The future as history; the historic currents of our time and the direction in which they are taking America

The author takes a great many pages to repeat what editorialists are writing in newspapers and magazines today. Yes, the world is ready to take on the US, our star may soon be eclisped, and the two centuries of optimism and progressivism fueled in part by the industrial revolution mamay be over. War and was expenditures were preying on the mind of this author in 1960 even before we headed into Vietnam.

He does provide one interesting bit of information, a comparative scale for Americans in 1929 and 1958, suggesting that we are much better off.

Why keep this book ? Perhaps it is not worth it.

Robert Heilbroner's examination of the great historical forces — technology, capitalism, and social change — shaping American civilization and constraining its future. Originally published 1960; Anchor Touchstone edition.