
I’m spending this weekend with George Packer’s new book The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013). It’s a collection of micro-histories (Johan Galtung & Sohail Inayatullah): how individual lives are affected by socio-economic and socio-political upheavals, and the consequences of choices made. Packer modelled his book on John Don Passos’ USA trilogy, and, perhaps, Studs Terkel. It’s a gripping read.