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The Next 100 Years

A Forecast for the 21st Century

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The Next 100 Years

Written by: George Friedman
Narrated by: William Hughes
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A fascinating, eye-opening, and often shocking look at what lies ahead for the United States—and the world—from one of our most incisive futurists

George Friedman has become a leading expert in geopolitical forecasting, sought after for his unmatched grasp of both historical and contemporary trends. In The Next 100 Years, Friedman turns his eye to the future. Drawing on a profound understanding of geopolitical patterns dating back to the Roman Empire, he shows that we are now, for the first time in half a millennium, experiencing the dawn of a new historical cycle.

Friedman predicts that the US–Jihadist war will conclude, to be replaced by a second confrontation with Russia; China will undergo a major internal crisis, and Mexico will emerge as an important world power; there will be at least one global war, but armies will be smaller and wars less deadly; and technology will focus on space, both for military uses and for energy.

This book is a compelling, eye-opening portrait of the future.

©2009 George Friedman (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Freedom & Security International Relations Politics & Government Social Sciences Middle East Military Iran Socialism Russia Soviet Union Imperial Japan Espionage Latin America War Imperialism Middle Ages Self-Determination Africa American Foreign Policy
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What the critics say

“William Hughes captures the author’s informal tone as well as his obvious intelligence and perception. As he narrates, the listener watches the coming years unfold like an interstellar adventure movie…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

“Expect the unexpected…He can see without the crystal ball.”

“Predictions have made George Friedman a hot property these days.”

“There is a temptation, when you are around George Friedman, to treat him like a Magic 8-Ball.”

“Barron’s consistently has found Stratfor’s insights informative and largely on the money—as has the company’s large client base, which ranges from corporations to media outlets and government agencies.”

“[Friedman] delivers a clearer, deeper, and subtler understanding of the post-9/11 world than we will ever get from listening to the cacophony of talking heads on television.”

“[A] unique combination of cold-eyed realism and boldly confident fortune-telling…Whether all of the visions in Friedman’s crystal ball actually materialize, they certainly make for engrossing entertainment.”
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The author does acknowledge he set himself an impossible task predicting events 100 years into the future. So much has happened in the 16 years since the book was published, much of it impossible to predict - so this book is mostly a non useful exercise in curiousity as to whether the author was prescient or not. So far mostly he was not.

impossible task

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Good narration.
I listened to this in 2022 and some of the events the author described have already come to pass. That provides weight to some of his other predictions. That being said, the further one goes in the future the more difficult it becomes to make predictions. So when the author describes wars in space it is difficult to take seriously. But maybe that's the point and the author spells that out throughout the book. It was entertaining, nevertheless.

Good analysis based on geopolitics past & present

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Very interesting book, as I am listening to it in 2024. Many of the events have already come to pass, and you can see other predicted events on the horizon

Interesting

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The events of 2019-2022 have made much of the content irrelevant. Interesting predictions nevertheless.

Interesting but dated.

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This book is terrible. Just. Absolutely terrible. The author cannot conceive of a world where America is not an authority to be respected and feared. This ridiculous drivel sounds like it was written by a sheltered teenager who was told he was gifted and never challenged all his life.

Just plain old American egoism

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