Toward the Year 2000: Work in Progress [Paperback]

Daniel Bell (Editor), Stephen R. Graubard (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 1997

In 1965, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences initiated the Commission on the Year 2000, the forerunner of what became the field of futurism. The Commission did not believe that one could "predict" the future, but sought instead to identify structural changes in society that would have long-term social impacts. And since the Commission believed that choices were possible, it sought to chart "alternative futures" on critical issues that society would face.The results of the Commission's work appeared in 1967 in a special issue of Dædalus, the journal of the Academy. The volume consisted of "working papers," prepared by the Chairman of the Commission, Daniel Bell, twenty-three memoranda written by such scholars as Daniel P. Moynihan, Erik Erikson, Ernst Mayr, David Riesman, James Q. Wilson, and Samuel P. Huntington, and an edited transcript of the vigorous discussions provoked by the documents.Thirty years later, the volume remains extraordinarily timely. It is both a benchmark for the understanding of American society and a prospectus of the issues that are still relevant to the problems of today--and tomorrow. This edition contains a new preface by Daniel Bell and Stephen Graubaud that reviews the Commission's work and identifies the foresight--and one startling failure--of that work.Contributors : Daniel Bell, Robert Bowie, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Karl W. Deutsch, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Hedley Donovan, Leonard J. Duhl, Erik H. Erikson, Lawrence K. Frank, William Gorham, Stephen R. Graubard, Charles M. Haar, Samuel P. Huntington, Fred Charles Iklé, Herman Kahn, Harry Kalven, Jr., Wassily Leontief, Ernst Mayr, Margaret Mead, Matthew S. Meselson, George A. Miller, Wilbert E. Moore, Daniel P. Moynihan, Harold Orlans, Harvey S. Perloff, John R. Pierce, Alan Pifer, Emanuel R. Piore, Ithiel de Sola Pool, Michael Postan, Gardner C. Quarton, Roger Revelle, David Riesman, Eugene V. Rostow, Donald A. Schon, Martin Shubik, Krister Stendahl, Anthony J. Wiener, James Q. Wilson, Robert C. Wood, Christopher Wright, Paul N. Ylvisaker.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The book's misses are just as useful as its successes: they caution us about looking at the next century. -- Wired, Phil Patton

About the Author

Stephen Graubard is Editor of Dacdalas, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at Brown University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 420 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262522373
• ISBN-13: 978-0262522373
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,026,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars Good delivery service, rapid and in good 'shape', August 17, 2010

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This review is from: Toward the Year 2000: Work in Progress (Paperback)

I have received, in my case a book, in an space of time shorter than what I expected and in good conditions.

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3.0 out of 5 stars AN ACADEMIC VIEW OF THE FUTURE, December 6, 1997

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Mr. Bill N. Ellis (Rangeley, Maine) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Toward the Year 2000: Work in Progress (Paperback)

is again presented by Daniel Bell, Stephen R Graubard and colleagues in 'Toward the Year 2000.' This "work in progress" was started in the 1965 by the Commission on the Year 2000 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It does not try to "predict" the future but rather to uncover and explore those social factor which will have a long term effect. The some 50 scholars contributing toward the study are mostly sociologists and historians with a liberal smattering of theoretical economists. They are not imaginative futurists, cultural creatives, or social activists so the chance of them being unbiased and perhaps right makes this an important resource for anyone seriously preparing for the future.