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PoindexterOglethorpe

(28,247 posts) Fri Oct 24, 2025, 10:51 AM Friday

"The Fourth Turning" by William Strauss and Neil Howe. [View all]

Everyone should read it. The book carefully explains the cycles of history.Essentially we are currently in the part of the cycle they call the Fourth Turning, where everything goes to hell and then everything is resolved more or less and we then start a brand new cycle. The last fourth turning was 1929-1945, the Great Depression and WWII. Things were awful, then the good guys won and we entered the 1950s, the baby boom, and so on.

Right now, according to Strauss and Howe, we are at the beginning of a new fourth turning, and at present we have no way of knowing how it will all end. or who will win. Because of this book, I take the long view: Yes, things are bad now but they will get better eventually.

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"The Fourth Turning" by William Strauss and Neil Howe. [View all] PoindexterOglethorpe Friday OP

Read that a few years ago. Not a fan of the premise...nt Wounded Bear Friday #1

the writers seem EXCITED about possibilities... ret5hd Friday #3

Yes, much loved by neo-nazi christian dominionist accelerationists. Main psychosocial history on FReak site. . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Friday #7

And there are the Christians who want to witness PatSeg Friday #18

9/11 caused the fourth turning MaineBlueBear Friday #2

That was probably part of the 3rd turning Renew Deal Friday #25

My thinking is it will take a generation to settle. cachukis Friday #4

Exactly. It takes longer for things to settle PoindexterOglethorpe Friday #8

I believe Steve Bannon is a big believer in this. underpants Friday #5

It's a thought provoking hypothesis but not especially fact based Bernardo de La Paz Friday #6

They also quote dozens of PoindexterOglethorpe Friday #9

Keeping the long view in the background allows me to maintain my sanity. ariadne0614 Friday #10

Thanks for that suggestion. PoindexterOglethorpe Friday #12

I hope it's as interesting to you as it was to me. ariadne0614 Friday #14

Sounds a lot like the crap spouted by the Temple Mount Faithful. pecosbob Friday #11

I have nelver heard of the Temple Mount Faithful. PoindexterOglethorpe Friday #13

Leaping to conclusions is so much easier. n/t ariadne0614 Friday #15

It's good and it explains historical cycles Renew Deal Friday #16

What Gen Z riots? WhiskeyGrinder Friday #21

Gen z riots kcoates Friday #22

Correct Renew Deal Friday #23

Our mantra in our household has been doom/gloom since Jan GusBob Friday #17

Thanks. I'll get it. Scrivener7 Friday #19

"Essentially things will get a whole lot worse before they get better, and a lot of things will change." WhiskeyGrinder Friday #20

the other part of it is the consistent 80 year cycle Renew Deal Friday #24

Reconstruction comes after destruction? Do tell. WhiskeyGrinder Friday #29

What happened in Europe after WW2? Renew Deal Friday #30

I'm saying a person doesn't need pseudo science to figure that out. WhiskeyGrinder Friday #31

They buried 80 million dead people leftstreet Friday #33

It's long and complicated, what happened PoindexterOglethorpe Friday #34

You assume too much Renew Deal Friday #37

I'm not assuming anything. PoindexterOglethorpe Saturday #40

Semi-related albeit through a technical lens: TheProle Friday #26

Sustainable capitalism biophile Friday #32

I'm near certain that I'll be dead ZDU Friday #27

Nuclear Annihilation? yankee87 Friday #28

Oh my gosh, my vision disability interpreted the word turning to be tuning quite a different kettle of fish msfiddlestix Friday #35

I think Steve Bannon is fan of that book AZProgressive Friday #36

So is Newt Gingrich. thought crime Friday #38

It's pop history. It passes as intellectualism in an anti-intellectual movement. thought crime Friday #39

Something about a widening gyre? Orrex Saturday #41