Douthat’s message is that we are indeed in an era of stagnation and paralysis on many fronts, but that does not mean that we are facing collapse.

... clever and stimulating.

The book is descriptive and diagnostic.

It’s disappointing but not terribly shocking that [Douthat's] great strengths as a short-form opinion writer, his genius for synthesis and his extraordinary judiciousness, become limiting flaws in his new book.

... occasionally smart but mostly unhelpful.

Douthat takes an approach by turns sententious and statistical to argue that Western society has run out of gas.

Everything considered, Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society is an excellent book that is convincing and interesting. It leaves room for disagreement as well as arguments that explain those specific narratives and phenomena by different means..

... scintillating.

A journalist...delivers an impassioned but not entirely convincing critique of American and European society.