Showing results by narrator "Bruce Turk" in All Categories

George Friedman has forecasted the coming trends (politics, technology, population, and culture) of the next century in The Next 100 Years, and focused his predictions on the coming ten years in The Next Decade. Now, in Flashpoints, Friedman zooms in on the region that has, for 500 years, been the cultural hotbed of the world - Europe - and examines the most basic and fascinating building block of the region: culture.

Since their parents' divorce, 16-year-old Rig and his sister, Karma, have drifted apart. Now she is in college - too busy to even return Rig's calls. So one day he Googles her and discovers a website "shrine" filled with photos of his sister. His mother thinks it's romantic, but Rig finds the whole thing creepy; and much to his surprise, his judgmental, estranged father shares Rig's concerns. Together, they fly out to Karma's college to investigate. The website grows increasingly disturbing, with voyeuristic photos and angry rants. Then Rig is attacked at knifepoint.

Every year, a new generation of genetically engineered kids is shipped out to meet their parents. Every spring, the residents of this town take down the snow they've stuck to their windows and put up flowers. Every morning Martin's family gathers around their television and votes for whatever matter of national importance the president has on the table. Today, it is the color of his drapes. It's business as usual under the protective dome of suburb HM1, but it is all about to come crashing down.