September Reviews – Abundance

Concept: Ezra Klein (New York Times) and Derek Thompson (The Atlantic) explore the abundance we could have and the scarcity the 20th and 21st centuries have created for the majority of people in the United States. Both Republicans and Democrats have built this situation. This does not have to be our reality, but changing it will be an uphill battle. The key systems needing overhaul are housing, transportation, energy, and health.

We take inspiration from People of Plenty, the historian David M. Potter’s . . . 1954 book on how abundance shaped American thought and culture. . . . Abundance, he said is “a physical and cultural factor, involving interplay between man . . . and nature.”
The kind of abundance we seek differs from the kind of abundance our generation has seen. Potter wrote of the way America was being “reoriented to convert the producer’s culture into a consumer’s culture. . . .”

Klein and Thompson 19

My Take: I was drawn to reading this book by an interview John Stewart did with Klein and Thompson. (I’ve found several of my nonfiction TBR titles this way.) Some of the content was previously published in the authors’ respective publications, so it may be familiar to some readers. 

Current issues with housing, transportation, energy, and health are complex, and the current state of each is the fault of people across the political spectrum. This nuanced analysis of each issue over the last several decades is important to recognize the problems and work towards solutions. 

I felt they articulated a sound argument as to why Millennials and Gen Z are struggling to achieve the markers of the middle class as we’ve typically defined them.

We have a startling abundance of the goods that fill a house and shortage of what’s needed to build a good life.
Abundance as we define it, is a state. It is the state in which there is enough of what we need to create lives better than what we have had.

Klein and Thompson 20

Recommendation: I would add this title to my high school nonfiction classroom library shelf. I kept nonfiction titles available for students when developing their research topics or proposals. I also used excerpts to support unit themes with varied perspectives.

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