First came the postwar High, then the Awakening of the '60s and '70s, and now the Unraveling. This audacious and provocative book tells ...
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Aug 22, 2008
John
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The first quarter of this book is junk. It's a review of moldy pseudoscience about theories of four - four humours, four elements, four seasons, four temperaments, four phases of life. It has little or nothing to do with the central premise that there is a four generation cycle of behavior in Angle-American society - all you have to do to justify the length of this cycle to me is to point out that the normal death from old age occurs about four generations after birth. After the authors finish w
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Dec 17, 2008
Shad
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I know you really liked this one, which is why I was a little concerned about posting my rating. First, I think I'm a stingier rater overall. Basically, I think of the Book of Mormon as my 5, so it is pretty hard for other books to stack up. Second, while there were several things I appreciated about the book, I disagreed with much of the "methodology" and reasoning.
I did appreciate the effort to take a broader view of history, and I do think that cycles play roles in More...
I did appreciate the effort to take a broader view of history, and I do think that cycles play roles in More...
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Nov 22, 2011
Celeste
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UPDATE: Re-reading this one as part of a study group. I'm excited to STUDY this one deeper.
This was a necessary, but a tough read. I recommend it even though I only gave it three stars. I learned a great deal from this book, I just wish it was explained in more layman's terms. At times I felt angry and even stopped reading the book for a few days to clear my head of hurt feelings when reading of my Boomer generation parents and how they parented. I did find these generalizations to be More...
This was a necessary, but a tough read. I recommend it even though I only gave it three stars. I learned a great deal from this book, I just wish it was explained in more layman's terms. At times I felt angry and even stopped reading the book for a few days to clear my head of hurt feelings when reading of my Boomer generation parents and how they parented. I did find these generalizations to be More...
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Jan 24, 2009
Wade
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These guys are lifetime capital hill staffers super informed and wicked smart. Over the last few decades they've written articles and books on the idea that history really is cyclical and that modern perspective sees it as linear due to our focus on progress. They've accurately predicted the dot com buble, realestate bubble, the world trade center attacks and alot of other alarming/too obvious to see phenomenon in our present world.
Unfortunately, neither guy could really write that More...
Unfortunately, neither guy could really write that More...
Jan 09, 2012
Doris
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This book was a difficult read. It started off with psuedo-science which ignored any history which didn't meet the generalizations of the book's premise, which is simply that history repeats, and those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. [I don't remember who I am quoting.]
This was interesting in that it looped several cultural groups into a massive overview of history, showing that many cultures see generations in groups of four, but it tends to ignore that many pe More...
This was interesting in that it looped several cultural groups into a massive overview of history, showing that many cultures see generations in groups of four, but it tends to ignore that many pe More...
Dec 01, 2010
Marcus
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Predicting the future has historically been a somewhat sketchy, if not occasionally lucrative, occupation. How are Strauss and Howe doing, casting their lots with Ray Kurzweil, Arthur C. Clarke, John the Revelator and Nostradamus? Commendably I'd say. The book was written in 1997 and here, 13 years later, it feels like they were fairly accurate with their cyclical approach to history and its implications for now and the near future.
The third turning, the one we're in now, and which is More...
The third turning, the one we're in now, and which is More...
Nov 01, 2010
Keith
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When I started this book I wasn’t sure if I’d ever finish it. It’s written like a college text book; you know, a lot of dry exposition supported with charts and graphs and list after list of dates and historical events. I also thought the charts were poorly laid out and confusing as hell but I stuck with it and I must say, I’m glad I did. The short hand synopsis is that the human perception of time has changed throughout history and that if we look at history through a lens of cyclical time a
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Feb 27, 2011
Justin
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The Fourth Turning explains a theoretical approach to history - a cyclical system of societal high, awakening, unraveling and crisis. Each period has a corresponding stereotype: prophet, nomad, hero and artist. The time period for the cycle is the course of a generation, deemed a saeculum. Each of the four periods in a saeculum lasts between 17 to 29 years, as the authors piece together historical events to fit their theory. The only abnormality (that they recognize) is the time period for the
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Apr 04, 2011
Vivian
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I just finished reading The Fourth Turning this morning. Here's me thinking the authors wrote the entire book just so they could write the concluding 35 pages.
There was a lot of new vocabulary for me. (I've circled the words and intend to look up definitions). I began a google power point doc (w/my 13-yr-old daughter's help) and want to complete that to help get all the pieces in my head.
Now, as I watch movies and read books I am able to plug them into this book. Fo More...
There was a lot of new vocabulary for me. (I've circled the words and intend to look up definitions). I began a google power point doc (w/my 13-yr-old daughter's help) and want to complete that to help get all the pieces in my head.
Now, as I watch movies and read books I am able to plug them into this book. Fo More...
