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The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End

The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End

By Neil Howe
Simon & Schuster, 2023, 592 pp.
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Reviewed by Jessica T. Mathews

March/April 2024Published on
In This Review
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End

The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us About How and When This Crisis Will End

By Neil Howe

Simon & Schuster, 2023, 592 pp.
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Howe's widely read earlier book, The Fourth Turning, propounded the theory that a cyclical pattern underlies Anglo-American history over the past 500 years, from a cycle of energetic optimism to those of weakening and crisis. This sequel recapitulates the theory at some length, then delves into the current American "winter" (the author pairs each turning with a season) that Howe believes began with the 2008 global market crash and subsequent recession and will end in the early 2030s. He focuses on the roles of different generations--boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z--in shaping each turning. Notwithstanding the ambition of the book's thesis and the enormous scope of its supporting material, the writing has a light, almost chatty tone that makes it highly digestible. But to find its argument compelling, the reader will need an open-mindedness to grand, cyclical patterns as determinants of history and a willingness to accept some elasticity in timelines.


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