The Decadent Society: America Before and After the Pandemic by Ross Douthat. 3/5 rating. 244 pages. Book #28 of 2021. Read April 5, 2021. Ross’s thesis is that our society has become “decadent” in the sense of sclerotic, bloated, and dis-engaged. As Thoreau speaks about lives of quiet desperation, our society has lost the spark…