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As the world became modern, those who were unable to enjoy its promises of freedom, stability, and prosperity were increasingly susceptible to demagogues. It was from among the ranks of the disaffected that the militants of the nineteenth century arose—angry young men who became cultural nationalists in Germany, messianic revolutionaries in Russia, bellicose chauvinists in Italy, and anarchist terrorists internationally.
Today, just as then, the embrace of mass politics and technology and the pursuit of wealth and individualism have cast many more billions adrift, uprooted from tradition but still far from modernity—with the same terrible results.
Making startling connections and comparisons, Age of Anger is a book of immense urgency and profound argument. It is a history of our present predicament unlike any other.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 7, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781515993889
- File size: 349489 KB
- Duration: 12:08:06
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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If you need reminding that recent global events, the rise of nationalism and demagogues, and the rejection of the liberal world order pose a threat to freedom, then this audiobook is for you. Narrator Derek Perkins's deep voice and English accent capture the audiobook's pessimistic tone. The author compares the events of our time with mostly catastrophic twentieth-century events and concludes that we are susceptible to the same forces that led to the breakdown of the world order at that time. Perkins's voice is reminiscent of WWII documentary narrators of the BBC, full of ominous portents but somehow vaguely reassuring that truth win out in the end. His pacing and diction are exemplary, but, again, this is not an audiobook for those looking for hope. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine -
April 3, 2017
Perkins puts his erudite but approachable speaking style to good use in the audio edition of Mishra’s title on the philosophical heritage behind a recent wave of aggressive nationalism around the globe. Perkins resists the temptation to focus on caricature accents in reading the text, which includes extensive quotations from a range of historical figures hailing from diverse places. However, he does utilize tone and pitch to convey the stances and temperaments of these leaders, which makes it easier for listeners to grasp points about the sweeping divide between the elitism of Voltaire and the natural-man ideals of Rousseau and follow passages drawing out common threads in the diatribes of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and the pronouncements of al-Qaeda and ISIS. Perkins and Mishra complement one another, making this intellectually challenging material easier to comprehend. A Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover. -
Starred review from January 23, 2017
In an impressively probing and timely work, Mishra, a novelist and cultural critic (A Great Clamour), illuminates intellectual patterns from the past 200 years that help explain our volatile present. In an age where tribal nationalism is on the rise and aggressive right-wing leaders are in power in Turkey, India, and the U.S., Mishra examines the modern world from the perspective of those left behind or rendered superfluous. He pays particular attention to the Enlightenment in 18th-century France and the clash between Voltaire’s meritocracy and Rousseau’s warning against “a commercial society based on mimetic desire, as a game rigged by and in favor of elites.” Mishra shows how Rousseau’s ideas presaged German Romanticism, subsequent revolutions throughout the world (both failed and successful), and today’s Hindu and Chinese nationalists. Mishra also discusses the relative latecomers to modernity in Europe (Germany, Russia, Italy) who sensed capitalism’s downside; the Asian leaders who “saw themselves as modernizers in a hurry”; and the reaction against modernity in the writings of Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Iranian novelist Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, and many others. This exploration of global unrest is dense, but it’s so well-written and informative that it manages to be highly engaging.
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