The decisive event of the late twentieth century has been the collapse of communism and the perceived triumph of capitalism. Written by authors from the First, former Second, and Third Worlds, this book reveals the characteristics and flaws of the late capitalist order.

The authors explore the societal polarisation produced by globalisation, the crisis of Western ideology, and the soft financial underbelly of globalisation that could well bring us to an economic collapse. The perspective of this provocative book goes beyond those of the traditional left and the relativist, anti-historical school of postmodernism to offer an entirely fresh view of the world order.

'An insightful portrayal of the world at the end of the century which provides ideas and information that can be used to construct an alternative world' -- Eduardo Galeano
'An excellent antidote to the complacency generated by the mass media and politicians who claim that 'we never had it so good' -- New Renaissance
'A courageous, at times audacious, reflection on the future of the left. Required reading for the dark times ahead' -- Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz

Roger Burbach is Director of the Center for the Study of the Americas. He has written extensively on Latin America, US politics, and on post-communist societies and is the author, with Octavio Nunez and Boris Kagarlitsky, of Globalization and its Discontents: The Rise of Postmodern Socialisms (Pluto, 1996). Orlando Nunez was a leading strategist in the Nicaraguan Sandinista government in the 1980s and was a member of the Sandinista's Assembly until their defeat. He now he heads CIPRES, a centre promoting sustainable agriculture. Boris Kagarlitsky is a Russian Marxist theoretician and sociologist who has been a political dissident in the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. He is the author of many books, his latest being The Long Retreat: Strategies to Reverse the Decline of the Left. In 2023 he was detained under Putin’s regime for speaking out against the war in Ukraine, and in February 2024 he was sentenced to five years in a penal colony. Since then, the Daniel Singer Foundation designated him as the recipient of its 2024 Prisoner of Conscience Award.