The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America

Victor Davis Hanson

Oct 2021 · Hachette Audio · Narrated by James Edward Thomas

About this audiobook

The New York Times bestselling 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 fifty 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.

Ratings and reviews

Wow. For me, it is like listening to one of my former brilliant professors. Each sentence is intelligent and well said. It is true, if you don't have a citizen, you don't have a country. Worth 10 stars.

Unlike such classics as What Happened and Sins of my Father. This book is non-fiction and gives a hard look into the United States dumpster fire, that is it's immigration policies under every president regardless of party affiliation. If want the facts you need to combat those who support the fall of America and who don't really care about facts. This book is for you.

About the author

Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow in military history at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a professor emeritus of classics at California State University, Fresno. He is the author of over two dozen books, most recently The Case for Trump. He lives in Selma, California.