The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy

Future generations will judge this book and the theories it presents as a foundation to understanding how the generations interact. Anyone who takes the time to understand this book will be uniquely prepared for the events that are about to unfold in the not too distant future (2009).

This book presents a fresh and fascinating viewpoint of how the order and relationship of generations to one another bring about great and unexpected changes in our society. The thesis builds upon a previous study done by the authors in an earlier book entitled "Generations" and works to apply the theories advanced in that book to the conditions as we have them today. Far more than a book of shallow prognosication, it equips each of us with a new lens that can be used to see relationships and trends heretofore invisible. I recommend it for anyone with an interest in history who wishes to challenge their staid views of the past.

People who really get what this book is saying find it changes their entire world views. I am one of them and cannot recommend it highly enough. Having said that, I also cannot do enough to recommend that you get paper and audio versions and consume them in parallel. Some of these concepts really need to be seen in tabular format to be understood. At the same time, I found that listening to this abridged version greatly enhanced by comprehension of the full print version, and helped me to be more patient with it when it grew occasionally circular.

This book gave me a new perspective on our history and our possible future. This book was written in 1997 and I read it in 2010. It's not a book predicting the future, but it does make some forecasts that are pretty spot-on. I find this book quite valuable and would recommend this book to my children when they grow up. The knowledge in it is valuable in that it gives you foresight of cycles to come in our culture. I agree with the authors' premise that time is cyclical and not linear.

This is a great book. Though it was written in 1996 because of the accuracy of their predictions you would have thought it was written today (2010) in retrospect of the happenings of this past decade. It'll change the way you think about and see the things happening in America today.

The most amazing book I have read. It explains so much about American Generations and how each one effects the other and the times we lived in and the times we will live in.
It predicted the Stock market crash of 2008 and the turmoil we are going through as a nation.
All our national politicians should read this.


Nomad 4 life!

We seem to have lost all conventional wisdom regarding the natural cycle of all things to include life, economies, cultures, governments, etc... This book really puts generation gaps in a natural perspective. This book gave me a clearer understanding of why my parents' generation often seems more foreign and irrelevant to me than that of of my grandparents. Amazing book.

I listened to this book four times to date. This book lays out history in a completely new and insightful way and provides razor sharp insight into what is going on in society now and what is to come. It is at once hopeful and terrifying.

The Fourth Turning is a book that's way ahead of it's time. If only the leaders of society would acknowledge it's value and act accordingly.

This book information is too detailed to comprehend verbally. Table presentations overcome this in the book. The book is highly redundant which for me reduced the desire to continue reading. If you need this information, get book.