Eric Hobsbawm is a historian that i like. He's got a series of books that divides modern history into 4 "ages":

The Age of Revolution 1789-1848
The Age of Capital 1848-1875
The Age of Empire 1875-1914
The Age of Extremes 1914-1991

Now he wonders, with the failure of socialism (my previous post and the protests of some of his commentators notwithstanding) and the impending failure of capitalism, what comes next?