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The Next Civil War

Dispatches from the American Future

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About this listen

 “Should be required reading for anyone interested in preserving our 246-year experiment in self-government.” —The New York Times Book Review * “Well researched and eloquently presented.” —The Atlantic * “Delivers Cormac McCarthy-worthy drama; while the nonfictional asides imbue that drama with the authority of documentary.” —The New York Times Book Review

A celebrated journalist takes a fiercely divided America and imagines five chilling scenarios that lead to its collapse, based on in-depth interviews with experts of all kinds.

The United States is coming to an end. The only question is how.

On a small two-lane bridge in a rural county that loathes the federal government, the US Army uses lethal force to end a standoff with hard-right anti-government patriots. Inside an ordinary diner, a disaffected young man with a handgun takes aim at the American president stepping in for an impromptu photo-op, and a bullet splits the hyper-partisan country into violently opposed mourners and revelers. In New York City, a Category 2 hurricane plunges entire neighborhoods underwater and creates millions of refugees overnight—a blow that comes on the heels of a financial crash and years of catastrophic droughts—and tips America over the edge into ruin.

These nightmarish scenarios are just three of the five possibilities most likely to spark devastating chaos in the United States that are brought to life in The Next Civil War, a chilling and deeply researched work of speculative nonfiction. Drawing upon sophisticated predictive models and nearly two hundred interviews with experts—civil war scholars, military leaders, law enforcement officials, secret service agents, agricultural specialists, environmentalists, war historians, and political scientists—journalist Stephen Marche predicts the terrifying future collapse that so many of us do not want to see unfolding in front of our eyes. Marche has spoken with soldiers and counterinsurgency experts about what it would take to control the population of the United States, and the battle plans for the next civil war have already been drawn up. Not by novelists, but by colonels.

No matter your political leaning, most of us can sense that America is barreling toward catastrophe—of one kind or another. Relevant and revelatory, The Next Civil War plainly breaks down the looming threats to America and is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of its people, its land, and its government. Politics & Government Sociology United States World Emotionally Gripping Social justice
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I'm left feeling that I have been involved in an emotional multi-vehicle pile up but unlike other books this one doesn't end when you finish it. It stays with you and you realise that the next chapter is in fact, your reality.

Yes, the book deals with hypothetical situations but the author throws so many facts at you that conjecture gives way to the grim realisation that the book's premise goes from possible to plausible to Very Probable ,very quickly.

Would recommend this to anyone who is brave enough to face some extremely uncomfortable truths.

Riveting , Frightening and Excellent

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An interesting listen that made me think how a likely scenario could escalate into something much bigger.

Makes you think deeply about typical scenarios

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This is a great listen and not quite what the title suggests. Not to give too much of the story away, it concentrates more on social, environmental, economic and political consequences rather than just all our war and violence. So much more is required for a civil war than just guns, but it definitely helps!!

Thought provoking!

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It's not amazing I don't agree with all of its conclusions and the American exceptionalism is extremely annoying, yes the fall of America would suck but the world doesn't need it no country is needed. Anyway that's not the point dispite all of this it was very informative very well presented with good evidence based reasoning and is a very stark and grim warning for the future which is very depressing but its hard to argue against such a warning.

While not amazing it is informative and worth it

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Makes the reasons (both historic and current) for the disfunction of USA politics and the reason the Trump alt right is successful. The scenarios are believable and the issues each is based upon and raised are well argued. Very glad I listened.

Well thought out and presented

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