Includes bibliographical references and index.

The view from 1946 -- Bringing up boomer -- Vietnam and the emerging boomer identity -- Empire of self -- Science and sentimentality -- Disco and roots of neoliberalism -- The boomer ascendancy --Taxes -- Debt and deficits -- Indefinitely deferred maintenance -- Boomer finance : the vicious cycle of risk and deceit --The brief triumph of long retirement -- Preparing for the future -- Detention, after-school and otherwise --The wages of sin --The myth of boomer goodness -- Price tags and prescriptions.

Gibney shows how America was hijacked by a generation whose reckless self-indulgence degraded the foundations of American prosperity. Acting without empathy, prudence, or respect for facts-- acting, in other words, as sociopaths-- they turned American dynamism into stagnation, inequality, and bipartisan fiasco. In the 2030s damage to Social Security, public finances, and the environment will become catastrophic and possibly irreversible. Gibney argues that younger generations have a fleeting window to hold the boomers accountable and begin restoring America.