The Hidden History of the American Dream

America's most popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author explores the fall of the American Dream and the steps we can take to bring it back.

The widening wealth gap is all too familiar to many Millennials and GenZers, especially when home ownership and the lack of debt seem like faraway fantasies. And it's no surprise when they only hold about 4.6% of the country's wealth while Boomers held 22% at around the same age. So what happened to the promise of the American Dream?

In this new, final entry of his celebrated Hidden History Series, Thom Hartmann uncovers the rise of the American middle class through the progressive policies of FDR, through to its downfall with the increasing privatization and economic deregulations of the Reagan era.

He also explores potential solutions including:
• Wealth and inheritance taxes to lessen economic inequality
• Supporting unions through increasing labor rights
• Renationalizing public spaces and transportation

The American Dream often remains just a dream for many, but this book highlights what needs to be done to take it back and help make it a reality for us all.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: We Failed To Stop Them
• Creating the American Dream in Its Modern Form
• “Necessitous Men Are Not Free Men”
• What It Takes to Build a Middle Class
• Expanding the Base of the Middle Class
• Right to Work for Less
• How the American Dream of a Middle Class Helps Democracy
• Why Public Schools Are on the GOP’s Hit List
• Student Debt Harms the American Dream
• Housing Should Not Be a Commodity
• The Impact of Tax Policy on the American Dream
• The American Dream Requires a Healthy Populace Who Aren’t Crushed by Medical Costs
• Paid Sick Leave and Low-Cost Childcare to Revive the American Dream
• Invest in American Manufacturing
• Entrepreneurship and the American Dream
• For the Next Time Some Idiot Tries to Tell You the GOP Is the “Party of Business”
• Climate Change: Where Is the Accountability for the Killers Ushering in the Dream-Destroying Climate Apocalypse?
• Make Congress Wear NASCAR Patches
• Saving the American Dream for Zoomers and the Rest of Us
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author

“Thom Hartmann meticulously takes us through the history and brilliantly exposes the forces that have threatened the American Dream for so many, always providing a plan to fight back. Timely and powerful!”
-Michelangelo Signorile, host of The Michelangelo Signorile Show, Sirius XM

“Somehow, Thom Hartmann has made a weirdly fun romp out of his autopsy of the decayed body of America's economic hopes. This erudite quick read is stuffed with the facts, figures, history, and analysis about the new class war you can use to defenestrate your doofus brother-in-law.”
-Greg Palast, New York Times bestselling author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

“Thom Hartmann helps us understand how the rich and powerful are taking the American Dream away, and what we need to do to get it back.”
-Les Leopold, Executive Director, Labor Institute, and author of Wall Street's War on Workers