The Next Civil War

Dispatches from the American Future

By: Stephen Marche

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

“Should be required reading for anyone interested in preserving our 246-year experiment in self-government.” —The New York Times Book Review * “Well researched and eloquently presented.” —The Atlantic * “Delivers Cormac McCarthy-worthy drama; while the nonfictional asides imbue that drama with the authority of documentary.” —The New York Times Book Review

A celebrated journalist takes a fiercely divided America and imagines five chilling scenarios that lead to its collapse, based on in-depth interviews with experts of all kinds.

The United States is coming to an end. The only question is how.

On a small two-lane bridge in a rural county that loathes the federal government, the US Army uses lethal force to end a standoff with hard-right anti-government patriots. Inside an ordinary diner, a disaffected young man with a handgun takes aim at the American president stepping in for an impromptu photo-op, and a bullet splits the hyper-partisan country into violently opposed mourners and revelers. In New York City, a Category 2 hurricane plunges entire neighborhoods underwater and creates millions of refugees overnight—a blow that comes on the heels of a financial crash and years of catastrophic droughts—and tips America over the edge into ruin.

These nightmarish scenarios are just three of the five possibilities most likely to spark devastating chaos in the United States that are brought to life in The Next Civil War, a chilling and deeply researched work of speculative nonfiction. Drawing upon sophisticated predictive models and nearly two hundred interviews with experts—civil war scholars, military leaders, law enforcement officials, secret service agents, agricultural specialists, environmentalists, war historians, and political scientists—journalist Stephen Marche predicts the terrifying future collapse that so many of us do not want to see unfolding in front of our eyes. Marche has spoken with soldiers and counterinsurgency experts about what it would take to control the population of the United States, and the battle plans for the next civil war have already been drawn up. Not by novelists, but by colonels.

No matter your political leaning, most of us can sense that America is barreling toward catastrophe—of one kind or another. Relevant and revelatory, The Next Civil War plainly breaks down the looming threats to America and is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of its people, its land, and its government.

Frightening read

Marche explains at the beginning his political leanings and shows to be fair, with a bias only towards facts, not political leanings. His speculation is well researched and thought out and is quite engaging. I think he could write a full fictional novel to finish out his scenarios and I’d buy it.
The reading voice is done well, which is appreciated.
The book overall is scary in the way it reminds me of the speculative stories of what nuclear winter would look like back in the 80’s. I believe the scenarios here are more likely to occur based on our current political situation in the US, which is the frightening part.

Scary Scenario

Canadian Stephen Marche offers a pretty frightening - and realistic - vision of the dark future for the divided states of America. Unfortunately, this dismal domestic outcome is an event that promises to take down the rest of the world with it. The U.S. has dominated the world's economy and international affairs to such an extent for the past 200 plus years, that its approaching political collapse is bound to have a catastrophic effect on all the nations of the earth.

Americans would be wise to heed Marche's thesis. The hard-right dismissive comments offered in several reviews indicate a head-in-the-sand attitude that offers no solution to the problems plaguing the nation.

Narration is ok, except for Jonathan Ross's seeming inability to scan ahead of the spoken text and read accordingly, resulting in many confusing moments such as the following: "She had some amazing audio footage of her escape from New York in the end. There was no one to sell it to." Pardon? Plus a few prize mispronunciations, including my personal favourite, "Lib'son", the capital of Portugal.

Accurate

Scary accurate and not discussed enough.
Should be mandatory reading in high schools and colleges.

Great book… hope every American read it.

Great book… hope every American read it.
And don’t became prophetic.
Well narrated and executed.

A must read / listen to

Unfortunately the picture that Mr Marche describes I feel is very accurate. Unless we as a nation stop and listen to each other and compromise I feel we will not survive as a nation. Unless the politicians stop being tribal and start working for the people of this nation the civil war is not that far away