History
Macmillan
May 21, 2013
434
George Packer’s “The Unwinding” is told through the personal stories of characters plucked from both ends and all over the middle of the wide and varied demographic landscape that is America. While these individuals lead lives that are diametrically different, one realizes that they are all intimately entwined, even if the strength of the fabric they form is not assured. Rarely pedagogical, Mr. Packer’s important book, allows readers to, through the intimate details of real lives, come to their own conclusions – mostly that, as the title of the book suggests, all is not well in America. And yet, one also gleans that if only those in power acted for the greater good, then America could realize its full and untapped potential. If only.