ust a few years into a new century, we’ve arrived at a moment of peril that not along ago would have seemed unimaginable. All around us, the ideas and institutions that we once relied on for our safety and security are failing–and the best ideas of our leaders seem to make our problems worse, not better. A global war on terror produces, in the end, more dangerous terrorists. The fight to stop financial crisis seems to accelerate its arrival. Carefully negotiated peace plans produce less peace.

This wasn’t always the case. For decades, our engagement with the world was based on the seductive belief that there was a logical relationship between the power of states and the physics of change. But the traditional physics of power has been replaced by something radically different. And what we face today isn’t one single shift, like the end of World War II or the collapse of the Soviet Union, so much as ceaseless, unthinkable change.

Fortunately, there’s hope. After all, great historical shifts don’t only produce losers. They also create a whole new cast of historical champions. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, human immunology, and the science of networks, Joshua Cooper Ramo describes a landscape of remarkable possibility. He reveals surprising lessons from sources as diverse as Silicon Valley titans, relentless Islamic terror groups, legendary spymasters, unconventional physicists, and innovative game designers. At a time of unprecedented change, The Age of the Unthinkable offers both clarity and hope–hope that each of us may have the power to save the world.