From the author of Day of Reckoning, the acclaimed critique of Ronald Reagan#s economic policy (#Every citizen should read it,# said The New York Times): a persuasive, wide-ranging argument that broadly distributed economic growth provides benefits far beyond the material, creating and strengthening democratic institutions, establishing political stability, fostering tolerance, and enhancing opportunity. #Are we right,# Benjamin M. Friedman asks, #to care so much about economic growth as we clearly do?# To answer, Friedman reaches beyond economics. He examines the political and social histories of the large Western democracies#particularly of the United States since the Civil War#distinguishing times of generally rising living standards from those of pervasive stagnation to illustrate how rising incomes render a society more open and democratic. He shows, too, how our attitudes toward economic growth and its consequences have roots in the thinking of prior centuries, especially the Enlightenment, and also include significant strands of religious influence.