Historic photograph, 1956 Hungarian Revolution against Soviet occupation, 1956. Photo: Gabor B. Racz

P aul Hollander’s latest book is an understated, wry, and often hilarious collection of reflections on the profound link between anti-Americanism and the delusions and desires stirred up by modernity. Consumerism and the worship of celebrity, vain status-seeking and the artificial cult of youth—all symptoms of a society in irreversible decline—share a common root with the professed discontent of what could be called the educated ape. Hollander’s book is rich in fact and vivid, direct observation; a sociologist by profession, he practices something close to the...