Isaac Asimov was born on this date.
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Came across it when downsizing my library. First read it in the late '50s. Obviously, this book will never be downsized.
To your point: It is set in a similar age of disintegration as our own.
His parents were Russian Jews who brought him to America when he was quite small — yep, another durn family of immigrants taking Merican Jobs.
Asimov says he was inspired by Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — which I started re-reading after the 2016 selection. 18th Century prose being what it is, have not yet managed to complete it; however, was struck by the similarities of the end of that empire with the end of our own: Massive corruption and incompetence.
Very interesting too is the technology at the time of the Foundation many millennia in the future. Even for a genius such as Asimov some things (such as printed newspapers!) seemed that they must still be there in any imaginable future. Also, very refreshing to read about Blasters with no mention of Phasers at all 
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