One reason so many are quitting: We want control over our lives again
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Michael Auslin: The Morality of Mad Men
A decade after Mad Men aired its final episode, the series feels more relevant than ever. Set during the upheavals of the 1960s, the show traced the unraveling of postwar American certainty—stable families, defined gender roles, and a shared national identity—while exposing the hypocrisy and excess beneath its polished surface.
Yet with time and distance, the moral arc of Mad Men appears more complex. Through the tragic dissolution of Don and Betty Draper’s marriage and the contrasting redemption of characters like Pete Campbell, the series suggests that freedom without foundation can lead to alienation, loss, and spiritual drift. Betty finds clarity through hardship. Pete rediscovers meaning in family and responsibility. Don, despite professional brilliance, remains emotionally unmoored—his final smile as ambiguous as the era he helped define.
Ultimately, the show offers more than nostalgia for mid-century America. It delivers a meditation on identity, sacrifice, and the search for meaning in modern life. Seen from today’s vantage point—after another decade of cultural turbulence—Mad Men reads less as a celebration of rebellion and more as a cautionary tale about false utopias and the enduring need for stability, discipline, and belonging.
One of America’s leading historians, Michael Auslin stands at the forefront of the national conversation surrounding America’s 250th anniversary as the author of the forthcoming history National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America. Through his deeply researched and timely work, Auslin examines how the principles enshrined in the Declaration shaped not only the United States, but the modern world itself. Drawing on his work at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, Yale, and decades of historical analysis, he illuminates how America’s founding ideas continue to influence global politics, economics, and democratic movements. Contact us to learn more.
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