Thanks!
I’m about half-way through the book, and it is one scary story. I lived (and “schooled”) through the immediate post-WWII “change”, (1953 to 1965). Fortunately, I had already learned to read before “look-say” got into full swing.
Neo-feudalism is what this whole thing is about, with dense cities replacing baronial estates, and the barely (if at all) educated lower class replacing serfs.