By Thomas Homer-Dixon
Text Publishing, trade paperback $40.
This is not just a catalogue of crisis points and doom prophecy, “The Upside of Down” sets out a theory of the growth, crisis, and renewal of societies. Today’s converging energy, environmental, and political-economic stresses could cause a breakdown of national and global order. Yet there are things we can do now to keep such a breakdown from being catastrophic, some kinds of breakdown could even open up extraordinary opportunities for creative, bold and sustainable reform of our societies, if we’re prepared to seize these opportunities when they arise.
September 2007