Books › The sovereign individual
The sovereign individual
First published 1997 · 672 pages
A sweeping, prophetic blueprint for navigating the collapse of the nation-state and the rise of the digital frontier.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like unearthing a time capsule that somehow contains the blueprint for tomorrow. It is a dense, bracing, and intensely intellectual experience, demanding that you strip away your assumptions about how the world works. The prose is erudite and unsentimental, sweeping through centuries of history to build a relentless case for the collapse of the industrial nation-state. There is a distinct mood of visionary opportunism mixed with a slight, thrilling paranoia—a sense that the ground is shifting beneath your feet and only the prepared will survive. It will deeply satisfy tech-libertarians, crypto enthusiasts, and macro-thinkers who crave grand, paradigm-shifting theories about decentralization, radical self-reliance, and the unstoppable momentum of the information age.
- Mood
- visionary
- intellectual
- bracing
- slightly paranoid
- Tone
- prophetic
- authoritative
- analytical
- unsentimental
- bold
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- technological determinism · radical self-reliance · collapse of the nation-state · decentralization of power · historical cycles
- The writing
- Dense, erudite, and historically sweeping, blending economic theory with bold, sweeping analogies.
- The arc
- Transitions from a sobering deconstruction of the industrial age to a bracing, opportunistic vision of a decentralized future.
- Who it's for
- Tech-libertarians, crypto enthusiasts, and macro-thinkers fascinated by grand historical cycles and the future of governance.
Content notes
- discussions of societal collapse
- economic instability
About the book
Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the bestseller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
Few observers of the late twentieth century have their fingers so presciently on the pulse of the global political and economic realignment ushering in the new millennium as do James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. Their bold prediction of disaster on Wall Street in Blood in the Streets was borne out by Black Tuesday. In their ensuing bestsellar, The Great Reckoning, published just weeks before the coup attempt against Gorbachev, they analyzed the pending collapse of the Soviet Union and foretold the civil war in Yugoslavia and other events that have proved to be among the most searing developments of the past few years.
In The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries -- the shift from an industrial to an information-based society. This transition, which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society," will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government. This outstanding book will replace false hopes and fictions with new understanding and clarified values.
Description from Open Library.
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