The Five Stages of Collapse

THE FIVE STAGES OF COLLAPSE
with Ken Peterson

We will discuss Dmitry Orlov’s new book, The Five Stages of Collapse. Orlov became well-known through his first book, Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects, which compared the USSR’s reasons for collapse and the experience of the Soviet people during this period to the expected collapse of the U.S. industrial/consumerist society. Born and partially raised in Russia, Orlov brought a unique outsider’s observation of the similarities and differences between the Soviet experience and the American people’s potential experience of economic and social collapse. In The Five Stages of Collapse Orlov presents general analysis of these stages, giving for each stage an example of a society that has already experienced that particular level of collapse. Orlov writes with his usual acerbic wit, making an easy but thought-provoking read of an emotionally difficult subject. Hopefully participants will have at least started to read this book, although if you start it you might not be able to put it down until you finish it! This discussion group is for those who already accept the certainty in some form of the collapse of global industrial society.

Humanist Hall is wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street

$5 donations are expected