Why America Failed shows how, from its birth as a nation of "hustlers" to its collapse as an empire, the tools of the country's expansion proved to be the instruments of its demise Why America Failed is the third and most engaging volume of Morris Berman's trilogy on the decline of the American empire. In The Twilight of American Culture, Berman examined the internal factors of that decline, showing that they were identical to those of Rome in its late-empire phase. In Dark Ages America, he explored the external factors—e.g., the fact that both empires were ultimately attacked from the outside—and the relationship between the events of 9/11 and the history of U.S. foreign policy. In his most ambitious work to date, Berman looks at the "why" of it all Probes America's commitment to economic liberalism and free enterprise stretching back to the late sixteenth century, and shows how this ideology, along with that of technological progress, rendered any alternative marginal to American history Maintains, more than anything else, that this one-sided vision of the country's purpose finally did our nation in Why America Failed is a controversial work, one that will shock, anger, and transform its readers. The book is a stimulating and provocative explanation of how we managed to wind up in our current situation: economically weak, politically passe, socially divided, and culturally adrift. It is a tour de force, a powerful conclusion to Berman's study of American imperial decline.

莫里斯•伯曼（Morris Berman），美国著名的文化历史学家，社会批评者。这本书是“美国三部曲”的第三本，另外两本是《美国文化近黄昏》、《美国的黑暗时代》。莫里斯•伯曼身体力行地反对美国文化，2006年离开了美国，目前住在墨西哥。

余世存推荐序：我们是否认同了美国的衰落，是否认同作者对美国的批判，是否像作者一样诚实地离开“美国”……

对美国抱有好感的人，读这本书是一个挑战。

这本书以极为丰富的材料、坚实的证据向我们表明，美国生活方式与传统、南方、人性等等相扞格的一面。作者为此探讨了美国的民族性，美国南北战争的真相，以及美国人趋功近利在技术领域的表现……

本书作者认同美国生活代表了一种“新专制”，他为此翻历史之案，认为南北战争并非如通常理解的那样是为了解放奴隶：北方的真正目的并不是废奴，而是为了控制南方。内战是两个相互冲突的经济体之间的斗争，是美国历史上农业时代与工业时代之间的分水岭。奴隶制并不重要，充其量不过是内战的一个注脚罢了。内战最明显的后果是北方资本主义的胜利，以及合众国财阀的崛起……