Table of Contents
Prologue: Legacies of Cocoanut Grove 3
Two stories
What's a Crisis?
Individual and national Cries
What this book is and isn't
Plan of book
Part 1 Individuals
Chapter 1 Personal Crises 27
A personal crisis
Trajectories
Dealing with Crises
Factors related to outcomes
National crises
Part 2 Natios: Crises that Unfolded
Chapter 2 Finland's War with the Soviet Union 57
Visiting Finland
Language
Finland until 1939
The Winter War
The Winter War's end
The Continuation War
After 1945
Walking a tightrope
Finlandization
Crisis framework
Chapter 3 The Origins of Modern Japan 101
My Japanese connections
Japan before 1853
Perry
1853 to 1868
The Meiji Era
Meiji reforms
"Westernization"
Overseas expansion
Crisis framework
Questions
Chapter 4 A Chile for All Chileans 141
Visiting Chile
Chile until 1070
Allende
The coup and Pinochet
Economics until "No!"
After Pinochet
Pinochet's shadow
Crisis framework
Returning to Chile
Chapter 5 Indonesia, the Rise of a Mew Country 179
In a hotel
Indonesia's background
The colonial era
Independence
Sukarno
Coup
Mass murder
Suharto
Suharto's legacies
Crisis framework
Returning to Indonesia
Chapter 6 Rebuilding Germany 217
Germans holding judgment-1968-1968's aftermath
Brandt and re-unification
Geographic constraints
Self-pity?
Leaders and realism
Crisis framework
Chapter 7 Australia: Who Are We? 255
Visiting Australia
First Fleet and Aborigines
Early immigrants
Towards self-government
Federation
Keeping them out
World War One
World War Two
Loosening the ties
The end of White Australia
Crisis framework
Part 3 Nations and the World: Crises Underway
Chapter 8 What Lies Ahead for Japan? 293
Japan today
Economy
Advantages
Government debt
Women
Babies
Old and declining
Immigration
China and Korea
Natural resources management
Crisis framework
9 What Lies Ahead for the United States? Strengths, and the Biggest Problem 325
He U.S. today
Wealth
Geography
Advantages of democracy
Other advantages
Political polarization
Why?
Other polarization
Chapter 10 What Lies Ahead for the United States? Three "Other" Problems 357
Other problems
Elections
Inequality and immobility
So what?
Investing in the future
Crisis framework
Chapter 11 What Lies Ahead for the World? 383
The world today
Nuclear weapons
Climate change
Fossil fuels
Alternative energy sources
Other natural resources
Inequality
Crisis framework
Epilogue: Lessons, Questions, an Outlook 423
Predictive factors
Are crises necessary?
Roles of leaders in history
Role of specific leaders
What next?
Lessons for the future
Acknowledgments 464
Illustration Credits 466
Futher Reading 470
Index 485
About the Author 501