Globalization necessitates a new reading of the human story. Its origins, Robbie Robertson argues, lie in human interconnections that have existed since the earliest times and which assumed global proportions 500 years ago. Since then, three consecutive waves of globalization have radically transformed human societies. Managing this revolutionary change has proved difficult. Globalization is destabilizing. The first wave after 1500 destroyed most of America's indigenous peoples, contributed to war in Europe, and generated an industrial revolution. Both the first and the second, 19th century wave collapsed into depression and war. Now the same fate could face our third wave if we ignore the social and historical lessons. We are at the crossroads once more. A globalized humanity, says Robertson, has to develop a new consciousness to avoid the global-scale destabilization of ethnic and national tensions, environmental catastrophes, and a new democratic divide.