Nutshell

by Ian McEwan

And foe-of-convenience, the United States, barely the hope of the world, guilty of torture, helpless before its sacred text conceived in an age of powdered wigs, a constitution as unchallengeable as the Koran. Its nervous population obese, fearful, tormented by inarticulate anger, contemptuous of governance, murdering sleep with every new handgun.

We’ve built a world too complicated and dangerous for our quarrelsome natures to manage.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves, Confucius said.