The End of the World Is Just the Beginning

Advances during the 20th century, and the first two decades of the 2000s, have resulted in a fast, cheap, and efficient world. Transport, agriculture, food, and technological devices have progressed significantly, while famines and wars have decreased in most of the world due to Western influence. All this has led to the belief that we are currently living through a perfect moment in history. After the Second World War, America steered the world towards the transformation into what we know today, and took on the role of protector of global security. That balance, however, is now extremely fragile, as capitalism and globalisation are gradually giving way to other systems, new powers are emerging, and trade, investment, and consumption are declining. This is already happening on many different levels throughout the world, and will lead to a radically new way of life for us all, which will be slower and will provide fewer resources. This process will obviously be challenging, and it will take us a long time to adapt.

Peter Zeihan analyses how six different areas will be affected (transport, finance, energy, raw materials, industrial production, and agriculture), and investigates the possible outcomes and relationships that will likely determine our future. The end of the world as we know it is only the beginning of something much bigger, which as yet, is still extremely unfamiliar to us.