The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny

Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ."A startling vision of what the cycles of history predict for the future."-USA Weekend William Strauss and Neil Howe will change the way you see the world-and your place in it.With blazing originality,The Fourth Turningilluminates the past, explains the present, and reimagines the future. Most remarkably, it offers an utterly persuasive prophecy about howAmerica's past will predict its future. Strauss and Howe base this vision on a provocative theory of American history. The authors look back five hundred years and uncover a distinct pattern- Modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting about the length of a long human life, each composed of four eras-or "turnings"-that last about twenty years and that always arrive in the same order.In The Fourth Turning, the authors illustrate these cycles using abrilliant analysis of the post-World War II period. First comes a High, a period of confident expansion as a new order takes root after the old has been swept away. Next comes an Awakening, a time of spiritual exploration and rebellion against the now-established order. Then comes an Unraveling, an increasingly troubled era in which individualism triumphs over crumbling institutions. Last comes a Crisis-the Fourth Turning-when society passes through a great and perilous gate in history. Together, the four turnings comprise history's seasonal rhythm of growth, maturation, entropy, and rebirth. The Fourth Turningoffers bold predictions about how all of us can prepare, individually and collectively, for America's next rendezvous with destiny.

William Strauss and Neil Howe, the authors of Generations- The History of America's Future and 13th-GEN, write and lecture frequently on generational issues.Strauss is the cofounder and director of the Capitol Steps, a political cabaret. Howe, a historian and economist, is a senior advisor for the Concord Coalition. They both live in the Washington, D.C., area.

"I put down The Fourth Turning with a mixture of terror and excitement....If Strauss and Howe are right, they will take their place among the great American prophets." --David Kaiser, Boston Globe "One of the best efforts to give us an integrated vision of where we are going." --Wall Street Journal "A startling vision of what the cycles of history predict for the future." --USA Weekend