I’ve barely cracked the binding on Paul Taylor’s new book, The Next America, and already I’m hugely impressed. The book is grounded in boatloads of well-organized data about America’s shifting demographics and the cultural and political attitudes of our various population segments, as well as their economic prospects, gleaned from the extensive studies of the Pew Research Center.

BTW, if you’re about to mail a million prospect letters next week, or preparing to report to your CEO or Board on first quarter fundraising returns, you can file this post for later reference. But don’t forget it … I’m trying to watch out for your future.

If you plan to be out of the fundraising biz within the next 20 years, but still alive, read The New America because it previews the world you’ll be retiring in (hey, good luck with that).

If you plan still to be fundraising by mid-century, then I suggest you read the book for mercenary reasons, because the audience you’ll be addressing is fundamentally changing in composition … in virtually every dimension and life experience.

The Next America deserves to become your socio-political reference bible. And for The Agitator’s non-US readers — wondering ‘what the hell’s wrong with those people?! — I can’t think of a better source of insight into the issues and conflicts that are ‘baked in’ to this country’s changing demographics. You’ll read that as a people, Americans are growing “older, more unequal, more diverse, more mixed race, more digitally linked, more tolerant, less married, less fertile, less religious, less mobile, and less confident”.

However, don’t read it as merely a voyeur. Taylor points toward the prospect of future generational warfare in America … and for most non-US Agitator readers, it’s coming your way too!

But right now, while you wait for your copy to arrive or download, I urge you to check out this ‘interactive essay’ from Pew — Two Dramas in Slow Motion — that provides an overview of the trends highlighted by The Next America.

And while the substantive content itself is great, I’m actually recommending this essay because of the communications brilliance with which it presents its message.

Boy, what I would give to see a major nonprofit present itself this effectively.

Maybe I’m just not on the right (e)mailing or subscription or annual report lists, but I’ve not seen a presentation this well done.

What do you think?

Tom