The Fourth Turning Is Here

What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End

By: Neil Howe

Narrated by: Neil Howe

Length: 20 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The visionary behind the best-selling phenomenon The Fourth Turning looks once again to America’s past to predict our future in this startling and hopeful prophecy for how our present era of civil unrest will resolve over the next 10 years—and what our lives will look like once it has.

Twenty-five years ago, Neil Howe and the late William Strauss dazzled the world with a provocative new theory of American history. Looking back at the last 500 years, they’d uncovered a distinct pattern: modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting roughly 80 to 100 years, the length of a long human life, with each cycle composed of four eras—or “turnings”—that always arrive in the same order and each last about 25 years. The last of these eras—the fourth turning—was always the most perilous, a period of civic upheaval and national mobilization as traumatic and transformative as the New Deal and World War II, the Civil War, or the American Revolution.

Now, right on schedule, our own fourth turning has arrived. And so Neil Howe has returned with an extraordinary new prediction. What we see all around us—the polarization, the growing threat of civil conflict and global war—will culminate by the early 2030s in a climax that poses great danger and yet also holds great promise, perhaps even bringing on America’s next golden age. Every generation alive today will play a vital role in determining how this crisis is resolved, for good or ill.

Illuminating, sobering, yet ultimately empowering, The Fourth Turning Is Here takes you back into history and deep into the collective personality of each living generation to make sense of our current crisis, explore how all of us will be differently affected by the political, social, and economic challenges we’ll face in the decade to come, and reveal how our country, our communities, and our families can best prepare to meet these challenges head-on.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Neil Howe (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"There is always profit in reading prophets…. The Fourth Turning Is Here is big history and bold futurology, and the closer it is to the present, the more reasonable it seems." —The Wall Street Journal

"Driven by a deep sense that American democracy is at serious risk… [yet Howe predicts that] out of today’s polarization and partisanship will come a new egalitarian, outward-facing, confident and unified America." —Francis Fukuyama, The New York Times

"Arresting, mind-opening, and endlessly stimulating, The Fourth Turning Is Here is a monumental achievement. It's a big, complex, challenging book, daunting in its sweep and erudition, but well worth the effort." —Amy Chua, Yale Law Professor and New York Times bestselling author of Political Tribes

Enjoyable - But ….

If this is your first exposure to Strauss and Howe’s generational theories you may find this interesting / for those familiar with their earlier work there is very little new here - perhaps 10% of the content - that said generational theory is fascinating and worth a listen for many

Very good Read but.....

This book was quite interesting. A few things to note. The politics of the author can come through I'm tht latter half of the book as long as you can parse this out it's great for anyone. That's where most will find fault with this book during this hyper polarization we're in. If you're very conservative this book well scare you.

So many unknown facts to consider.

This material will help me immensely improve my decisions in the future and interaction with other generations.

Fascinating

A little long and mind numbing.
It’s like the history of America in 20 hours. I did not read or listen to his first book but I was engaged by his philosophical point of view. I didn’t consider it political either way. His future seemed optimistic but the way technology is accelerating I think our future as a country will be unknowable. AI is already impacting the world as we know it. It’s just the tip of the iceberg and as we get closer to quantum speed the human race will possibly be in
peril.
As a boomer I have already witnessed and experienced some of his predictions. I am
less certain about the future.

Fascinating

A great follow to the first book I read on this topic, The Fourth Turning. If the author is correct - and I have no way of knowing of course - we are heading into some troubling times. Even more troubling than what we are currently experiencing. Great read.

An important theory as we approach crisis

I think this book is getting a lot of traction because the idea is important. The central idea that history moves in cycles made up of four generations and a cyclical period spanning roughly one long human life — that’s an incredibly useful and instructive model of history. My primary interest in reading. This was understanding how to cope with the coming crisis, which at this point seems inevitable. I’m not sure that the book touched on those points that I was most interested in, but that’s understandable. The theory itself Hass to be explained, and this is where that theory is laid out.

Really interesting theory on generational habits

I like this theory and this book, although the author is long winded and at times he loses me. A shortened version would be nice to have.

Outstanding

At the same time fascinating and sobering. An outstanding insight into our history and more importantly, our future. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the world.

A testimonial of Generational Responsibility

The writers of both “The Fourth Turning” and “The Fourth Turning is here” continue provided evidentiary support to our roles as individuals and our generational role to play in time. As a late wave Gen X, (1981) and arguably a member of the sub group “Xennial” entering mid life, I found this book to solidify what I thought were my personal understanding of my individual responsibilities to society. I found the book to lift a weight off my shoulders and proud of the role to which I clearly share with so many others. Much thanks to Neil Howe and William Strauss for this decades long journey they have compiled and shared.

Sincerely,
A Nomad

Great for liberal friends!

This is my 2nd Neil Howe book. The other with Neil & William Strauss. I love how this book gives us a positive and negative outcome for the next 1st turning. I did listen to it at 1.2x speed which was more enjoyable personally. I felt Neil had a bit of a liberal world view which makes this wonderful for your liberal friends. If they listen to this or read the book they will know how serious this 4th turning period is and why they need to prepare ASAP. War is upon us like it or not. Depression is around the corner. Uptick in crime is coming to a neighborhood near you… Thank you for the update Neil. I appreciate your book and will recommend it to all my Democrat and liberal friends.