Jan 11, 2010
Cindi
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So I finished this book and tried two different times to post my review and it didn't post. So, my review has been shortened to: Think cycles! Think about some pretty right on predictions and possibilities and ways to be prepared for the future. Also, think scary and exciting as one reviewer on the back cover stated.
I think everyone could find something in this book to interest them. That said, it was a challenging read for me. The repetition that other reviewers mention was a More...
I think everyone could find something in this book to interest them. That said, it was a challenging read for me. The repetition that other reviewers mention was a More...
Jun 29, 2010
Keith
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Interesting perspective on our history and how it follows patterns based on the 4 rotating 20 year generations and their ideas. Right now we are in the worst time when the generational surge is making us anti-government and unable to solve real problems. This of course is unlike the generation of WWII when all problems seemed solvable and public support was there to at least make the attempt. This book is academic, but proposes that the cycle of life, each generation builds and attitude from
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Jan 30, 2012
Jay
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The basic idea that Strauss and Howe are trying to get across in this book is that history is cyclical. To prove that point, they set out to determine exactly what that cycle looks like. In the fourth turning, subtitled "An American Prophecy", they go about looking through history in order to arrive at a pattern that might help us to better understand the future - or at least put ourselves in a place ready for the future.
The cycle, as they see it, can generally be traced More...
The cycle, as they see it, can generally be traced More...
Jan 16, 2009
Randy
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A well argued and convincing cyclical theory of history with four archetypical generations (Prophet, Nomad, Hero and Artist) moving through the four turnings (High, Awakening, Unraveling and Crisis). We are entering a fourth turning, a Crisis. The book, written in 1998 said this: "Sometime around 2005, perhaps a few years before or years after, America will enter the Fourth Turning." They go on to describe the characteristics of this fourth turning, the crisis, in some detail. They are
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Jul 15, 2011
Mario
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Probably twice as long as it needed to be - but that's how I usually feel about these types of books. I loved this book! I found myself telling my wife and friends about it all the time. It was very repetitive - but with each repetition the concepts firmed up in my mind better so I can't really fault the author for that.
I definitely like the second part of the book more than the first. Couldn't believe how accurate his predictions were of our climate ten years in the future. (Book fi More...
I definitely like the second part of the book more than the first. Couldn't believe how accurate his predictions were of our climate ten years in the future. (Book fi More...
Nov 05, 2010
Jocie
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Understand the past to predict the future. History continues to cycle- tragedy and destruction lead to a hard-working and ethical culture (hopefully), which creates prosperity, which creates decadent and ignorant great-grandchildren (hopefully not, but usually), and then society unravels which leads to tragedy and destruction. Yikes! True and scary! This book shows these cycles in American history back to the 1600's.
Why do we need to know this? When each culture falls apart it More...
Why do we need to know this? When each culture falls apart it More...
Mar 29, 2009
Marissa
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This book was recommended by a friend and I expected it would be a "doomsday" kind of book--all about the end of the world as we know it. If my friend hadn't been hounding me to read it, I would have tossed it aside, since I'm not into apocalypse theories. Turns out it's more of about the cycles of societies in history and what we can expect as we (America) cycle through what every other civilization has done before us. To be honest, a lot of it went over my head, but I think it's be
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Nov 22, 2009
Emilee
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This is a very intellectual book another required to read by my school. If you can get through the big words the idea is amazing. It is about the cycles in history and the different generations we belong to. We have different characteristics depending on when we were born. It makes so much sense. I am of the Nomad generation and my younger brother and baby sister are the 4th turning generation the Crisis generation. My grandparents who were in WWII were also of this generation. It's diffi
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Oct 10, 2010
Jon
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I can't give The Fourth Turning a perfect rating, because some of its smaller-scale predictions about politics and culture turned out to be off the mark. The book was written in 1997, so reading it in 2010 is almost unfair, as we're on (or maybe even past) the precipice so carefully described in this book. I give Strauss and Howe credit for a kind of thinking that stands out in our time as original, but stands in history as time-tested, authentic, and natural. This is a sober, trans-partisan, in
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Jan 03, 2012
Jayne
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Back in 2008, I read The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe. I just came across a review (more like a synopsis) that I had put on LiveJournal at the time, so I figured I might as well post it here:
First, let the record show that "Everybody Knows" was originally written and recorded by Leonard Cohen, and to attribute the lyrics to Concrete Blonde demonstrates some willful fucking ignorance.
Second, did you know that Generation X was "the most-aborted More...
First, let the record show that "Everybody Knows" was originally written and recorded by Leonard Cohen, and to attribute the lyrics to Concrete Blonde demonstrates some willful fucking ignorance.
Second, did you know that Generation X was "the most-aborted More...
