Take a photo of a barcode or cover
116 reviews for:
The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us about America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny
William Strauss, Neil Howe
3.57 AVERAGE
116 reviews for:
The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us about America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny
William Strauss, Neil Howe
3.57 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
So I partially skimmed the book, and the first section was boring to me (it's just not my genre) but despite that I found the latter 3/4 of the book very interesting. We talked about this book in grad school in some of our education classes since it had just come out but I never read it. It's fascinating to see generational trends explained. It's also interesting to read now, during the time the authors predicted we'd be in a Fourth Turning. Was 9/11 our crisis? I'm not convinced we are in a fourth turning and I'm also not one who'd like to create a self fulfilling prophecy based on this book. Note: I read this because an article described this as something Steve Bannon was really into and since it had been a book I was interested in I picked it up. I wanted to understand a bit more about how he thinks (I'm not a fan of his, PS). According to the article, he believes we are in a fourth turning. You don't need this book to understand him but it does give more in depth insight into what may be influencing him.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Definitely a difficult yet fulfilling understanding of the cycles of history and the archetypes of each generation.
I wish I read this book 10 years ago and I wish there was a addendum for these last few years of our fourth turning. Even though this book ends on a nefarious and foreboding note, it is nonetheless fascinating and hopeful.
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was a hard read for me. It´s a complex topic and jumps around chronologically a number of times. what I found surprising was the accuracy of the predictions of the fourth turning.
In the top ten of the books that have most impacted my life. Read a lot of Howe and Strauss in the mid 1990's, and they shaped how I think of broad sociological, generational movements in the world.
Very interesting premise that human behaviour is predictable based on a generational cycle of about 80 years. However, the book read like a university textbook and I found it confusing and repetitive. Written in the late 90s, it predicts substantial challenges in the first half of the 2020s (stay tuned). Recommendations to prepare for the imminent events were unhelpful.
It took me a while to get through, but it's an interesting take on how events influence generations which cause history to go be cyclical, or "seasonal" as the author's put it. Intriguing stuff.