Badlands Book Club - Book 3 - The Fourth Turning: Chapter 8

CannCon and Ashe in America tackle Chapter 8 of The Fourth Turning, diving into the unraveling era of 1984–2005 and the rise of America’s culture wars. They explore how Reagan’s “Morning in America” optimism masked deep societal fragmentation, from Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl ad to the rise of niche identities and the collapse of shared civic trust.

The conversation tracks how Americans shifted from collective institutions to personal fulfillment, spawning tribalism, declining faith in government, and the birth of a politics of meaning. From the O.J. Simpson trial to the Oklahoma City bombing, the chapter reveals how conspiracy theories, cultural clashes, and moral polarization redefined the era. CannCon and Ashe break down the generational archetypes, Silent, Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, and how each played a role in America’s unraveling, setting the stage for the crises to come. With sharp insight and humor, they connect Strauss and Howe’s theory to today’s chaos, asking what lessons the unraveling holds for the storm ahead.