Reinventing Collapse is a great new book from
Dmitry Orlov. Growing up under the collapse of the former Soviet Union and since living in the US, he addresses the possibility of collapse in the US and asserts that it is, in fact, much less prepared for collapse than the SU. This is due to, among other things, the continued privitazation of everything US, unlike in the SU, where although times were tough, at least you had a house and knew how to garden.
You can read the synposis in his recent slide show presentation
here.
Peace,
Grant