Jul 13, 2011
Scott
rated it:
This is the best book I have read all year, in terms of how much it has changed my worldview. My wife has noticed that I am now seeing just about everything through the lens of generational cohorts, and in terms of the "fourth turning" we are now in as a society. The book was written by some liberal baby-boomers, but the basic premise (that we are heading toward a crisis) seems to fit with similar predictions from folks on the political right as well (such as Glenn Beck, who predicts g
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Apr 06, 2011
Stephanie
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This book was strange. I'm rather fascinated by the theories in it, thereby making it worth a look. I've already taken sociology classes that have discussed how political opinion reliably switches from party to party every twenty years (???) or so. It's not much of a stretch to extrapolate this onto generations and larger behavioral patterns. In the end, this is largely a book about how societies are changed by war, and how it causes ripple effects on down through the generations (particularly w
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Dec 22, 2011
Tara
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At long last, I finished this book. If the start date is correct, it took me just over a year to get through. I find the concept fascinating, and I've been wanting to read this or their other book on generations for years. Initially, it was great to get a more in-depth understanding of the generational cycles and why they repeat the way they do. I started out reading it to my husband, but he lost interest about the time they started referring to the '60s as an "awakening era" akin to
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Jan 15, 2012
David C.
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This book from 1997 offers a prophesy for the next big crisis America would face in the early 21st century and how the various generations of
Americans now living would react to it. Some of the material in the book now appears pretty prophetic given the events of 9/11 and the invasion in 2003 of Iraq. In the eyes of the authors, these events are just the beginning of a crisis cycle that could last a decade or two and leave American fundamentally changed in how it sees itself and the world. More...
Americans now living would react to it. Some of the material in the book now appears pretty prophetic given the events of 9/11 and the invasion in 2003 of Iraq. In the eyes of the authors, these events are just the beginning of a crisis cycle that could last a decade or two and leave American fundamentally changed in how it sees itself and the world. More...
Oct 29, 2010
DWGibb
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After much study and research, these guys have a theory of history that pretty well reveals what's happening now and in the coming decade in historic terms. They are very much into the cyclical nature of time and history, rather than the linear approach we've all become accustomed to. The cycle is a saeculum, about a hundred years, or a long lifetime.
Each saeculum is divided into four phases or turnings that repeat with each saeculum. The turnings are a High, an Awakening, an Un More...
Each saeculum is divided into four phases or turnings that repeat with each saeculum. The turnings are a High, an Awakening, an Un More...
Jun 05, 2010
Keith
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I approached this book initially very skeptically. My previous experience with "prophecy" was, as I vaguely recall, a book called "The Great Depression of the 1990's" or something like that. But the authors make a convincing case first, that each generation (they define generations in terms of contemporaries or cohorts) really does have a different character, and second, that this generational intermix would produce a major crisis in the U. S. sometime in the period 2005 -
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Jul 24, 2011
Beth A.
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A slow read, but interesting and thought provoking. It’s an attempt to predict the future in a fairly general way based on patterns in history and repeating generational traits. It’s an intriguing idea that as a generation our personalities may be formed- by the parenting and actions of our elders- in such a way that our traits can be traced back and predicted forward in rotating patterns that cause historical and current events to adhere to similar patterns. This theory seemed to make sense to
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Jun 27, 2009
Laura
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This book begins with a preface called "Winter Comes Again." I totally freaked out reading it because even though it was published in 1997, it was eerily accurate of today's circumstances. Nobody likes reading that we're heading into a cycle of "winter" where things will be tough for the next 20 years!
I really appreciated learning more about cycles in History. It was fascinating. I was impressed by how well the book was researched and documented. When I went to More...
I really appreciated learning more about cycles in History. It was fascinating. I was impressed by how well the book was researched and documented. When I went to More...
Apr 21, 2009
Kristy
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Over all I found this book intriguing. I felt there was some repetition that maybe could have been left out, but their point was well made and well established. I feel there is truth in the idea that history is cyclical, not linear as we sometimes think it is. If you haven't read this book or heard about it, basically what the authors do is show how in the last 3,000 years of recorded European history the world has gone through patterns that have repeated. And unless we are so much more differ
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Aug 12, 2008
Drkazmd65
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I picked up this book after reading a brief review of it on the Huffington Post. The idea of this book in that brief review was enough to make me go out and pick it up off B&N.com - something I almost never do.
I wasn't disapointed. The authors lay out the idea behind four basic archetypes that more than generally correspond with 20-year generation cycles. These types are shaped by those that raise them, and the expanding or contractiong spiritual and economic cycles that they gr More...
I wasn't disapointed. The authors lay out the idea behind four basic archetypes that more than generally correspond with 20-year generation cycles. These types are shaped by those that raise them, and the expanding or contractiong spiritual and economic cycles that they gr More...
Apr 03, 2011
Natasha
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Strauss and Howe make a strong argument for studying time cyclically. Not only does a definite pattern of seasons of growth and decay emerge over the centuries, but generations are formed determined by their relation in time to historical events. For example, generations who come of age during a crisis take on a hero role as they march in step to the orders of their elders and save the day. The authors claim, "When history is viewed as seasonal . . . each generation can discover its own pat
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