Awakening from the American Dream

Rufus E. Miles, Jr.

AWAKENING FROM THE AMERICAN DREAM establishes and supports the thesis that social and political limits to growth will bring Americans to the end of the era of growing affluence much sooner than physical factors; that, in fact, the social and political limits are now being strongly felt. Rufus Miles analyzes twenty-two determinants that have brought American society to its present state and examines their probable future directions. He concludes that the much-discussed accelerative thrust has now ended and will probably never again be revived. He sees American society as highly vulnerable to further social deterioration, sabotage, and breakdown. Central to this is his thesis that high energy consumption has a centrifugal effect on the two most basic institutions—the family and the community. After analyzing both the physical dynamics and various ethical considerations involved in energy, population, and food, Mr. Miles assesses the human limits to the management of economic and political systems that are now so complex as to exceed the comprehension and management capability of political leaders. It is his conviction, conveyed with both passion and tough-minded realism, that America and the developed world must "kick" their addiction to enormous consumption of energy, reject the nuclear option, and turn toward energy conservation, new lifestyles, and economical conversion of solar energy. We must now develop a changed set of values and a new sense of direction. The search for a different destiny can be a deeply satisfying and self-renewing experience.