The Upside of Down: The End of the World as We Know it and why that May Not be Such a Bad Thing

"As he examines the precarious state of the modern world, Professor Thomas Homer-Dixon takes us on a journey from the fall of the Roman Empire to the devastation of the September 11 attacks, from the 2003 blackout in north-east USA and Ontario to the ancient temples of Lebanon. In The Upside of Down he sets out a theory of the growth, crisis and renewal of societies, arguing that the world continues to fall into the same endangering patterns. He uses a wide variety of disciplines to show that the great stresses our world is experiencing - global warming, energy scarcity and the widening gap between the rich and poor - are combining and converging to the point where they 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. And, he argues, some kinds of breakdown could even open up extraordinary opportunities for creative, bold reform of our societies, if we're prepared to exploit these opportunities when they arise."--Provided by publisher.