The Age of Entitlement

Christopher Caldwell’s The Age of Entitlement offers a sharp, deeply researched examination of how the reforms and cultural revolutions of the 1960s reshaped American life — often in ways no one expected. Caldwell argues that many of the most celebrated changes of the era came with profound costs in freedom, social cohesion, and economic stability, costs that fell unevenly across classes and generations.

Tracing the true political and cultural turning points of the last half-century, Caldwell takes readers from the sexual revolution and civil-rights legislation to the rise of corporate power, modern technology, identity politics, and the emergence of two incompatible sets of social rules. The result is a provocative narrative about how well-intentioned reforms created a divided nation and set the stage for our present conflicts.

Far from a partisan screed, the book blends cultural criticism, economic insight, and intellectual history into a compelling portrait of how America changed — and why so many citizens today feel alienated or betrayed by institutions that once promised progress.

About the Author

Christopher Caldwell is a journalist and contributing editor at the Claremont Review of Books, as well as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. He is the former senior editor of The Weekly Standard and the author of several books on culture, politics, and society.