'American Theocracy,' by Kevin Phillips - The New York Times - Book Review - New York Times: "As he's done in so many of his earlier books, Mr. Phillips draws a lot of detailed analogies in these pages, using demographics, economic statistics and broader cultural trends to map macropatterns throughout history. In analyzing the fates of Rome, Hapsburg Spain, the Dutch Republic, Britain and the United States, he comes up with five symptoms of 'a power already at its peak and starting to decline': 1) 'widespread public concern over cultural and economic decay,' along with social polarization and a widening gap between rich and poor; 2) 'growing religious fervor' manifested in a close state-church relationship and escalating missionary zeal; 3) 'a rising commitment to faith as opposed to reason and a corollary downplaying of science'; 4) 'considerable popular anticipation of a millennial time frame' and 5) 'hubris-driven national strategic and military overreach' in pursuit of 'abstract international missions that the nation can no longer afford, economically or politically.' Added to these symptoms, he writes, is a sixth one, almost too obvious to state: high debt, which can become 'crippling in its own right.' "