The State of the Nation : Government and the Quest for a Better Society

The author offers an assessment of how America has fared in five areas its citizens consider to be important: economic prosperity; quality of life; equality of opportunity; personal security; and societal values.

He shows that although Americans are better off today in most areas than they were in 1960, they have performed poorly compared with other leading industrial nations.

What has caused this relative decline, and what can be done about it?

It assesses the state of the nation through accumulated data and identifies the reasons for its current condition.