Slouching Towards Utopia

An Economic History of the Twentieth Century

De: J. Bradford DeLong

Narrado por: Allan Aquino

From one of the world's leading economists, a sweeping new history of the twentieth century—a century that left us vastly richer, yet still profoundly dissatisfied.

Before 1870, most people lived in dire poverty, the benefits of the slow crawl of invention continually offset by a growing population. Then came a great shift: invention sprinted forward, doubling our technological capabilities each generation, and creatively destroying the economy again and again.

Slouching Towards Utopia tells the story of the major economic and technological shifts of the 20th century in a bold and ambitious, grand narrative. In vivid and compelling detail, DeLong charts the unprecedented explosion of material wealth after 1870 which transformed living standards around the world, freeing humanity from centuries of poverty, but paradoxically has left us now with unprecedented inequality, global warming and widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo.

How did the long twentieth century fail to deliver the utopia our ancestors believed would be the inevitable result of such material wellbeing?

How did humanity end up less on a march to progress than a slouch in the right direction?

And what can we learn from the past in pursuit of a better world?

©2022 Brad DeLong (P)2022 Hachette Audio

Home of the brave

Beware if you’re not from the USA there are parts of this book that drop to the floor with a loud, dud, clang.

The bald statement of debatable issues as indisputable facts in that odd “stuff americans say” way is a bit off putting at times.

But it is a good work and I recommend it so long as you are ready for some odd “really?”moments in an otherwise balanced and interesting narrative.