Book of crucial importance to culturalists and artists

Revolution or Renaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age is written for people in the arts and cultural field, as well as all those concerned about the state of the world today and prospects for the future. 

A case is made in the book that we have been living in an economic age for more than two centuries.  While this age has produced countless benefits, it is not capable of coming to grips with the problems confronting humanity at present, especially devastation of the natural environment; glaring inequalities in income and wealth; growing shortages of natural resources; high levels of unemployment; and escalating tensions and hostilities throughout the world.

In order to come to grips with these problems, it is necessary to pass out of the present economic age and into a future cultural age.  This age would make it possible to create a new environmental reality and realize more equitable distributions of income and wealth - the two most fundamental priorities for a cultural age - as well as reduce the demands we are making on the world’s scarce resources and achieve much more harmony, peace, and unity in the world. 

The role that artists and culturalists could - and should - play in this is crucial.  Without their involvement, commitment, and creative ideas, it will not be possible to cross over the threshold to a cultural age - an age where culture, cultures, and the arts are made the centrepiece of global development and human affairs.  Let take up this quest and realize it now.

D. Paul Schafer

More information on Revolution or Renaissance is available in the Publications section of the World Culture Project website (www3.sympatico.ca/dpaulschafer).