Skip to content
HomeVideosBooks
AllTopicsTrends
BlogsPodcasts
HistoryListsWatch laterLiked videosFollowing

The videos, books, blogs and podcasts Hacker News keeps recommending, all in one place.

VideosBooksBlogsPodcastsAboutPrivacySettings

Data from Hacker News, HackerTube, HackerBooks, HackerBlogs and Open Library. Credits · Not affiliated with Y Combinator.

HomeVideosBooksBlogsPodcasts
Ctrl K
    Cover of The twilight of American culture

    The twilight of American culture

    Morris Berman · 2000

    A prophetic examination of Western decline, The Twilight of American Culture provides one of the most caustic and surprising portraits of American society to date. Whether examining the corruption at the heart of modern politics, the "Rambification" of popular entertainment, or the collapse of our school systems, Morris Berman suspects that there is little we can do as a society to arrest the onset of corporate Mass Mind culture. Citing writers as diverse as de Toqueville and DeLillo, he cogently argues that cultural preservation is a matter of individual conscience, and discusses how classical learning might triumph over political correctness with the rise of a "a new monastic individual"―a person who, much like the medieval monk, is willing to retreat from conventional society in order to preserve its literary and historical treasures. "Brilliantly observant, deeply thoughtful....lucidly argued."―Christian Science Monitor

    Biography & MemoirPolitics & SocietyHistory
    Open LibraryAmazon
    Stats for nerds
    2recommend
    2mentions
    2people
    2026years
    100% recommend

    What Hacker News says

    1. pearlsontheroadJan 2026
      For a serious take on the actual new Dark Age we are currently living in, I'd recommend "The Twilight of American Culture" by Morris Berman. It's no longer about limited access to information. It's about the erosion of cultural values.
      thread
    2. mistersquidJan 2026
      > I'd recommend "The Twilight of American Culture" by Morris Berman

      Looks like a solid recommendation. Looking forward to reading it.

      A summary (from Christian Science Monitor via Apple Books) says that Berman suggests the solution to an eroding cultural store of value is for the proliferation of the "monastic individual" who retreats from the larger "Mass Mind" culture to assess, curate, and preserve society's literary and cultural treasures.

      thread

    Related

    Cover of The culture industry
    2010–2024

    The culture industry

    Theodor W. Adorno
    7 recommend · 20
    CultureIain Banks
    2010–2026

    Culture

    Iain Banks
    49 recommend · 118
    Cover of The Coddling of the American Mind
    2016–2026

    The Coddling of the American Mind

    Greg Lukianoff
    51 recommend · 151
    Cover of Twilight of the elites
    2012–2020

    Twilight of the elites

    Christopher L. Hayes
    5 recommend · 20
    Cover of Dark Age America
    2019–2024

    Dark Age America

    John Michael Greer
    4 recommend · 5
    Cover of A People's History of the United States
    2008–2026

    A People's History of the United States

    Howard Zinn
    53 recommend · 116
    Leisure the basis of cultureJosef Pieper
    2010–2026

    Leisure the basis of culture

    Josef Pieper
    18 recommend · 30
    Cover of The Death and Life of Great American Cities
    2008–2026

    The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    Jane Jacobs
    61 recommend · 104