In his detailed analysis of complex societal woes the nation has faced in recent years—and which continue to this day—Emery examines a slew of current events which have changed both America and the world on a grand scale in a relatively short amount of time. “In recent years, we’ve endured adversities ad nauseam,” he writes. His work covers extreme political polarization, rising inflation, the multi-year global COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s unprovoked military assault against Ukraine, and more. Additional avenues include dictators on the world stage, domestic and international terrorism, and the rapidly changing U.S. demographics. Racism, anger, the “loss of civility,” social media, the horror of mass shootings, global climate change, and conspiracies surrounding the 2020 presidential election and resulting violence in the nation’s capital are surveyed. Emery further includes a range of ideas or “calls to action” which might, in a best-case scenario, address such societal ills in a healthy, restorative manner.

Such concerns are not simply reported in this book as if one were reading the news. As Americans have lived and continue to live through these unprecedented large-scale challenges, Emery respects the readers’ intelligence with an approach absent of pretense. Facts are clearly presented, and ideas for solutions are entertained. The author's hefty work includes an impressive abundance of thoughts from individuals across the political and historical spectrum. Pertinent quotations abound from such diverse figures as Gandhi, Will Rogers, Carl Sagan, Thomas Jefferson, Steve Jobs, and even everyday people posting online. The fashion in which Emery records for posterity this moment in time in America and abroad is possibly the book’s greatest strength. The author expertly zooms out the lens to capture a wide-angled snapshot of where we have been, where we presently are, and possibilities for the future.

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