From the Revolution through the Civil Rights Movement, Americans mobilized against political, social, and economic privilege. But over the last half-century that political will has vanished. In , Steve Fraser explains why. His account of national transformation brilliantly examines the rise of American capitalism, the visionary attempts to protect the democratic commonwealth, and the great surrender to todays delusional fables of freedom and the politics of fear. Effervescent and razorsharp, is indispensable for understanding why we no longer fight for a more just society, and how we can revive the great American tradition of resistance in our own time.