The fashion business has been collecting and analyzing information about colors, fabrics, silhouettes, and styles since the 18th century - activities that have long been shrouded in mystery. The Fashion Forecasters is the first book to reveal the hidden history of color and trend forecasting and to explore its relevance to the fashion business of the past two centuries. It sheds light on trend forecasting in the industrial era, the profession's maturation during the modernist moment of the 20th century, and its continued importance in today's digital fast-fashion culture. Based on in-depth archival research and oral history interviews, The Fashion Forecasters examines the entrepreneurs, service companies, and consultants that have worked behind the scenes to connect designers and retailers to emerging fashion trends in Europe, North America, and Asia. Here you will read about the trend studios, color experts, and international trade fairs that formalized the prediction process in the modern era, and hear the voices of leading contemporary practitioners at international forecasting companies such as the Doneger Group in New York and WGSN in London. Probing the inner workings of the global fashion system, The Fashion Forecasters blends history, biography, and ethnography into a highly readable cultural narrative.

What will life be like in America, Europe, Japan, and China in the year 2020?
As the world grows increasingly interconnected and inter-related by globalization, economic crisis and new technologies, the answer to this important question depends largely on the paths taken by the world's major nations. In" Futurecast," Robert J. Shapiro, a man world leaders and heads of industry look to for straight talk on the global economic, political and financial affairs, sketches the future with a critical eye to tell us what our world will really be like over the next decade. In this brief time, he foresees monumental changes caused by three historic new forces-- globalization, the aging of societies, and America's role as a sole superpower with no near peer-- that will determine the paths of nations and the lives of countless millions.
* The U.S. and China will be the world's two indispensable economies, dominating the course of globalization.
* Globalization will continue to shift heavy manufacturing and millions of high-end service jobs from advanced countries like the U.S., to China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, Turkey and other developing nations.
* Europe's major nations and Japan will face the prospect of serious economic decline and critical problems in their retirement pension systems, pushing them further towards the periphery of global economic and geopolitical power.
* Every major country--the U.S., Europe, Japan, China--will face critical problems maintaining their health care systems, and the entire world will face a slow-motion crisis over energy supplies and the need to confront climate change.
In an unstable world, Robert Shapiro's "Futurecast" is a necessary road map to the coming years.

It is difficult to imagine a world without the car, and yet that is exactly what Dennis and Urry set out to do in this provocative new book. They argue that the days of the car are numbered: powerful forces around the world are undermining the car system and will usher in a new transport system sometime in the next few decades. Specifically, the book examines how several major processes are shaping the future of how we travel, including:
- Global warming and its many global consequences
- Peaking of oil supplies
- Increased digitisation of many aspects of economic and social life
- Massive global population increases
The authors look at changes in technology, policy, economy and society, and make a convincing argument for a future where, by necessity, the present car system will be re-designed and re-engineered.

Yet the book also suggests that there are some hugely bleak dilemmas facing the twenty first century. The authors lay out what they consider to be possible 'post-car' future scenarios. These they describe as 'local sustainability', 'regional warlordism' and 'digital networks of control'.

"After The Car" will be of great interest to planners, policy makers, social scientists, futurologists, those working in industry, as well as general readers.

Some have described the 20th Century as the century of the car. Now that century has come to a close - and things are about to change.

It is difficult to imagine a world without the car, and yet that is exactly what Dennis and Urry set out to do in this provocative new book. They argue that the days of the car are numbered: powerful forces around the world are undermining the car system and will usher in a new transport system sometime in the next few decades. Specifically, the book examines how several major processes are shaping the future of how we travel, including: * Global warming and its many global consequences * Peaking of oil supplies * Increased digitisation of many aspects of economic and social life * Massive global population increases The authors look at changes in technology, policy, economy and society, and make a convincing argument for a future where, by necessity, the present car system will be re-designed and re-engineered. Yet the book also suggests that there are some hugely bleak dilemmas facing the twenty first century. The authors lay out what they consider to be possible 'post-car' future scenarios. These they describe as 'local sustainability', 'regional warlordism' and 'digital networks of control'. After The Car will be of great interest to planners, policy makers, social scientists, futurologists, those working in industry, as well as general readers. Some have described the 20th Century as the century of the car. Now that century has come to a close - and things are about to change.

From the world-renowned trendspotting duo who has predicted everything from metrosexuality to the growth of global brands comes a new, enlightening look at the future. Based on intensive research and interviews as well as the authors' real-world and business experience in locations across the globe, this book yields surprising conclusions about everything from work (the end of permanent full-time employment) to sex (disappearing gender boundaries) to business (the emergence of true one-to-one marketing and the birth of 'Chindia'). It is essential reading for managers, marketers, and just about everyone else.

Humanity is on the cusp of an exciting longevity revolution. The first person to live to 150 years has probably already been born. What will your life look like when you live to be over 100? Will the world become overpopulated? How will living longer affect your finances, your family life, and your views on religion and the afterlife? In 100 Plus , futurist Sonia Arrison brings together over a decade of experience researching and writing about cutting-edge advances in science and technology to paint a vivid picture of a future that only recently seemed like science fiction, but is now very real. The first book to give readers a comprehensive understanding of how life-extending discoveries will change our social and economic worlds, 100 Plus is an illuminating and indispensable text that will help us navigate the thrilling journey of life beyond 100 years.

