Fifth Beginning: What Six Million Years of Human History Can Tell Us about Our Future

The Fifth Beginning by archaeologist Robert L. Kelly predicts the future of humanity by studying the cultural past. He identifies four key pivot points in human development and predicts a fifth beginning, which includes the end of war, capitalism, and nation-states, and the rise of cooperation. Kelly is cautiously optimistic about humanity's potential.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 168 pages
Publication date: 12 February 2019
Publisher: University of California Press

The Fifth Beginning is a fascinating and thought-provoking book that will challenge readers to rethink their assumptions about the past,present,and future. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of human development,globalization,and the possibilities for a more peaceful and prosperous world.
The Fifth Beginning is a fascinating and thought-provoking book that will challenge readers to rethink their assumptions about the past, present, and future. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of human development, globalization, and the possibilities for a more peaceful and prosperous world.

In an eminently readable style, Kelly identifies four key pivot points in the six-million-year history of human development: the emergence of technology, culture, agriculture, and the state. In each example, the author examines the long-term processes that resulted in a definitive, no-turning-back change for the organization of society. Kelly then looks ahead, giving us evidence for what he calls a fifth beginning, one that started about AD 1500. Some might call it "globalization," but the author places it in its larger context: a five-thousand-year arms race, capitalism's global reach, and the cultural effects of a worldwide communication network.

Kelly predicts that the emergent phenomena of this fifth beginning will include the end of war as a viable way to resolve disputes, the end of capitalism as we know it, the widespread shift toward world citizenship, and the rise of forms of cooperation that will end the near-sacred status of nation-states. It's the end of life as we have known it. However, the author is cautiously optimistic: he dwells not on the coming chaos, but on humanity's great potential.

The Fifth Beginning is a fascinating and thought-provoking book that will challenge readers to rethink their assumptions about the past, present, and future. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of human development, globalization, and the possibilities for a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Weight: 244g
Dimension: 231 x 151 x 11 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520303485