📚 Slouching Towards Utopia

*Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century* is a book written by economic historian **J. Bradford DeLong**, published in 2022. It offers a sweeping narrative of the economic, social, and technological transformations that shaped the "long twentieth century" — roughly from 1870 to 2010. ### Core Themes: DeLong argues that **the period starting from 1870 marks the beginning of true economic modernity**, driven by the Second Industrial Revolution, globalization, and the birth of modern technological progress. He describes how **human prosperity skyrocketed in this era**—with unprecedented growth in productivity, life expectancy, and living standards. However, despite these material gains, DeLong emphasizes that **human societies struggled to achieve the corresponding social, political, and moral progress**. The book focuses on the gap between what was technologically possible and what was socially achieved, exploring why utopia remained elusive. ### Key Highlights: * The **explosion of innovation and productivity** beginning around 1870, driven by science and the harnessing of fossil fuels. * The **failures of politics and institutions** to manage the immense wealth and technological capabilities effectively, leading to war, inequality, and missed opportunities. * The impact of major events like **the two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, neoliberal globalization, and the post-1980 policy shifts.** * DeLong's view that the world made a decisive pivot around 2010, moving away from the patterns that had defined the previous 140 years. ### Title Meaning: The title *Slouching Towards Utopia* references a line from W. B. Yeats's poem *The Second Coming*, implying that while humanity made extraordinary economic strides, the journey toward an ideal, just, and peaceful society was slow, halting, and incomplete.