DEDICATED TO

My paternal grandmother, Lydia Boehl Korten, who taught me that every person has a sacred purpose.

My parents, Ted Korten and Margaret Korten, who made it possible to honor the call.

My brother, Robert Korten, who assumed the family responsibilities I abandoned.

Thomas Berry, Riane Eisler, and Joanna Macy, on whose inspiration, analysis, and language I have drawn freely in framing the human choice at hand.

Timothy Iistowanohpataakiiwa, who initiated me into elderhood on my sixty-fifth birthday and helped me see with greater clarity the path of my elder years.

And George W. Bush, whose administration exposed to full view the imperial shadow side of U.S. democracy, stripped away the last of the illusions of my childhood innocence, and compelled me to write this book.