No method of science or magic has been found that can predict the future with accuracy. Aside from the assertions of self-proclaimed psychics and astrologers, the only predictor of the future may be the past. Using the Toynbee-Quigley method of applying the history of past civilizations to predict the future of the current one, Douglas Caddy in Exploring America's Future discusses events and trends of the past few decades and relates them to probable future outcomes.

Some analysts have looked at the trends and predicted "doomsday," as Malthus did, while others have studied the same data and trends and come up with optimistic forecasts for America's future. Caddy looks at the "third wave" - futurist Alvin Roffler's term for the postindustrial era - with the view that we can either be the victims of the forces around us or we can, with our intellect, forecast trends and be prepared to deal with them by constructively molding change.

Discussions detail the pendulum motion of the economic, social, religious, intellectual/educational, political, and military trends that have brought America to the brink of the future, Questions regarding the future impact of the change in the traditional "nuclear" family; the transition of a service economy; renewed interest in religion, particularly those forms emphasizing a personal relationship with God; "back to the basics" in education; dramatic political realignments; and the dynamics of the superpowers' arms race, "star wars" technology, and the rise of the Third World have no definite answers, but the possible answers suggest the routes America may take to meet the twenty-first century with peace and prosperity.