Forage for food for a few hours, then gather together by the fire...

It's a wonderful image... except it ignores the hunger and thirst when food is non-existent despite spending all day looking for some. It ignores the cold and lack of shelter, illnesses that couldn't be treated, terrible infant mortality rates, the fact that many died in their 30s, and so on.

Many older folk today look back at the 50s with those same idyllic eyes. And it was, for some. Especially if you were white and middle class. Of course, it also ignores the tremendous social inequality and racial injustice of the time. Or the fact that women were still largely considered to be nothing but wives and, to many, property to be treated as they pleased.

Does the US have problems? OMG, certainly! But I suspect that early hunter gatherer would be awestruck at how we manage to--comparatively speaking-- live like kings in our heated/air-conditioned abodes, with plenty of water and food available just a short walk or drive away.

If you can afford it, of course.