Amazon Reviews
103 of 108 people found the following review to be helpful:
People are the new super power--local resilience, global community, January 28, 2007
By Robert D. Steele
I have mixed feelings about this book. It is unquestionably a five-star work of reflection, integration, and focused moral intent. On the other hand, while it introduced a broad "earth-friendly" literature that I was *not* familiar with, it does not "see" a much broader literature that I have absorbed, and so I want to do two things with this review: feature the highlights from this book, and list a number of other works that support and expand on the author's reflections for the greater good of us all.
Early highlights include the continued relevance of Dennis Kucinich and the emerging value of the Case Foundation and Revolution Health as funded by Steve Case, founder of AOL. The author posits early on the choice we have been a great unraveling and a great turning. He describes all our institutions as failing at the same time that we have unlimited potential. He concludes, as have many others, that centralized authority is not working, and suggests that we must confront that which does not work and devise new constructive alternatives ("for every no there must be a yes").
In the middle of the book he describes the five levels of consciousness as magical, imperial, socialized, cultural, and spirirtual. I would have put socialized ahead of imperial, since the industrial era used schools to socialize us into both factory workers and conscripts for the armed forces. He concludes this section with a commentary on moral autism, which of course reminds us of nakedly amoral Dick Cheney.
The author moves toward a conclusion by pointing out that people are the new super-power, with the Internet and its many new features as the foundation for bringing people together and making people power effective.
A large portion of the middle section is a historical review of America, with its genocidal, slavery, and unilateral militant interventionist nature, and its extreme inequality now, which the literature on revolution clearly identifies (the latter, concentration of wealth) as a precurser to almost inevitable violent revolution).
The book ends with four strategic elements:
1) Awakening of cultural and spiritual consciousness
2) Resistance of the imperial empire's assault on children, families, communities, and nature
3) Form and connect communities of convergence
4) Build a majoritarian political base.
In parting notes he points out that the status of our children is the key indicator of our future, and that today one out of every two children is born into and lives into poverty (one reason why the High Level Threat Panel put poverty above infectuous disease and environmental degradation).
He ends by calling for local living economies at a human scale.
If you have the time to only read one book within the broad literatures of imagination, corporateism, and constructive prospects for the planet, this is probably that book. Below I want to a list quite a few that support this author's thesis, and for which I have provided a summative as well as an evaluative review within these Amazon pages:
The Corporation
WALMART-HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE (DVD/FF/FR-SP-SUB)
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions
Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids
Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
War Is a Racket: The Anti-War Classic by America's Most Decorated General, Two Other Anti=Interventionist Tracts, and Photographs from the Horror of It
The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
See also:
Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin
Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth'
"The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past"
Imagine: What America Could Be in the 21st Century
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
Deep Economy
There are many more should you wish to explore via my categorized lists, but the above both lend great credence to the author of this single book, and expand considerably on the reflections that he has distilled into this one book.
65 of 70 people found the following review to be helpful:
The book is better than I had expected, April 26, 2006
By Peter
...and my expectations were high to begin with. I must confess to only being half way through it. However, it's kept me up late both nights since purchasing it. (I'm writing this at 1:36 am after staying up way past my bed time to read "just one more" chapter.)
The author makes history come alive for the reader. Although I have read numerous books on history over the decades, this is the first one that explains the positive feedback loop that has allowed Empire to emerge and persist for 5000 years so far, despite the immeasurable cost to humanity and the planet.
The author recommends that readers form discussion groups and provides some tools for facilitating discussion. If you'd like to join mine, come to my site's forum.
This will be one of the most important books you will ever read.
37 of 39 people found the following review to be helpful:
The Global Mess We Are In and The Way Out Of It, December 2, 2006
By Bugs
David C. Korten has done a wonderful job of exposing the five thousand year history of Empire building and social hierarchy around the world and it`s tragic trail of greed and control driven tyranny, but with special attention to the history of it in the U.S. and up to it's current form- corporate control and manipulation of society decimating sustainable economics, the environment- and ultimately, the health of our nation and the world.
Korten relates that the U.S. Constitution was a remarkable accomplishment for it's time and along with evolving amendments to include all citizens of it's benefits, on paper at least, it appeared as a grand experiment in democracy.
As Korten succinctly points out, however, every advancement in democracy and fairness has been fought against by corporate giants and the rich for selfish monopoly of the assets of our nation leaving us with a huge disparity in wealth between the relatively small numbers of elite rich in proportion to the larger numbers of middle class on down to the very poor. That there is a class structure at all is a sad commentary on equality, fairness, and our democracy.
Korten proffers that the Great Turning will gain momentum when we embrace the notion that "...a proper market economy operates with rules, borders, and equitable local ownership under the public oversight of democratically accountable governments." (p 15)
The Great Turning embraces the tenants of the Earth Charter in recognizing that this world is finite, resources are limited and need to be used in a sustainable/regenerative way with equal distribution for a healthy and harmonious existence for all of the world's citizens.
