The Twilight of the American Republic

George M. Marsden's The Twilight of the American Enlightenment: The 1950s and the Crisis of Liberal Belief (2014) is worth your time, and you should check it out. After finishing it yesterday, I have some thoughts to share with you regarding the oft-repeated phrases of late "trust the experts" and "follow the science." These sentiments didn't come from nowhere, or arrive on our cultural scene without context or precedent with the rise of COVID. No, they've been a long time coming, and we're just reaping now the seeds of thought and sentiment which were planted decades ago. The past is prologue, and we do well to understand our current condition as Americans in light of what Marsden lays out here.