s, moral relativism, contempt for authority, addiction, the tendency to shirk responsibility, and the breakdown of traditional communities into the moral decline in America which was perpetuated by the progressive drive of the society.
In 1991, when The True and Only Heaven was published, the United States was involved in a war abroad and faced an uncertain economic future at home. Progress, as the cornerstone of the American economic system, was pure myth, according to Lasch. He seriously questioned the logic which supported progress in a century full of disasters, war, recession, and social changes which made the lives of millions of people worse.
Lasch began his book by advising the reader that he started
with a deceptively simple question. How can serious people continue to believe in progress in the face of all the available evidence which refutes the idea of progress? (13). In his attempts to address this question, Lasch proceeded with an overview of the history of progress from the 18th century to the present, taking issue with b
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