"Creating a mature society, however, requires leadership by people of a mature consciousness." (p 48). And this is the essence of the message Korten is disseminating, I believe. His Great Turning and Yes!Magazine websites have an abundance of info and resources on taking action and organizing local groups for dialogue on the Great Turning.
The Great Turning is a remarkable achievement and a monument to sustainable human conduct and relation with all other life forms and the environment that supports us all.
34 of 37 people found the following review to be helpful:
Choosing The Great Turning, June 11, 2006
By Kafwood
Drawing from a multiplicity of disciplines, The Great Turning identifies the consequences of empire and outlines a course for future corrective action. Korten leverages the work of numerous progressive thinkers and activists pulling their individual contributions together to guide the reader to his main thesis: a call for Earth Community. The well footnoted text leaves the reader with many opportunities to explore in depth the topics introduced from the fields of economics, history, psychology, theology, systems theory, biology, sociology and political science.
Recognizing the turbulence of the times we live in as an opportunity, rather than a harbinger of certain disaster, Korten underscores the importance of the choice before American society: Will this be the time of the Great Unraveling or the Great Turning? The Great Turning's emphasis on choice itself is a refreshing reminder, "The capacity to anticipate and choose our future is a defining characteristic of the human species. (p.26)"
Peeling back the layers of Empire's distortions and its socio-political trappings is the target of the first three sections of the book. The remaining two sections explore the realm beyond Empire: building Earth Community. Korten takes the position that developing parallel structures at the local level, in anticipation of the collapse of Empire, is the most effective way to rid ourselves of 5000 years of dominator culture.
Numerous relocalization efforts across the United States are presented as evidence of a grassroots Earth Community movement already underway. A complementary Great Turning website (thegreatturning.net) highlights local community initiatives as well as provides discussion guides for the book -- and The Great Turning will undoubtedly inspire discussion. It is an ambitious book and at times falls short of delivering on the solutions for the nascent movement it puts forward, but Korten makes clear that The Great Turning is an unfinished story, and asks the reader to contribute to its narrative.
The strength of the book is in its breadth and Korten's ability to connect the dots between diverse elements within our culture. Ultimately, The Great Turning is a call to action, alerting the reader to the necessity of participating in the birth of a life affirming plan for the benefit of our children and the future of the planet.
60 of 70 people found the following review to be helpful:
The Great Disappointment, June 2, 2006
By Jerry Upson
If we judge a book by its intention, The Great Turning gets five stars. The values that are expressed are timeless and honorable. Korten sets out to both diagnose and prescribe a cure for the past five thousand years of world history, "Empire" in his words. It is a laudable goal, but in the end the book leaves one feeling empty.
The points made in the book have been made before by others, and made better. There is nothing new between the covers, no discoveries, no new research, no original insight.
Besides its lack of novelty, the scholarship isn't here. Scientists will wince at the liberties taken, the so-called experts cited, the theories proffered. Historians will be equally puzzled at the high altitude fly-over of the past five thousand years. By encapsulating the past in such a compressed manner and writing about it in a kind of muted progressive cant, nuance and granulation are lost, and history is reduced to a caricature of itself. Lost in the sixteen page summary of world history from Mesopotamia to Columbus was the rise of all of the world's great religions, most of which arose during the Axial Age as detailed in Karen Armstrong's book, The Great Transformation, a time when people turned away from barbarity and violence in order to create very different societies and moral codes. Instead of a human past that is varied and storied, you get unsupported assertions like, "Social pathology became the norm as the god of death displaced the goddess of life..."
There are many such sweeping generalizations. He anthropomorphizes: "Life observes the classic laws...." He waxes: "Human survival is now in question because our most powerful institutions have elevated assumptions and theories to the status of proven fact," which is exactly what the author does and it is a disservice to science and the book.
There is a great need for literature that truly touches and reaches others on the issues expressed in this book. Korten does try to weave the numerous elements of how he imagines a social awakening into a cohesive whole. There are parts of the book that will provide new ways of looking at the past. And Korten is hopeful, no small feat in these times. But there is no metaphor, story, insight, humor, delight or "aha." There is no room for humanity to sing, dance and play. You agree with the concerns, much as you would at homilies in church, but there is no emotional moment for the reader. There are no quotes that will be passed around, perfect restatements of old truths that deliver something special and new. And just as importantly, there is no space or air for the reader. You are not invited to consider what might be true; you are told the truth. The people who are cited are his friends, and they are his associates, and they are the people who blurb the book, so that in the end this feels like a conversation between a small group of people who know each other. My guess is that people who already believe these pronouncements will laud the book, as it reinforces their views. But I do not believe it will reach a wider community because in the end, the book is too taken with itself and doesn't make room for the broader community it would like to reach. And that is a loss.
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