The Storm Before the Calm

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In his riveting new book, acclaimed forecaster and New York Times bestselling author George Friedman examines what is happening in America today, the turbulent road the country is headed down in the coming decade, and the triumphant years that lay beyond. Explaining the two fascinating geopolitical cycles that have allowed the United States to develop, fracture, mature, and solidify, Friedman breaks down the coming years in thrilling detail. First is an eighty-year institutional cycle that has defined America (the Revolutionary War/founding, the Civil War, and World War II). Second is a fifty-year socio-economic cycle that has seen the formation of the industrial classes, baby boomers, and the middle classes. In a rare convergence, these two major cycles are both arriving in the 2020s--a time in which many of these foundations will change. The tremors we see now in the United States are precursors to the convergence of these cycles. In this riveting new work, Friedman analyzes the types of upheaval America will have to endure, as well as possible conflicts in the 2020s, before ultimately arriving at a new American century of increased strength, stability, and power in the world.