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The Great Disruption

The Great Disruption
The Great Disruption
Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order  
By Francis Fukuyama
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In the past thirty years, the United States has undergone a profound transformation in its social structure: Crime has increased, trust has declined, families have broken down, and individualism has triumphed over community. Has the Great Disruption of recent decades rent the fabric of American society irreparably? In this brilliant and sweeping work of social, economic, and moral analysis, Francis Fukuyama shows that even as the old order has broken apart, a new social order is already taking its place. The Great Disruption forges a new model for understanding the Great Reconstruction that is under way.

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Table of Contents
Virginia Postrel Los Angeles Times Innovative...engaging....Fukuyama provides a lucid course in "one of the most important intellectual developments of the late twentieth century."
Anthony Gottlieb The New York Times Book Review Francis Fukuyama is an analyst who does not, intellectually speaking, get out of bed for anything less than the all-encompassing grand sweep of history....His new book, The Great Disruption, tackles social and moral development on the same grand scale as his earlier work.
Alan Ehrenhalt The Wall Street Journal One of the ways we learn about dramatic social change in the 1990s is that Francis Fukuyama shows up to tell us it is happening....He asks large questions; and he changes the agenda of public debate. We are still talking about The End of History. I imagine we will be talking about The Great Disruption for quite a while.
Michael Kazin The Washington Post Book World Fukuyama is one of the few American intellectuals of any ideological bent capable of training a knowledge of world history and a grasp of social theory on topics of undeniable contemporary significance.
Walter Kirn New York Magazine Fukuyama is no alarmist -- he's too cool for that, too academic and wedded to the sociological long view
-- but now and then he spins a nightmare scenario....Fukuyama draws on a dozen disciplines, from game theory to genetics, to make his case that stable states arise naturally from chaotic interludes the way Sunday morning follows Saturday night.
Linda Chavez The Washington Times With another presidential campaign gearing up -- and the inevitable discussion of family values that each election brings
-- The Great Disruption ought to be required reading among both parties' candidates.
Howard Gleckman Business Week Agree with him or not, Fukuyama makes a challenging case.
George Scialabba The Boston Globe [Fukuyama] has made out a great deal in this book and his previous books, and will undoubtedly teach us a great deal more. Three seminal books in a mere seven years. What next?
Charles Murray Commentary The Great Disruption takes on questions that go to the heart of social policy writ large. It is written with never-failing lucidity, brings together vast and disparate literatures, and makes one think in new ways about the prospects of post-industrial society. That is quite enough for one book.
Andrew Ferguson The Weekly Standard The Great Disruption is a learned and impressive work, ranging easily across disciplines, combining fact and argument in subtle and unexpected ways.
Ethan BronnerThe New York TimesProfessor Fukuyama predicted, in some fashion, the current confusion a decade ago....Few in this country or abroad argue much anymore with Professor Fukuyama's point about the centrality of markets to modern societies.
David BrooksPolicy ReviewThe Great Disruption is an informative tour through the recent histories of sociology, biology, even management theory. As always, Fukuyama's range is dazzling.
William E. Bill Lee, IIIThe Tampa TribuneA well-written book....[It] presents many useful ideas regarding the sociological analysis of where our values are, how we got here and where we as a society might venture.
Daniel BergerThe Philadelphia InquirerMany brilliant insights require that The Great Disruption be given a serious reading....Valuable contributions to the ongoing discussion of social problems in America over the last thirty years.
Harvey Mansfield, Jr.The Times Literary Supplement (London)A quick, reliable study...[applied] to the timeliest social questions of the day....Fukuyama puts everything together and has, therefore, something for everyone.
Morton KondrackeThe Times Herald (Norristown, PA)Fukuyama is breathtaking in the range of material he has absorbed and made intelligible
-- foreign policy, domestic and global economics, political theory, history, sociology, psychology, biology, even science fiction.
Alexander StarNational & Financial Post (Toronto)The Great Disruption is social theory on a grand scale. Skillfully weaving together an enormous amount of data and argument, Fukuyama proposes a sweeping thesis.
The Atlantic MonthlyIn The Great Disruption, Fukuyama probes the connections between economics and culture deeply.
The EconomistFrancis Fukuyama likes big subjects, and his flair for them has not deserted him....The Great Disruption is provocative.
David ShiThe Christian Science MonitorFrancis Fukuyama is one of America's most provocative social analysts....The Great Disruption constitutes a major contribution to American social thought....This is a must-read for those interested in the human condition.
Ralph BuultjensThe Boston Book ReviewProvocative....Intriguing.
Roger HarrisThe Star Ledger (Newark, NJ)Extremely interesting and thought provoking....An intelligent look at an important matter...worthy of our attention.
William DroelCatholic News ServiceFresh language...[will] engage a large audience.
Publishers Weekly[What is] interesting is the way [Fukuyama arrives at his conclusions]...through a willingness to ask the big questions and an ability to look at contemporary society through the lens of his own vast reading and scholarship.
Antoinette BrinkmanLibrary Journal[Fukuyama's] thesis transcends the typical Left/Right "culture war" by recognizing powerful factors of social self-renewal. The rationality of the argument is profound....Highly recommended.
Esther Dysonauthor of Release 2.0In Trust, Francis Fukuyama showed us how to think about trust, but in his lucid new book The Great Disruption, he sets himself a much more ambitious task: explaining how societies create (or resurrect) trust. His answers, moreover, are not 'ten timely tips' but a series of character-challenging trade-offs. Even as new freedoms give us more choices in life, Fukuyama tells us, we need to take greater responsibility for the consequences of those choices. This is a book for those who are ready to face tough truths.
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