The Fifth Beginning

“The Fifth Beginning is a benchmark book about where we came from and where we’re likely headed. Robert L. Kelly’s take on archaeology shows how we humans have repeatedly become something entirely different from what we intended to be. In trying to maintain the status quo, we have inadvertently triggered evolutionary changes that were ultimately transformative (and not in a good way). Kelly sounds a simple wake-up call: this time—for the very first time—it’s all up to us.”—David Hurst Thomas, American Museum of Natural History   “In our past is our future written. Kelly brings the skills and insights of the archaeologist to the question of how we might survive in a clouded and dangerous future. He takes us on an exuberant tour of the human past and how it has shaped us today, all the way to the ‘fifth beginning.’ The big one. The one that will decide what becomes of nations, cultures, warfare, capitalism, terrorism, and other aspects of human organization. Wisely, Kelly doesn’t predict the future. He unearths and interprets it, illuminating our prospects from the fragments of our past behavior. Anyone who thinks there should be a human future will enjoy his ‘dig.’”—Julian Cribb, author of The Coming Famine   “Kelly gives us an intelligent, thoughtful ‘big history’ of humanity, a story that begs to be told by an archaeologist. Too often 99 percent of human history—known only through archaeology—becomes an introductory chapter or a footnote. It’s about time an archaeologist produced a volume like this, and Kelly does the job superbly. An important book!”—Stephen H. Lekson, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History