End Times [is] driven by a deep sense that American democracy is at serious risk. [It] may well be right about this, but [it] then [attaches] these concerns to elaborate meta-historical frameworks that purport to predict optimistic future outcomes rising from the current ashes of polarization and conflict.

Turchin extrapolates certain cyclical trends in this great collected narrative of human hope and human failure..

A compelling analysis of why societies fail.

It’s a nice idea that Turchin has; a useful prism for looking at instability. But as a unifying theory of historical change it is too narrow and deterministic, as most unifying theories of historical change usually are.

... scintillating theory of history.

This is intriguing material, but some crucial parts of the argument fail to connect, and the assertion that the U.S. is in a period of unprecedented turmoil might not be valid.