American Exceptionalism and Challenges to its Continuance

This book is about America, its rise to power and challenges that it faces. The book notes that from a relatively remote outpost of the world the U.S. has ascended to great heights demographically, economically, politically, militarily and culturally. At the same time various challenges confront the nation today. Historical openness to immigration has been replaced by xenophobia. Wage stagnation and loss of intergenerational mobility has threatened the American Dream of upward mobility. Political turmoil has led to a loss of faith in institutions and leaders. Military overreach has led to costly retreats from the world stage. Some see the Puritan culture of Massachusetts founders being replaced with a culture of materialism, radical individualism and hedonism. How the U.S. responds to contemporary challenges remains a matter of great interest and will largely determine whether the U.S. can continue to claim to be an exemplar for others throughout the world to emulate. This book is both retrospective in describing what led to America's rise and a prospective cautionary tale about the challenges that lay ahead.