Magical Thinking and The Decline of America

About the Book

In Magical Thinking and the Decline of America, Richard L. Rapson, a leading cultural historian, engages in a unique dialogue. Twenty years ago he wrote American Yearnings: Love, Money, and Endless Possibility. This book looked at large issues of the day from a historical perspective: show business, warlike behavior, love of money, science and religion, marital and sexual behavior, foreign policy, and more. He found everywhere in American life an exaggerated optimism that often led to serious miscalculations, both in public policy and private lives. Now he re-engages that work to see how his original arguments have fared. Have the tumultuous last two decades re-enforced or weakened his analysis? Though this book is a conversation, 20 years apart, between the author and his earlier self, the reader will find it easy, stimulating, and provocative to join in.

About the Author

Richard L. Rapson is Professor of History at the University of Hawaii. He received his B.A. from Amherst College and his Ph.D from Columbia University. Previous to coming to Hawaii, he taught at Amherst, Stanford University, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has written a dozen books of history and has co-authored three works of multidisciplinary scholarship with his wife, Elaine Hatfield. He has also co-authored with her six novels and was co-psychotherapist from 1982 to 1997. The Danforth Foundation honored him as one of the nation’s best teachers.