The Fourth Turning

Behind the Bible, this is one of the most life-changing books I have ever read! While the book is a solid academic work, it clearly spells out a warning of bad times coming from the perspective of the authors in the late 1990's. The vast majority of the predictions made toward the end of the book have come to pass.

This book is valuable on two fronts:
1. The warning that is imparted to the readers to prepare for the crisis that is almost upon us.
2. Understanding of how we were raised (no matter what your age) and what motivates us as we raise our children.

It is item #2 that differentiates this book from other boks that spell out dire warnings for our society. It is about understanding how we got here, how it is possible to get out of it, and how we'll get back here again in another lifetime. It is also about finding peace in the way one was raised (with all its positives and negatives) and understanding what motivated one's parents. It explains why people react to events and conditions they do they do and how as well as why those reactions to the same events change dramatically over time as generational makeup of society changes.

A must-read! I plan to buy more copies for my friends and family.

Why are these guys not on Larry King or 60 Minutes or Glenn Beck? You can read all of the other reviews that discuss how accurate their forecasts are. Suffice to say the authors forecasted a crisis catylst "in 2008" with the advent of the "Great Devaluation". You've got to be kidding me! They wrote this book at the height of the go-go 90s...this was nonsense and heretical to write about a crises 10 years hence...yet here we are. Have you ever heard the word "crisis" and "Depression" and "panic" used so much in living memory?

I'm truly amazed at the accuracy of their forecasts.
One caveat...they didn't seem to forecast how tight the global markets would be to America in ten short years. The "Great Devaluation" is happening all over the planet because Wall Street figured out a way to push our mortgages and sense of home prices always going up (aka our delusions) all over the globe with a stroke of a mouse click - I guess I can't fault them for not predicting that.

If you're looking for a book to try and make sense of what's going on in the world right now, this book is for you. I bought this book when it first came out and have read it several times over. I never cease to be amazed at how the events today seem to be falling in line with the authors speculations. It is more relevant today than at any time since it was published.

I dismiss this book as a prophecy even though it's included in the title; instead I would categorize it as a reasonable and educated theory on the cycles of history and how they impact different generations. I'm not so gullable as to believe these authors are clairvoyant; however, their hypothesis and general premise has enough validity to make one seriously watch modern events under the lens of their theory.

As I read the last 100 pages of the book, I find myself shaking my head and marveling at how many of their assertions are coming true. For those of you that are trying to put some sense on the confusing events that transpire around us every day, I urge you to read this book with an open mind and consider whether we are living in a period of historical unraveling.

About four years ago, I saw the pattern, people are going to wonder how to deal with the new generations entering the workforce. Articles were surfacing in just about every workplace communication newsletter. The volume in magazines and newspapers started to overwhelm me.

Some place along the line I heard about this book. It is a terrific basic understanding of the values/beliefs of the generations. This book helped me launch my career on "Intergenerational Communication in the Workplace." It gave me the basics -- which, I believe hold true today. It gave me a real understanding which I have been able to add on to as more and more articles and research continue to surface.

Great background for Veterans (Traditionalists), Baby Boomers, beginning of the X Generation entering the workforce. You'll need to supplement with later information on Generation X and Y -- Yet, feel this is a book that those of you who are interested in intergenerational communication need to have in your library."

Kathy Condon, Executive Coach, Speaker and Trainer and Author of the book: "It Doesn't Hurt to Ask: It's all about communication."

This startlingly apt volume offers the best explanation I have encountered of how generations create history and history creates generations in a kind of chicken and egg dance through the centuries. It has always seemed a puzzle to me that definable generations exist, given that births are pretty randomly distributed through the months and years--and yet, of course, they do. The cycle described by Strauss and Howe makes clear sense.

However, this book is much more. It presents a vision of history as cyclical and in many ways predictable, bolstered by a look backward through American and English cycles over the past several centuries. The authors then looked forward and made very specific predictions about the coming decade--a period just ending as I write this review. (The book was published in 1997.)

A major event that would trigger reordering of the American psyche? Check. Increased divisivness? Check. Increased xenophobia? Check. An election by 2008 or 2012 at the latest that would bring major change in America's leadership? Can you say Obama? (The movement more than the man, in my view.)

If the authors' presience holds true we are in for some very rough sledding but with the strong possibility that we will emerge from this part of the cycle with a new vision, a new unity, a new pluralism and a new egalitarianism.

A stunning book.