In 2009, Strauss and Howe took their vision from Generations a step further and wrote of the fourth “turning”, the shift of American society into the next predictable cycle. They wrote about what the cycles of history tell us about America’s next rendezvous with destiny.
As in their earlier work, they describe a recurring cycle of events:
- 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
They predict the inevitability of a Crisis on the horizon when the book was published in 2009 and discuss how we — individually and collectively — could respond. Grab a copy and watch the ideas move from prophecy to current reality!
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