The Dying Citizen

How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America

By: Victor Davis Hanson

Narrated by: James Edward Thomas

The New York Times best-selling author of The Case for Trump explains the decline and fall of the once cherished idea of American citizenship.

Human history is full of the stories of peasants, subjects, and tribes. Yet the concept of the “citizen” is historically rare — and was among America’s most valued ideals for over two centuries. But without shock treatment, warns historian Victor Davis Hanson, American citizenship as we have known it may soon vanish.

In The Dying Citizen, Hanson outlines the historical forces that led to this crisis. The evisceration of the middle class over the last 50 years has made many Americans dependent on the federal government. Open borders have undermined the idea of allegiance to a particular place. Identity politics have eradicated our collective civic sense of self. And a top-heavy administrative state has endangered personal liberty, along with formal efforts to weaken the Constitution.

As in the revolutionary years of 1848, 1917, and 1968, 2020 ripped away our complacency about the future. But in the aftermath, we as Americans can rebuild and recover what we have lost. The choice is ours.

©2021 Basic Books (P)2021 Basic Books

Critic reviews

"Mr. Hanson, an accomplished classicist and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is one of the great amalgamators of American political writing. He has a particular gift for bringing together a dizzying array of events, controversies and ideas and making sense of them by advancing a coherent argument that incorporates thousands of years of history… Mr. Hanson hits hard, but I don’t find his analysis unfair or partisan. There is enormous value, moreover, in thinking about toxic political developments not as problems of the moment but as destructive pathologies to which all societies are prone at all times.”—Wall Street Journal

“Indispensable… Hanson’s immensely erudite and inspiriting book offers a most welcome corrective to those influential forces and doctrines in our midst that conspire to delegitimize the citizen and citizenship as such. In doing so, he provides us with hope that our society still has within it significant powers of rejuvenation.”—National Review

“As Victor Davis Hanson shows in his learned, powerful, and troubling new book, The Dying Citizen, the steady devolution of citizenship speaks volumes about where we are today and where we seem to be heading… Hanson lays out this grim diagnosis with his usual clarity and brilliance, moving easily from his deep specialized knowledge of the ancient Greek and Roman world through savvy observations about present-day politics and American society.”—The New Criterion

A must read for all Americans.

VDH is the man. Concise, unbiased and covering seamlessly synthesized topics of critical importance. I recommend this book to all my foul leftest friends.

Outstanding Book

Victor Davis Hanson does an excellent job of explaining in lay terms what a Citizen means and how it is being destroyed.

Best book in years.

Awesome book. every American needs to read this book. It is scary and compelling. Must read

Great Book

This is a must read book for all citizens of the United States of America!

essential modern work

A must listen/read. Essential book. Would be great if the author narrated it though.

Great Book!

Overall pleased with the purchase. I think one of the key ideas to take away from the book is that there is a difference between Citizen and Resident ...or at least there should be. United State citizens need to realize what is at stake in 2023 and how the Elites are attempting to turn us into Global Citizens which the Constitution will then be null in void.

Excellent

Eye-opening. Should be taught in every High School in America. Current & informative. Easy to understand.

Worth the time

A great overview of current political social issues and what is behind them. The author brings up many variables that I had not considered.

Gotta Get It!

Absolutely phenomenal book! A wide range of information well put and quite revealing about these past several years. Loved it!

Excellent perspective on the American Dream

As an immigrant, I so appreciate Victor Davis Hanson’s candid and honest perspective on the current state of our political climate.