An extremely important philosophical and political book which concerned people throughout the world, include world leaders, should pay attention to. Wells was a visionary and genius who knew the strengths and weaknesses of men's minds and the proclivities of human nature. He could see where the world needed to be going immediately after the devastation of World War I and, in effect, where it still needs to be going today in order to thrive. He predicts for the future how a political reorganization must take place with the world as a unity, and how the general masses lack any will whatsoever to make it happen. Chapters include The Probable Future of Mankind, The Project of a World State, The Bible of Civilization, The Schooling of the World, and more.

Throughout our history, humans have been fascinated by the possibility of improving the length and quality of life. In the past, this was the purview of poets and philosophers but increasingly this is becoming the hard targets for science and medicine. But what are the social, ethical and economic ramifications of extending life?

This book highlights debates between the country's top scientists, political experts, journalists and ethicists as the come face to face to share their futuristic, and often radical, predictions and views. At a time when our country's older population is increasing at an unprecedented rate, these experts cautiously contemplate the public policy consequences of advances in the science of aging.

These transcripts are the products of monthly debates and interviews hosted on SAGECrossroads.net, a unique web portal committed to shining a bright and often controversial spotlight on emerging issues surrounding aging research.

SAGE Crossroads is an initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, SAGE KE, and the Alliance for Aging Research.

An extremely important philosophical and political book which concerned people throughout the world, include world leaders, should pay attention to. Wells was a visionary and genius who knew the strengths and weaknesses of men's minds and the proclivities of human nature. He could see where the world needed to be going immediately after the devastation of World War I and, in effect, where it still needs to be going today in order to thrive. He predicts for the future how a political reorganization must take place with the world as a unity, and how the general masses lack any will whatsoever to make it happen. Chapters include The Probable Future of Mankind, The Project of a World State, The Bible of Civilization, The Schooling of the World, and more.

This is a guidebook on world control and management, a program that Wells believed should be orchestrated (and would be successful) through what he called the "Open Conspiracy." This conspiracy is fully outlined in this work and is designed to be run by many separate organizations working together, as opposed to being run by just one group. Is this required reading for the world's most powerful people? Maybe it is. Or maybe it should be. Wells was a visionary and genius whose work should be paid attention to. Chapters include The Idea of the Open Conspiracy, We Have to Clear and Clean Up Our Minds, The Revolution in Education, Religion in the New World, What Mankind Has to Do, Modern Forces Antagonistic to the Open Conspiracy, The Resistances of the Less Industrialized Peoples to the Drive of the Open Conspiracy, The Open Conspiracy Begins as a Movement of Discussion, Explanation and Propaganda, Development of the Activities of the Open Conspiracy, Human Life in the Coming World Community, and more.

Mankind and societies throughout our planet during the next 100 years to well before the year 2400 are going to be faced with problems and impact events on a scale and magnitude never before experienced by the human race. Changes underway now regarding the environment, global temperature rise, glacial and polar ice melts, a 25-foot minimum rise in ocean mean tide levels, worldwide coastal flooding, erosion and permanent loss of arid cultivatable land, increased volcanic and earthquake activity, changing weather patterns, more violent storms, tornadoes and hurricanes, food and freshwater resource limitations, a world population of over 30 billion people within 200 years (currently 6.5 billion) and no way possible to feed that many. These are just a few of the problems mankind everywhere will start to face before the end of the 21st Century. The economic, financial, and societal impacts will be tremendous, let alone health, sanitation, transportation, energy requirements, housing, employment, and other services will all be considerably affected. By the year 2050, 88% of the world's population (12 to 13 billion people) will be living in the undeveloped and developing countries. Food riots, public disorder, wars over water and fishing rights will occur causing many governments to collapse, stressing others to their limits, which will only get worse in the years beyond. What needs to be done by the world leaders, governments, and the UN, all taking a more proactive role in solving these problems and issues beginning now before the solution options left necessitate severe and drastic measures is provided. We'll also visit our solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, other galaxies and the universeitself in learning about what current dynamic events are happening and what the future holds for each. (Ex: The entire universe is presently expanding at an accelerating rate )

UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice is at once a history of the ideas and realities of international development, from the classical economists to the recent emphasis on human rights, and a history of the UN s role in shaping and implementing development paradigms over the last half century. The authors, all prominent in the field of development studies, argue that the UN s founding document, the UN Charter, is infused with the human values and human concerns that are at the center of the UN s thinking on economic and human development today. In the intervening period, the authors show how the UN s approach to development evolved from mainstream areas of economic development to include issues of employment, poverty reduction, fairer distribution of the benefits of growth, equality of men and women, child development, social justice, and environmental sustainability."

Eva McDonald Valesh was one of the Progressive Era's foremost labor publicists. Challenging the narrow confines placed on women, Valesh became a successful investigative journalist, organizer, and public speaker for labor reform.

