Decline narratives of American culture are so interesting to me. They seem to raise more questions than answers. Decline narratives typically go something like this:

America’s culture is decline. It used to be much better, but now it’s not.

So my question is this: What was the zenith?

What was the “high point” or best point of American culture that we’ve declined from? Was it a year? If so, what year? Was it a decade? If so what decade? Was it a century? If so, what century?