Time is rarely kind to books that try to predict the future. Do you recall when Stanford University professor Paul Ehrlich, in his 1968 title “The Population Bomb,” warned there would be worldwide famines in the 1970s fueled by an overcrowded planet? Or remember evangelist Hal Lindsey’s envisioning the Soviet Union’s invasion of Israel in the 1980s (“The Late Great Planet Earth,” 1970)? The zany Jeron Criswell King insisted that Pittsburgh would fall victim to mass cannibalism in 1980 and London would be obliterated by a meteor in 1988 (“Criswell Predicts,” 1968)?
It might seem that Drew Miller is putting himself in odd company with “Preparing to Survive in the Age of Collapse.” After all, his new book opens with a severe warning that “mankind will suffer severe disasters that kill hundreds of millions to billions of people” due to misused technologies and government incompetence.
But unlike Ehrlich, Lindsey, and Criswell, Miller is not a self-promoting outsider making wild guesses about what the future will bring. Instead, he is approaching his thesis of future disasters with an insider’s understanding of the subject.
A retired intelligence officer who was a U.S. Air Force colonel with a master’s degree and doctorate in public policy from Harvard, Miller has seen the inner workings of the topics he writes about. Unlike the other prophet-authors who depicted a world to come, Miller credibly argues that tomorrow’s dystopian nightmare is now percolating around us.
Roots of Disaster
Miller traces the roots of tomorrow’s problems back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell speech. In January 1961, he called out the rise of a “military-industrial complex” whereby corporate and military interests shaped how government operates.
Miller provides a similar warning by citing the “Perverted Triangle.” This is where career politicians, government bureaucrats, and lawyers ramrod onerous policies on a mostly helpless public.
Miller doesn’t play favorites with the political leadership since Eisenhower’s departure from the Oval Office. He laments what he views as the destructive social policies of Democratic administrations and the hypocrisy of Republican leadership. Both pledged smaller government but delivered the opposite.
The author is equally unhappy with current leaders. He argues that “Democratic career politicians with zero national security expertise, representing urban liberals and their causes” are wrecking national security. But he is equally scathing in questioning the competence of Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s war secretary.
What to Expect
Miller stresses that too many years of the wrong leadership has exposed the nation to vulnerabilities that could easily lead to future catastrophes. He acknowledges that Americans already experienced a sample of this potential chaos. He warns that the socioeconomic disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic are a mild preview of things to come.
Miller highlights multiple signs for a disastrous future. He predicts that artificial intelligence “will be used to develop new methods to enrich uranium or other materials to make nuclear weapons.” He points to a U.S. electric grid that could easily be taken down in an attack by hostile foreign players.
The author also raises a red flag on potential bioengineered viruses. He says they would make the COVID-19 pandemic look like a mild seasonal cold.
He bemoans a corrupt federal government that is recklessly spending the nation into the realm of economic collapse without making proper risk management preparations against a multitude of possible calamities.
Surviving the Worst
As the owner of the Fortitude Ranch survival community franchises, Miller has gained a reputation as a “prepper.” He encourages people to have the proper financial, food, and material needs ready in the event of cataclysmic upheaval.
He repeatedly cites the Collapse Survivor app to encourage readers to consider a variety of unwelcome scenarios that could befall us, including nuclear terrorism.
Miller praises efforts by Elon Musk to colonize Mars as a noble cause to provide a new home for those seeking to escape mankind’s self-immolation. However, he admits that Musk’s interplanetary efforts “will be of no value to 99 percent of humans of Earth” who would be left behind on a ruined planet.
As with any future prediction book, the reader’s acceptance of Miller’s alarmist forecasting is a matter of opinion. After all, the end of the world has been envisioned as far back as the Book of Revelation. But, by either default or design, mankind is still here after all these years.
Nonetheless, one must admire the vigor of Miller’s arguments, the cogent points that he raises to defend his ideas, the depth of his research, and his invigorating presentation skills.
“Preparing to Survive in the Age of Collapse” is a provocative and audacious work that could generate colorful debate on what might await us in the not-too-distant future.
‘Preparing to Survive in the Age of Collapse: Political, Military, Foreign Policy, and Preparedness Reforms Vital for Our Survival’
By Drew Miller
Skyhorse: Jan. 27, 2026
Hardcover, 360 pages
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