Conversations with Tyler

Ross Douthat on Decadence and Dynamism

For Ross Douthat, decadence isn’t necessarily a moral judgement, but a technical label for a state that societies tend to enter—and one that is perhaps much more normal than the dynamism Americans have come to take for granted. In his new book , he outlines the cultural, economic, political, and demographic trends that threaten to leave us to wallow in a…