The Cooling Of America: The Cooling of America

A Special Section

A beat. A pause. The bomb that arced over the wall lies there unexploded, past its fuse-time, possibly dead. Something has happened in American life —or has failed to happen. In dead winter, 1971, after months of recession, a decade of war abroad and domestic violence, a mood approaching quiet has fallen like a deep snow.

How permanent or transitory is the change remains mysterious. It could be merely temporary calm induced by fatigue or a bit of boredom or even by winter weather. But the change seems more...

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