The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

George Packer uses the lives of individual Americans to examine the forces that shaped the United States between 1978 and 2012, among them the decline of manufacturing, the subprime mortgage crisis and the influence of money on politics. The book is built around long profiles of five subjects: a factory worker turned community organiser in Youngstown, Ohio; a biodiesel entrepreneur in North Carolina; a Washington lobbyist and congressional staffer; the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel; and people caught up in the distressed housing market of Tampa, Florida.