Divided we fall

"I would like people to say I restored possibility in American life." This was President Bill Clinton aboard Air Force One, in a private interview at the end of Haynes Johnson's journey through an America torn by divisions and apprehensive of the future.

For his first book since the prophetic best-selling Sleepwalking Through History, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist interviewed grassroots Americans from New England to the Sunbelt, from the heartland to the West Coast. Over nearly two years Johnson listened as businessmen, judges, youth gang members, new citizens and illegal aliens, students and farmers, teachers and lawmen expressed their deepest hopes and fears.

The same major concerns kept surfacing: about jobs, crime, race, schools and services, values and leadership - and about life for the next generation. By contrasting the aspirations of people across the country with the inner workings of Washington during Bill Clinton's volatile first year as president, Divided We Fall illuminates a critical test of the American character

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The result is an unforgettable portrait of a people disconnected from their government, yearning for change but acutely aware of the hard choices facing us as we prepare for the twenty-first century. Yet, shining through these personal narratives is the conviction that America is still the "best country," one that can - and will - prevail despite its flaws and fragmentation.

In a brilliant document that frames the problems confronting us and explores America's opportunities in the 1990s, Johnson urges us to join together, face the challenge of change, and take the brave gamble to reclaim the American Dream.