis of how America got here, and how it can move forward. It presents a hopeful vision for a radical reform of American life – one that enables meaningful change, via policy, legislation, executive action, civic activism, scholarship and the media. Drawing on the best of American history – what once made it great – without being trapped in the past, Last Best Hope dares America to step into a new and better era.

The thrilling new work from one of America’s most incisive thinkers, Last Best Hope is a modern classic of political and societal commentary.

‘One of the most talented non-fiction writers in the US.’ FINANCIAL TIMES *BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2019*

‘Arguably the most renowned American journalist of his generation.’ LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS

Publisher Review

In the great tradition of Richard Hofstadter, but with a reporter's eye, George Packer has given us a thoughtful and ultimately hopeful book about crisis and opportunity. -- Jon Meacham, author of His Truth Is Marching On and The Soul of America George Packer has written a small but big book. The end of the pandemic should be pure joy, but the fact that a public health crisis deepened our divisions has weighed down our hearts. Is there anything that could glue us together as one people? Packer answers yes. And the case he makes in doing so provides the vaccine I have most wanted - hope. -- Atul Gawande, surgeon and author of Being Mortal and The Checklist Manifesto In Last Best Hope, George Packer retells the story of 2020, offering an original account of the fracturing of [America's] mind and suggesting how we might restore unity. Ranging from Tocqueville to Trump, this extended essay will provoke you to think harder about America's past as well as America's future. -- Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy and Gulag In the summer of 2020, America seemed to divide into two different nations. Anyone who observed the crack-up will cherish this flinty analysis, which offers new insights into how Americans from Frances Perkins to Bayard Rustin to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol have understood and defined freedom. The result is a clear-eyed explanation of how a progressive nation can be a unified one. -- John H. McWhorter, professor of linguistics at Columbia University, contributing editor at The Atlantic, and host of Slate's Lexicon Valley