The American Syndrome: Apocalypse, War and Our Call to Greatness

In this thought-provoking, big-idea book, BETSY HARTMANN sheds light on a pervasive but-until now-invisible theme shaping the American mindset- apocalyptic thinking, or the belief that the end of the world is nigh. Tracing our nation’s fixation with doomsday from the Puritans to the present, Hartmann makes a compelling case that apocalyptic fears are deeply intertwined with the American ethos, to our detriment. Hartmann shows how apocalyptic thinking has historically contributed to some of our nation’s biggest problems, such as inequality, permanent war, and the exploitation of natural resources. While it is tempting to view these problems as harbingers of the end times, this mindset constricts the collective imagination and precludes social change. The truth is that we have much more control over the future of our planet than we think, and our fatalism is much more dangerous than the apocalypse. In The America Syndrome, Hartmann seeks to reclaim human agency and, in so doing, revise the national narrative. By changing the way we think, we just might change the world.