Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America's descent into a failed state, and envisions a path toward overcoming injustices, paralyses, and divides

How, in a few decades, did the United States transform from a broadly prosperous middle-class country, with relatively healthy institutions and competent leaders, to a nation defined by discredited elites, hollowed-out institutions, and blatant inequalities-feared and pitied by our friends, mocked and sabotaged by our adversaries, first in the world in Covid cases and deaths, and led in recent years by an incompetent authoritarian bigot? Last Best Hope is a bracing account of our current crisis and of how a new era of civic revitalization may bring it to an end.

Combining reportage with historical narrative, autobiography, and political analysis, Packer depicts and assesses the four inadequate narratives that dominate American public life: Libertarian America, which imagines a nation of individuals responsible for their own fate, and serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy; Cosmopolitan America, the ideology of Silicon Valley and the professional elite,which celebrates globalization and leaves many American communities behind; Diverse America, which defines citizens as members of large identity groups that have inflicted or suffered oppression; and White America, a shallow nationalism that fears the contamination of non-whites and treachery of coastal elites, and poses the greatest threat to democracy in our lifetime.

At a time when many fear that the American experiment in self-government may collapse, or, in Abraham Lincoln's words, "die by suicide", Packer shows that none of these narratives can sustain American democracy. To point a better way forward, he looks back at previous eras of crisis to discover the resources for invigorating self-government. Combining trenchant social analysis with a vibrant and stinging essayistic voice and a deep knowledge of America's past and present, Last Best Hope is an essential contribution to the literature of national self-examination the times demand.

George Packer

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