It's Getting Better All the Time: 101 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years

There has been more material progress in the United States in the 20th Century than in the entire world in all previous centuries combined.

How has the United States changed over the past century? Is life truly better now than it was in the past? Using statistical reports and other historical materials, Moore (fiscal policy studies, Cato Inst.) and the late Simon (business administration, Univ. of Maryland) argue that for the most part people entering the new millennium are much better off than their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. The areas covered include health, economics, race relations, safety, environmental issues, and women's rights. A number of charts and graphs, well complemented by an extensive index and a bibliography, shows the positive changes that have taken place over the past 100 years. Readers will appreciate the information provided by these colorful graphics, which readily allow for additional research on subjects of interest. Recommended for reference, general social science, and American studies collections.DDanna Bell-Russel, Library of Congress
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"More Americans than ever are living in greater affluence than ever before," concludes Moore, the Cato Institute's director of fiscal policy studies, who presents the extensive research of Julian Simon, the foremost environmental economist before his death. The core of the book deals with the long-term trends in areas such as health, diet and nutrition, wealth and income, poor Americans, housing, transportation and communications, education, safety, environmental protection, social and cultural indicators, and freedom and democracy. The authors' thesis is that there has been more material progress in the U.S. in the twentieth century than in the entire world in all previous centuries combined. Yet in the book's foreword Simon's widow contends that the killing of millions of people around the world because of Nazism, Stalinism, and Maoism must also be factored into any analysis of that century. The astounding progress in the U.S. will hopefully be replicated in the twenty-first century and extended to other nations throughout the world. Mary Whaley
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