The Age of Acquiescence

The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power

De: Steve Fraser

Narrado por: Pete Larkin

A groundbreaking investigation of how and why, from the 18th century to the present day, American resistance to our ruling elites has vanished.

From the American Revolution through the Civil Rights movement, Americans have long mobilized against political, social, and economic privilege. Hierarchies based on inheritance, wealth, and political preferment were treated as obnoxious and a threat to democracy. Mass movements envisioned a new world supplanting dog-eat-dog capitalism. But over the last half-century that political will and cultural imagination have vanished. Why?

The Age of Acquiescence seeks to solve that mystery. Steve Fraser's account of national transformation brilliantly examines the rise of American capitalism, the visionary attempts to protect the democratic commonwealth, and the great surrender to today's delusional fables of freedom and the politics of fear. Effervescent and razorsharp, The Age of Acquiescence is provocative and fascinating.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Provocative....A perceptive reading of the current zeitgeist."—Michael Kazin, Slate

"Fraser offers a sweeping, forcefully argued comparison between, on the one hand, the economy, ideology, and politics of the first Gilded Age and, on the other, the contemporary political scene."—Kim Phillips-Fein, Atlantic

"Sweeping and ambitious....Fraser weaves together a rich tapestry of history, statistics and barely suppressed outrage."—Maura Casey, Washington Post

"Fascinating....As Fraser forcefully shows, during the first Gilded Age American elites were threatened with more than embarrassing statistics."—Naomi Klein, New York Times Book Review

"Delivered with real verve....Like Marx in the Communist Manifesto and Thomas Piketty's Capital, butfrom an American perspective, Fraser writes majestically if not almost poetically about the making of capitalism."—Harvey J. Kaye, Daily Beast

"Fraser is particularly passionate and penetrating in his analysis of our present state of submission and surrender. His intention is not just to chronicle the change but to explain why it happened."—Jon Wiener, Los Angeles Times

"A sharp-edged, completely fascinating look at American history and the contemporary politics of the haves and have-nots."—Vanessa Bush, Booklist

"Fraser's work shines as an angry but cogent denouncement of America's growing wealth disparity. Highly recommended."— Library Journal

"An absorbing, vigorous account of class politics....an excellent, very readable recreation of an authentically American form of working-class militancy and its eclipse."—Publishers Weekly

"No one writing history today does it with the power, passion, insight, and rigor of Steve Fraser. In The Age of Acquiescence, Fraser reaches back a century to the first Gilded Age and then pushes forward into our own Gilded Age, providing his readers with a history that matters, that informs, and that, most critically, raises essential questions we should all be asking about wealth, power, and inequalities in America today."—David Nasaw, author of The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy

"Steve Fraser is that rare writer who combines a deep knowledge of history with a penetrating analysis of our current political and social condition. Here, in the lively prose that marks all his writing, he probes the similarities and differences between America's two gilded ages - the late nineteenth-century and today - offering provocative observations about why the first produced massive popular resistance and the second resigned acquiescence."—Eric Foner, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery

excellent and thoughtful book.

timely history and important discussion of work, workers from agrarian days, through industrialization and the still to be reckoned with damage of the current age.

Very good book

Narration was well done. The history provided by the author is excellent. He is decidedly slanted however makes up for it in his history lessons. Example: he has no problem talking about racism on the right but never brings up Strom Thurmond or Robert Byrd…funny how that didn’t make the book. Nor did Bernays but some advertiser of the 50’s did. So read it but be ready to critically think

Very informative book a must read

A highly informative book that really dissects modern American history in a way that compares the anti-capitalism of previous generations with our own generations “acquiescence” with in incredible precision. Well worth a read.

Very good: a little heavy on French adjectives

A very informative history and development of modern economics and the effects those developments had on human lives within American society. Very interesting.

Interesting history

This is a history book about how we came to accept inequality. The whole story, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, leading up to now. Very studied and interesting, and not a light read. Good narration, very steady. The middle class is doomed again!

Important socio-historical critique

Many bold assertions made in the book - footnotes might reveal the evidence for them.

Excellent

Excellent book drawing a clear line from America's past to the present age. Shows clearly how social forces and in particular the ascendance of neoliberalism' form of capitalism have changed us.

Stilted Verbiage Obfuscates Salient Leitmotif

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Seriously, the writing here made listening feel like punishment to absorb an otherwise interesting message -- much harder than need be. The author went well out of his way to avoid cardinal rules of good non-fiction writing, especially the one that says not to use complicated word strings where simpler wording will do. I do have the vocabulary to follow the author but, wow, not a pleasant experience. I also sensed a thread of Marxist thought in the authors logic. While I think Marx had some very valid points, it's hard for even liberals like me to cozy up.

What about Pete Larkin’s performance did you like?

Narrator did a fine job.

Could you see The Age of Acquiescence being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No. Not ever.

Good topic but poorly written

A worthwhile topic but overly inflated academic writing style is tough to endure. I would look for another book on this topic and pass on this one.