The authors are audacious and specific in this crystal-ball-gazing exercise concerning the world's future. Cetron, coauthor of Educational Renaissance , and Davies, a former Omni editor, predict that by the year 2000 Canada will dissolve, Quebec will be a nation and the other Canadian provinces will become U.S. states. In their forecast, a North American economic pact embracing Mexico will rescue the U.S. from its growing inability to compete globally. Among their other predictions: South Africa's white government will reach a workable political compromise with the black majority before 1994; China, turned capitalist, will gain much of the leadership lost by Japan; an international aid program will support Middle East reconstruction; life will remain stark and brief in much of the Third World. Cetron and Davies have produced a challenging survey that's worth reading even if some of its prognoses seem fanciful. (Oct.)
Cetron and Davies coauthored The American Renaissance ( LJ 8/89) and now expand their horizons with a survey of the post-Cold War world, including an update on the failed Moscow coup. The authors pile fact upon fact (with no sources cited), leaving the reader often wondering at the validity of their statements. They are optimistic about the 1990s (at least for the ``haves''), but it looks like more of the same for that significant part of the world not blessed with technology, education, or resources. Two appendixes include a list of major trends affecting the future and a short survey of 37 countries and how they will fare during the next few years. Jeffrey Bergner's The New World Order ( LJ 9/1/91) tells the story better. For larger collections only.-- Ed Goedeken, Purdue Univ. Libs., West Lafayette, Ind.
