{"product_id":"half-full-in-maine-the-history-and-bright-future-of-10000-years-of-optimism-down-east-everywhere-else-9798218156800","title":"Half Full in Maine: The History and Bright Future of 10,000 Years of Optimism Down East \u0026 everywhere else","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe world is not going to hell. Least of all Maine. Tempting evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, we are actually living in a golden age of optimism. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHat tip to Mainers including thank-you-for-the-weekend Frances Perkins, Millinocket papermaker Garrett Schenck, banjo artists on the Kennebec, a certain bestselling Carrie author from Bangor, Hampden's Dorothea Dix, and the little known man who now rests at a small cemetery on Mount Desert Island, who in 1962 dated Jackie Kennedy, counseled her husband, and saved the world from nuclear war.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is every reason to worry about climate change, violence and fake news peddlers, but history is made by optimists, not by pessimists. As a result, the world today is better, safer, healthier, more comfortable and more entertaining for the vast majority of us than ever before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd we're just getting started.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bicker Hollow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51720837202194,"sku":"9798218156800","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e80555a4-b670-44de-9da1-5ac630017c66.jpg?v=1762938199","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/half-full-in-maine-the-history-and-bright-future-of-10000-years-of-optimism-down-east-everywhere-else-9798218156800","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}