Joe Klein's Unwinding

Joe Klein is an old reporter and opinion column writer, most recently for Time. He's a smart lefty who every now and then writes something worthwhile. His current column is one of those, a downbeat blend of a book review and an elegy.

He starts off with a plug for the book The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer. The book is described by Klein as "a nonfiction account of the past 40 years told through the lives of average and not-so-average Americans."

Klein's column is not upbeat; my favorite quote from it is this:

Over the past 40 years, as the U.S. has unwound from its former rigor, facade has overtaken content, speculation has overtaken ­development—and in my profession, slapdash opinion has deluged dogged reporting.

That sounds like the confession of a reporter who long ago turned opinion-writer.

The column also emphasizes an issue we've mentioned repeatedly on COTTonLINE, namely, what employment do we find for the former factory workers who make up a large share of our populace? How do we put them back to work at jobs by which they can support a family? Failing that, our society continues to unwind.