20:21 Vision: The Lessons of the 20th Century for the 21st

The attacks of September 11th, 2001 shook the rich West out of its complacency; suddenly, peace looked to be in peril. Even before that time prosperity was already in peril, as campaigns mounted against the purported evils of capitalist globalisation, and as the high-tech stockmarket boom turned to bust. Yet, in the decade following the end of the cold war, prospects had looked so rosy.

In this acutely topical book, Bill Emmott, editor of The Economist, argues that the best way to think about the future is to look back at the past, at the forces that have shaped our world and at what they tell you about the things that really matter whether we are at peace or at war, in a period of prosperity or of depression.