The Unwinding
George Packer’s *The Unwinding* traces America’s slow, quiet collapse from the late 1970s to the early 2010s, weaving intimate stories of ordinary people and power players to expose the fraying of the nation’s social fabric, economic systems, and political norms. Through figures like Dean Price, a North Carolina farmer turned biofuel entrepreneur fighting to revive his rural community; Tammy Thomas, a laid-off Rust Belt factory worker who becomes a grassroots organizer; Newt Gingrich, the polarizing politician who reshaped Washington’s partisan landscape; and Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley visionary who both profited from and criticized the tech boom, Packer reveals how old institutions crumbled, inequality exploded, and the American promise slipped out of reach for millions. The book doesn’t just document decay—it captures the gritty, hopeful efforts of individuals to rebuild, offering a raw, human portrait of a nation in transition.