A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It

If you want to understand why the world is coming apart at the seams and what we can do to lay the foundations for a peaceful and sustainable society, read this book. Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute and author of The Party's Over (2005)

This important analysis exposes vital truths and challenges much conventional wisdom. It deserves to be widely read. Mark Curtis, Honorary Research Fellow, Strathclyde University and author of Web of Deceit (2003)

The first book to systematically explore [the interconnections between]climate change, peak oil, the cost of food and overpopulation, the global financial crisis, the rise of violent extremism, and the containment of the so-called `war on terror'. ...A very worthwhile read for policy-makers everywhere. RT. Hon. Michael Meacher Mp, former Uk Minister of State for the Environment

Ahmed's book confronts the reader with the stark message that life as we know it is unsustainable. It will have disappeared by the end of the 21st century, and we along with it - unless a comprehensive change occurs in the meantime. Kees Van Der Pijl, Professor of International Relations, Sussex University and author of the series Modes of Foreign Relations and Political Economy (3 volumes, Pluto Press)

Few thinkers weave as many threads into a tapestry as Nafeez Ahmed has done so superbly in this book. Dr. Jeremy Leggett, CEO of Solarcentury and author of Half Gone (2006)

A range of crises threaten our future. This book argues that financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages need to be considered as different parts of the same ailing system.

Naffez Mosaddeq Ahmed argues that the unwillingness of experts to look outside their own fields explains why there is so much disagreement about particular problems. This book investigates these crises as trends that belong to a single global system, rather than treating them as isolated events. Ahmed provides a stark warning about the consequences of failing to take a broad view---and shows how catastrophe can be avoided.

Nafeez Mosaddeo Ahmed is Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development. His previous books include The War on Truth (2005) and Behind the War on Terror (2003).