21. The History of the Future

“Samuel Madden, an Anglican clergyman, wrote a book called Memoirs of the 20th Century, which is described as pretty much unreadable now.”

“The mention of 'The Third World War' by General Sir John Hackett, which discusses a nuclear conflict.”

“The mention of 'neuromancer' in the context of visions of the future involving computers and virtual worlds.”

“The mention of 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy in relation to visions of the future and apocalyptic themes.”

“Orwell went slightly out of fashion at the end of the Cold War, but now he has come back again with all the double think kind of talk and the fascination with controlling language and thought crime.”

“It's years since I read Brave New World. I don't really remember that much about it, but it's also about people kind of being blissed out.”

“The Sibylline books are what I begin Rubicon with, my book about the fall of the Roman Republic.”

“The Sibylline books tell you what to do to appease the gods if something weird has happened, containing prophecies about the fate of the Roman people.”

“Oswald Spengler's big idea is the decline of the West, dividing history into the rise and fall of different civilizations.”

“Huntington's book discusses civilizations and was published in the nineties, alongside Fukuyama's End of History.”

“Fukuyama's book came out at the same time as Huntington's Clash of Civilizations, representing post cold war prophecies of the future.”