Is American society coming apart?

If you haven't read Charles Murray's 2013 book "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010," do yourself a favor and pick it up. ASAP.

Then check out this conversation at Harvard at 6PM EST this evening being hosted by the Harvard Institute of Politics between Charles Murray and Bill Kristol, the subject of which is "Is America Really 'Coming Apart?'"

[instory-book ISBN="9780307453433"]

Murray's book, and presumably the conversation itself covers the social trends among white Americans (and only amplified among minorities) over the last 50 years, reflecting a growing cultural divide between the elites, comprised of intellectuals, business executives, lawyers, media professionals and others, who tend to cluster in so-called "superbubble" towns with like-minded individuals, and the rest of America.

With this growing split, Murray analyzes the major divergences among white Americans in areas such as education, wealth, crime, marriage and faith.

Ultimately, Murray argues that there may in fact be irreconcilable cultural fragmentation with devastating consequences for the country.

In order to remedy this situation, he feels that the elites need to fearlessly impart their cultural values to the rest of society -- disavowing their non-judgmentalism and asserting the bedrock values on which the country was built -- if we are to have any chance of coming together as a nation and reversing the alarming trends he analyzes.