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Summary: This perspective is needed.
Review: I have taken the book's perspective and 'plugged it in' in order to gain insight on people that I know and also history; and I must say that it works every time. I have learned a whole lot through adopting the author's particulat viewpoint on 'the way things are' so-to-speak. I think that this book (like everything else) cannot just be taken and accepted at face value, but I invite readers to test it for themselves.
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Summary: Definitely Thought Provoking -- Psychohistory 101
Review: Books such as the Fourth Turning are always thought provoking, but one MUST critically assess whether the thesis put forth is explanatory or predictive. (This is a MAJOR fault in many business books, especially those by Tom Peters).A major stumbling block in there hypothesis is the fact that they cannot explain why their four generation saeculum skips a generation during the time of the civil war. None the less their basic assertions about the cycles (perhaps spirals or helix is more apt)of generational attitudes and tendencies is insightful and interesting. Without meaning to demean this effort (more than I have above) I found myself reminiscing about Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" twin trilogies (science fiction) in which he posited (in the 1950's yet!) that human history was predictable through a combination of statistics and psychology. Personally, I believe in this conceptually, but actual execution is a long way off. The Fourth Turning has tended to affirm that belief, but does not convince me that they can execute on predictions -- as other reviewers have said, their predicitions are incredibly vague.
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Summary: A new way of looking at your place in society.
Review: These writers have really taken there time to figure out a theory that could one day make them famous. There new look at life can make anyone stop and think about where they stand in there small asspect of the world. The charts and nicely layed out ideas make this difficult concept easier to understand. Even more than understanding who you are, you can understand where high powered people stand and their comparisons to you and your life. In reading this book it can become very exciting, and then to others it can seem totaly outlandish and not close to what real society is about at all. But again it is interesting to see what new types of ideas are coming out about the human life and the way we live it.
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Summary: Thought-provoking ideas
Review: This book is filled with interesting ideas. It seems that some of their theories are a stretch, but they are still very valuable. Looking at our history as a cycle is a new perspective for me. This book is an excellent example of looking at history as a way to predict and prepare for the future. While the books says that we are doomed for a crisis in the near future, how we are prepared for this can have a great impact on our fate.
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Summary: Interesting, worth pondering, but a bit of a reach.
Review: This book had a lot of interesting ideas, ones that you could easily debate with friends. At times though, I felt as though the examples that the authors were using to prove their points could have been interchangeable with anything. I believe that anyone could make just as strong an argument that the opposite is the case if they wanted to.
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Summary: Astrology at best.
Review: Very poor, Strauss and Howe attribute Anglo-American history to some kind of cycle based on the life span of human beings (80 to 100 years). Each cycle contains 4 turnings, and the events are predictable; as if the western history progressed in an incubator. Completely absent from their analysis are the major intellectual, social and technical advances which changed western civilization and world history. If you like astrology, get this book. The reviews for this book were all 5 stars. I can only deduce, that the same reviewers would find "An Incomplete Education" a 1 star book.
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Summary: Fingers on the pulse . . .
Review: In The Fourth Turning : An American Prophecy, William Strauss and Neil Howe have their fingers on the pulse of generational inquiry--but are the fingers held too tightly? They've identified the anticipation of the current younger generation to come into what is rightly theirs. But how much can twenty-first century youth learn from the annals of time? Their cyclic approach denies the generation of spontaneously novel growth of ideas. Our generation (the Millennials) was breast-fed on a reality far broader than any ealier generation. We are more than just the collective sum of our history--cyclic or non-cyclic. The notion that what is come will come again--and again, and again, and again--provides a feeble umbrella to retreat to when our potential is not realized. To ground the accomplishments of the present or future in the conflicts of the past denies all the trans-cyclic accomplishments and the resulting community building. Seeing cycles in the past tells us more about the observer than the subject. They have their fingers on the pulse of generational change: is it a matter of the heart not beating or lack of oxygen to the brain?
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Summary: Making sense of the mess.
Review: This remarkable view of history and society is both simple and beautiful. In common language accompanied by many everyday examples, a revolutionary and compeling theory of history is presented. Howe & Strauss's cyclic theory of history helps you understand that YOU, as a part of a generation, are an integral part of history. In addition it provides insight into current affairs and trends, and the future of the American nation.
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Summary: Great for those interested in social science and analysis
Review: I like this book very much: so much that I have bought 4 other copies for friends and relatives. Not all of them like it as much as I do. The main difference, I have found, is that if you are not one who enjoys social sciences (like sociology) or social analyses, it has less appeal. The book's premise is that there is a repeating generational pattern through history, and Strauss and Howe have followed this pattern as far back as the late 1400s. They allow that this is not an exact science (it involves humans after all!), and you don't need to be a history buff to understand their occasional historical references. Well done!
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Summary: Appreciation for the author's insight and courage.
Review: Strauss and Howe have done a fine job of presenting the dryest, most unpopular type of material, history and prophesy. I appreciate the amount of research and craftmanship that went into this book. The authors have done a fine job of making history interesting and meaningful. No one likes to hear that they are headed for crisis. What could be more unpopular. I say bravo. Let's get on with life and the evolution of consciousness. I appreciate the authors' insight into the historical precedent and their efforts to give us some tools to work with in preparing for the crisis. I also appreciate the courage it took for them to stick their necks out to give us some possible scenarios and advice on how to cope with the changes that are coming.
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