The Great Turning

by KORTEN, DAVID C.

• ISBN13: 9781887208086
• ISBN10: 1887208089
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-10-14
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

The threat of continued warfare to the future of humanity has become dire. "The Great Turning explores that threat in detail and provides an equally detailed plan for meeting - and overcoming - it. Written in the author's trademark clear, compelling style, this timely book uncovers the roots of Empire in ancient Athens and charts the long transition from the institutions of monarchy to those of the global economy as the favoured instruments of imperialism. Korten then discusses the promise of early America as a democracy dedicated to spreading liberty and freedom - and the failure of the "American experiment" through the contemporary takeover of the U.S. government by corporate plutocrats, religious theocrats, and neoconservative militarists in pursuit of naked imperial ambition. Korten draws on sources as varied as evolution, developmental psychology, and the wisdom of religious mystics to make the case for "Earth Community" - a people-cantered, community-based future that is both possible and necessary.

Author Biography

Dr. David C. Korten is a co-founder and board chair of the Positive Futures Network, which publishes YES! A Journal of Positive Futures; founder and president of the People-Centered Development Forum; an associate of the International Forum on Globalization; a member of the Club of Rome; and serves on the boards of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economics and the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. He has authored or edited numerous books, including When Corporations Rule the World, The Post-Corporate World, and Globalizing Civil Society.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
The Great Turning	p. 3
Prologue: In Search of the Possible	p. 5
Choosing Our Future	p. 25
The Choice	p. 27
The Possibility	p. 41
The Imperative	p. 57
The Opportunity	p. 74
Sorrows of Empire	p. 91
When God Was a Woman	p. 93
Ancient Empire	p. 109
Modern Empire	p. 126
Athenian Experiment	p. 142
America, the Unfinished Project	p. 157
Inauspicious Beginning	p. 159
People Power Rebellion	p. 171
Empire's Victory	p. 181
Struggle for Justice	p. 201
Wake-Up Call	p. 217
Prisons of the Mind	p. 237
The Great Turning	p. 251
Beyond Strict Father versus Aging Clock	p. 253
Creation's Epic Journey	p. 267
Joys of Earth Community	p. 281
Stories for a New Era	p. 302
Birthing Earth Community	p. 313
Leading from Below	p. 315
Building a Political Majority	p. 327
Liberating Creative Potential	p. 341
Change the Story, Change the Future	p. 354
Notes	p. 361
Index	p. 380
About the Author	p. 401
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