What would a future traveler discover in an America that has taken its money-based society to the extreme? Michael Brown, our hero from the first book of the trilogy, is now 35 and sets out to explore this new world. In America, he encounters 'pecuniocracy,' a system where the rationality of money governs all aspects of life: contract marriages, commercial families, custody battles with financial stakes, and other bizarre phenomena stemming from the belief that money is the cornerstone of ...

This is a story of evil that plays an integral role in a small town's transformation from a peaceful place to a terrifyingly selfish and corrupt town, only to be saved by the courage and honesty of a boy, Michael Brown, who draws his strength from the motto "Liberty and Justice for All." The town is saved from the Green Palm Way of Life by the young hero, but the shadow of evil lingers on in the reader's mind long after the story is over. The town's transformation is an allegorical tale of...

Our hero, Michael Brown, earlier seen in The Green Palmers Chronicle as a young boy and in Darwin's Progress as a grown-up man, now retired, travels with guide and friend Isaiah through the Land of Vespucci, which invites travelers through its many provinces, each of which showcases different cultures and thoughts: some are bizarre, some adventurous, some inspiring, but all of them are always thought-provoking. Throughout his travel across 30 or so provinces, which produce these tales from...

We in the U.S. have deserved someone like Donald Trump as our president for some time. Until now, by a string of luck, we had mostly centrist presidents, both Republican and Democratic, some with only a modicum of intelligence and humanity. With Donald Trump, however, we finally ran out of luck and he is our sitting president. Now, the spotlight is focused on him, but we easily forget that he is, after all, a product of his own society. Trump's rise to power owes itself to its own social-h...

Labor Avoidance is about work, something everyone hates, and something everyone longs to escape. At the same time, human nature is to sustain life that is physical, and thus constant labor is a necessity. This is what humanity, from Eden to our own post-industrial society, has always tried to reduce or avoid by making somebody else do it. Historically, this nature and origin of labor-avoidance is responsible for war, colonialism, slavery, and now, contract employment in market society. Thi...

This book explores the nature of power in persons, groups, and nations by asking a question that we can understand in contemporary terms: what would Bill Gates do if he had Hitler’s absolute power?It is a sociological question that exposes power as a tool of control over the powerless, not as a psychological trait or manners of personal interactions. With Hitler’s power, any individual, group, or nation could become as crazy as Hitler or as cruel as the Nazis. Call from the Cave argues tha...

The way we live, work, and die-alone and with other Americans-have so many hidden layers that we might as well say that there are two Americas: one we think we know and the other virtually unknown to us. Such a thought is compelling enough to motivate a sociologist to start writing down what he thinks about the hidden America.Then, what emerges from this effort is a picture of America that is at once so familiar and so alien. It is the alien part of America that troubles us, that sc...

In the last hundred years of industrial advancement, a great deal of scientific progress has been made in the field of efficiency studies. Known as human resources management among those who study these things, the main quest has always been how to control human thoughts and actions so that everything works to the maximum benefit of those who control these human resources. Accordingly, the most "efficient" system is one that controls the human resources by eliminating the huma...

As a pandemic and racial reckoning exposed society’s faults, Christian thinkers were laying the groundwork for a better future. A public health and economic crisis provoked by Covid-19. A social crisis cracked open by the filmed murder of George Floyd. A leadership crisis laid bare as the gravity of a global pandemic met a country suffocating in political polarization and idolatry.In the spring of 2020, ***Comment***magazine created a publishing project to tap the ...

Uplifting and thought provoking, this collection of sayings by Benedict XVI provides an accessible introduction to his theology and his approach to modern-day faith. The pope is perhaps the most influential and important religious leader in the world, yet despite his high office, Benedict XVI has much to teach about humility and spiritual life. Each quotation brings fresh insights and allows us to experience anew the depth and humanity of the Catholic faith.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Discover the game-changing theory of the cycles of history and what past generations can teach us about living through times of upheaval—with deep insights into the roles that Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials have to play—now with a new preface by Neil Howe.“One of the best efforts to give us an integrated vision of where we are going.”—The Wall Street JournalFirst comes a High, a period of confident exp...

A deeply reflective primer on creating meaningful connections, rebuilding abundant communities, and living in a way that engages our full humanity in an age of unprecedented anxiety and loneliness—from the author of The Tech-Wise Family“A unique exploration of tech’s effect on relationships. Andy is one of my favorite living writers, and I would consider this his best book.”—John Mark Comer, New York Times bestselling author of Practic...