An absorbing account of the emerging sense of the individual and the search for universal human values in the different cultures of Eurasia - past, present and future

‘Erudite, bold and wide-ranging – a book that makes you think about knowledge, wisdom and what the future has in store.’ PETER FRANKOPAN 'A book of remarkable sweep and scope - not just learned, but deeply humane.' TOM HOLLAND The long human odyssey of self-discovery has reached a crucial stage: everything we do affects everyone and everything else - and we know it. The next hundred years will bring more change than we can easily imagine: more opportunities for more people to achieve the fulfilment of a good life, and more risks that could result in catastrophic harm to the entire planet. Viewed geopolitically, the main question is whether the world-views of the world’s most important and influential powers – China and America (the one fundamentally Confucian, the other essentially individualist) – can be made to work together constructively. At the same time, on a deeper level, the even greater question is how the irreversible fact of urbanisation may nurture healthy and mature human individuality, such that the accumulated wisdom of the world’s great cultures becomes mutually transforming and enriching. This bold and wide-ranging book explores those questions, with all the risks and opportunities they hold for generations still to come.

"‘Erudite, bold and wide-ranging – a book that makes you think about knowledge, wisdom and what the future has in store.’" - Peter Frankopan, Senior Research Fellow, Worcester College, Oxford, and author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

"‘Ranging from Japan to Iceland, and from Babylon to the Belt and Road Initiative, this is a book of remarkable sweep and scope - not just learned, but deeply humane."" - Tom Holland, author of Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind

"‘Stephen Green asks important questions about what happens to humanity in the next hundred years. His book is a bold enterprise given the scale and pace of change around the world.’" - Baroness Valerie Amos CH, Director, the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and former Leader of the House of Lords and United Nations Under-Secretary General

"‘Stephen Green’s book is reflects his unique background: he has combined his deep international business experience with his strong appreciation of cultural and philosophical issues to present the evidence so persuasively.’" - Lord Jim O’Neill, Chair of Chatham House and former Head of Global Economic Research at Goldman Sachs

"‘Through his thrillingly unusual and unfailingly wise probe into the moral and intellectual dilemmas that have defined Europe and Asia, Stephen Green leaves us better placed to understand the stakes and ever more complex future of Eurasia – thecauldron of human history.’" - Sunil Khilnani, Director of the India Institute, Kings College London, and author of The Idea of India