Implosion: denial, delusion, and the prospect of collapse is a penetrating look at contemporary collective delusions slithering across the American landscape. A delusion is a false idea about the world, a kind of intellectual “trance.” When an individual suffers one, the diagnosis of mental illness is not far behind. When a nation labors under them, we have a state of collective mental instability. This odyssey explores five gargantuan delusions infecting the American psyche: our understanding of our democratic political system, the Iraq war, the perception of ourselves as an empire, the musical genre of hip-hop, and our extremely precarious financial condition. In the final chapter, “Slip-slidin to dystopia,” Dr. Kroth reviews the seven major signs of societal collapse. These factors are combined to form “the American Dystopia Index.” When one looks at this metric, the transformation of the American dream to an American nightmare seems all but assured should we not awaken from our myriad trance states in time. Reviews: Jerry Kroth’s book, Implosion, is so exciting that I had to stop reading it for a few minutes just to calm down. Kroth does for his readers just what he says the truth will do for us. He presents an utterly compelling case for seven deadly symptoms which combined will bring America down and the world with it. However, he does it so well and documents his work so meticulously, that the excitement of learning the truth renders reading implosion a thrilling experience. As Yeats said in his prescient poem, “the Second Coming “The centre cannot hold.” Kroth promises us a second coming of hope and possibility. He exposes our march towards destruction and also a path for reversing that. Implosion strips away our illusions and denials giving us the truth, a chance to reverse our deadly course, and also a reason to hope. —Harried Fraad, Ph.D., psychoanalytic psychotherapist author of Bringing it all back home Duped! is incredible. You will want to shove it up the nose of every pompous, conservative, right wing, born again, love it or leave it jerk you have ever met. Dr. Kroth continues to approach the unapproachable. He holds no punches in describing our American culture's blind xenophobia; telling ourselves we are the best while betraying our most basic common sense as the evidence piles up at our feet. We choose leaders who simply tell us what we wish we could believe, and continue to act in ways that shorten our lives, steal our money, and leave us less secure than ever. In this crisp criticism of our collective confusion, we see how we have all become the chickens praising Colonel Sanders. We are simply outgunned by short-term corporate and political profits and power from the getgo. I wish there were more like Dr. Kroth aboard think tanks, committees, and boardrooms across our land, but if there ever were, they are probably planted in the Nevada desert somewhere. Enjoy the ride before your nickel runs out. —Steve Stelle, author of On Shaky Ground Totally eye opening, and, frankly, a very scary narrative. I never realized how deluded we are, and how a thick cloud of denial covers over our public discourse. This is a necessary read for any conscious American. —M.S. Forrest, Ph.D., clinical psychotherapist.
