@ntnsndr Nils Gilman's "The Official Future is Dead" essay was good about the weird liminal state we're (still!) in:
https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/10/30/official-future-dead-long-live-official-future/
I found Picketty's Capital & Ideology shockingly optimistic and constructive. It's a lot of history, but trying to create a positive vision of a future that has some kinds of continuity with that past.