Reddit mentions of Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II (American Business, Politics, and Society)

https://www.amazon.com/Destructive-Creation-American-Business-Politics/dp/0812248333

Thank you for this. I would add that collective action and government action can do tremendous things in short amounts of time. To anyone feeling down, read up on the history of the Dust Bowl, the New Deal, and how America mobilized for WW2. We weren't prepared for any of those problems/programs, but we pulled it off. Here's a some recommended reading:

Short: Where Our New World Begins, in this month's Harpers, offers up a vivid picture of what the Dust Bowl was like, and how the New Deal stepped in to transform the country.

Long: Destructive Creation, by Mark Wilson, about how the US government went gangbusters to create the raw materials and machinery needed to fight WW2.

What I'm trying to say: this may be first time that Americans my age have faced this type of existential despair, but it's certainly not the first time that generations have stared down calamity. I'd argue going as far back as the Civil War is instructive: an entire economy was based on slavery, things seemed impossible to change, and yet a small group of abolitionists agitated for years until finally the reckoning came.

This is the cycle of history, I'm glad to be in it with you all because I know we'll change this world for the better.