Valesh was a compatriot of the labor leaders of her day and the "right-hand man" of Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor. Events she covered during her colorful, unconventional reporting career included the Populist revolt, the Cuban crisis of the 1890s, and the 1910 Shirtwaistmakers' uprising. She was described as bright, even "comet-like, " by her admirers, but her enemies saw her as "a pest" who took "all the benefit that her sex controls when in argument with a man."

Elizabeth Faue examines the pivotal events that transformed this outspoken daughter of a working-class Scotch-Irish family into a national political figure, interweaving the study of one woman's fascinating life with insightful analysis of the changing character of American labor reform during the period from 1880 to 1920. In her journey through the worlds of labor, journalism, and politics, Faue lays bare the underside of social reform and reveals how front-line workers in labor's political culture -- reporters, investigators, and lecturers -- provoked and informed American society by writing about social wrongs. Compelling, insightful, and at times humorous, Writing the Wrongs is a window on the Progressive Era, on social history and the new journalism, and on women's lives and the meanings of class and gender.

Have you ever wanted to know why civilizations decay or why war has been a recurrent phenomena throughout history; what are the forces causing population explosions, and why it is very likely that the power balance between today's developed countries and the less-developed world will be altered in the decades to come?

Health Care in the New Millennium is written by futurist Ian Morrison-author of The Second Curve and Future Tense and one of our nation's foremost health care analysts.

In this provocative book, Morrison gives health care executives, doctors, and nurses a guided tour of what's in store for health care in the coming years and explains . . .
• Why our one-trillion dollar health care industry has so many unhappy stakeholders
• Why investor-owned health systems are failing
• Why so few market-based reforms work
• Why health care leaders need new visions of what is possible for the future

The world is changing fast. In this new edition of his much admired book, Patrick Dixon explores six major trends that we all need to adapt to: Fast--speed will be everything; Urban--how the emphasis on cities will intensify; Tribal--conflicts of culture and conscience, for example in Europe; Universal--the forces of globalism; Radical--the reaction against 20th century values; and Ethical--a new morality.

The inspired madness of America's apocalyptic and pre-millennial organizations may have reached a fever pitch with the turn of the twenty-first century, but intrepid cultural traveler Alex Heard spent a ten-year period witnessing the crescendo firsthand.  Heard's enthusiasm led him on errands as diverse as being a voyeur at a Republic of Texas militia standoff, accompanying an expectant UFO "greeting party" to a remote field in Minnesota, and enacting the grief of the California quail at an ad-hoc therapy group for fierce environmentalists who believe the earth is an actual living entity that's preparing to kill off its human population--and soon...or at least pretty soon.

Amazing as it may seem, however, throughout this trenchant subcultural travelogue, Heard never stoops to ridicule his subjects.  As one reviewer puts it, "Heard's real achievement may be that he makes us care--in a way that is more than voyeuristic--about the colorful characters he meets on the road to the new millennium.  He takes these people seriously, allows his assumptions to be challenged, and lets himself find that some of their beliefs and fears reflect his own" (San Jose Mercury News).

Apocalypse Pretty Soon will appeal to science fiction fans and students of subcultures, as well as anybody interested in way-out alternatives to the brave new world.


Amazing as it may seem, however, throughout this trenchant subcultural travelogue, Heard never stoops to ridicule his subjects. As one reviewer put it, "Heard's real achievement may be that he makes us care--in a way that is more than voyeuristic--about the colorful characters he meets on the road to the new millennium. He takes these people seriously, allows his assumptions to be challenged, and lets himself find that some of their beliefs and fears reflect his own" (San Jose Mercury News).

Now in paperback, this book will have an audience well beyond "millenniamania," from science fiction fans to students of subculture, and anybody interested in way-out alternatives to the brave new world. -->

The Washington Post called The Long Boom "a future-history and a challenge"-and that is exactly what it is: the story of the world's future, powered by emerging technologies, and a political vision that can help realize an era of unprecedented growth and opportunity. The Long Boom urges everyone to recognize that global prosperity, a sustainable environment, broad social progress, and even radically extended lifespans are very possible-if not probable-in the 20 years to come.

We all want to know what will happen to the earth and to those who come after us, our children and our grandchildren. Diane, seeking an answer, has gone to women visionaries and seers: women who channel the future and those who bring it to life in their writings: Sally Miller Gearhart, Sheri Tepper, and Marge Piercy. This is the time, Diane avers, for women to define what needs changing and begin to do the work. By women's power of thought and creation, we together can make a better world.

In a highly engaging style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J. C. R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. The digital revolution did not begin with the teenage millionaires of Silicon Valley, claims Howard Rheingold, but with such early intellectual giants as Charles Babbage, George Boole, and John von Neumann. In a highly engaging style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J. C. R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. Taking the reader step by step from nineteenth-century mathematics to contemporary computing, he introduces a fascinating collection of eccentrics, mavericks, geniuses, and visionaries. The book was originally published in 1985, and Rheingold's attempt to envision computing in the 1990s turns out to have been remarkably prescient. This edition contains an afterword, in which Rheingold interviews some of the pioneers discussed in the book. As an exercise in what he calls "retrospective futurism," Rheingold also looks back at how he looked forward.