But despite the fact that the US is experiencing coterminous threats to equality, democracy, and empire, and despite the fact that Lachmann believes that imperial decline is going to exacerbate inequality and democratic failure in the US, they are still distinct processes. (And indeed we might hope that Lachmann’s next book is about increasing inequality in the US and elite conflict theory!) So, while I think it is almost impossible for a reader to walk away from this book with much hope that US imperial decay is going to be reversed, there should — at least until Richards’ next book on inequality is published — still be some hope for a different societal trajectory.