By Carol Brown "The Decline and Fall of California: From Decadence to Destruction, where Hanson paints a stark picture of California’s decline from a state that exemplified the American dream to one crushed under the weight of its utopian vision.
…Clearly modeled on famous British historian Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Hanson’s book makes it clear that the increasingly dystopian California has been the author of its own decline. A half-century of bad policy and failed ideology has reduced the Golden State to a shell of its former glory.
Hanson -- a college professor, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and an expert in the classics -- is a product of many generations of Californians who made their home in the state’s mostly agricultural central valley. Few come closer to Thomas Jefferson’s idealized philosopher-farmer than Hanson, who is highly educated in history, warfare, and philosophy, yet runs a working farm like his forefathers.
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Amazon Review:
"The Decline and Fall of California: From Decadence to Destruction collects Victor Davis Hanson’s best writing on California’s crisis of culture. Focusing on three themes with enduring relevance—water, immigration, and the rural way of life—Hanson deftly dissects the ruins of the Golden State. California’s crisis is America’s crisis: the same policies and mental dissonance that have eroded California’s prosperity threaten the rest of the country if left unchecked.
"In California, an out-of-touch liberal leadership has made life worse for average citizens of the state, both the poor and the shrinking middle class. For all the exalted talk about the people, the environment, and the proverbial “little guy,” few in government craft policies to help the majority of the state. In particular, on matters of illegal immigration, water policy, and culture, cocooned elites rarely face the logical consequences of their own ideology. The Decline and Fall of California unwinds the story of how California came to this moment, and offers insight into why the rest of the nation should be wary of the same influences in Washington, DC.
" 'I moved to California to chase The Dream nearly four decades ago, experience the promise... and now the perils. No one but Victor Davis Hanson has the depth and savvy to clearly chronicle how the Golden State got to this point, and where we are now headed. There are lessons and warnings for the rest of America here, too. It's been said, 'As California goes, so goes the Nation.' This is essential reading."
- Mark Larson KUSI TV Contributor & AM 1170 Talkshow Host
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