Audiobook4 hours
The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die
Written by Niall Ferguson
Narrated by Paul Slack
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Bestselling author and world-renowned historian Niall Ferguson has won widespread acclaim for thought-provoking works such as Civilization and High Financier. The Great Degeneration tackles nothing less than the decline of Western civilization. Ferguson posits that slowing growth, outrageous debt, and antisocial behavior are contributing to the erosion of the West's once rock-solid foundations. Ferguson excavates the causes and shows how heroic leadership and radical reform are needed to right the course.
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Reviews for The Great Degeneration
Rating: 4.202702702702703 out of 5 stars
4/5
74 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I started this book with great gusto. It felt good to be reading about the world, our politics and economies. But as I read on I started to have some concern about the author's tone. A few comments here and there started sounding very subjective, and then dismissive. And then when he started quoting Donald Rumsfeld as some sort of heroic genius, it was all over for me and for the content.The book itself tries to describe the rise and fall of economies in general, and how an economy (read: country) can become static. It makes a few interesting points, but the right wing rhetoric started to overtake the theme and when the theme itself was messy and loose to begin with, there was little room for greatness.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Disappointingly full of bold, unsupported statements and unsubstantiated, sweeping conclusions.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sharp, well observed and expressed, this book remains applicable even ten years later. Some of the predictions are now are current headlines. I highly recommend this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The book touches on three aspects of "degenration" of Western nations: civil society, the rule of law, economics. He will no doubt be accused of being right-wing, which for Ferguson appears unlikely. His points seem self-evident. The weight of regulation is pulling our various countries down - check. He doesn't argue against regulation, but its excesses. The weight of debt is an inter-generational trojan horse - check. I think it self-evident that we baby boomers are using our governments to indebt our countries to enjoy a lifestyle that we could not otherwise afford. The rule of law has become the rule of lawyers - check. One has only to read the news to see disconnects between reality and justice. No one important from any bank or investment firm after 2008 but we continually jail for petty crimes. Finally, the squeezing out of civil society by government - check. Where are the volunteers now?Not a happy book, but one worth reading.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I started this book with great gusto. It felt good to be reading about the world, our politics and economies. But as I read on I started to have some concern about the author's tone. A few comments here and there started sounding very subjective, and then dismissive. And then when he started quoting Donald Rumsfeld as some sort of heroic genius, it was all over for me and for the content.The book itself tries to describe the rise and fall of economies in general, and how an economy (read: country) can become static. It makes a few interesting points, but the right wing rhetoric started to overtake the theme and when the theme itself was messy and loose to begin with, there was little room for greatness.