The Coming Dark Age: Roberto Vacca predicts the collapse of our technology and of civilized life as we know it

Original Italian edition published 1971 by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. EN translation copyright © Doubleday & Company Inc., 1973. Introduction. 1. Reaching the Knee of the Curve. 2. Is a Halt to Expansion Unlikely? 3. Large Systems and Their Engineering. 4. Large Systems Getting Out of Control. 5. The Powerless Electricians. 6. Urban Congestion and Traffic Paralysis. 7. Crisis in Communications. 8. Electronic Computers: Some Unjustified Hopes and Fears. 9. Water and Waste. 10. Death of the City of New York. 11. Is Modern War Irrelevant to the Issue? 12. The Futility of Protest. 13. The Crisis of Management. 14. The Beginning and Duration of the Dark Age. 15. Short-Term Gains and Long-Term Losses. 16. Social Life Before and After the Knockout. 17. Foundations of a New Tradition. 18. Monastic Communities Looking Backward and Forward. Notes. Index.