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A review by ninabrown
Age of Anger: A History of the Present by Pankaj Mishra
5.0
I wish this man was my history teacher at school! History was always so terribly boring for me. "Old" history seemed irrelevant, "new" history - that of XX century - was packed with lies and propaganda in communist Poland where I went to school. Still, I have a good memory, and boring as the classes were, I found that this book brought a lot of half remembered material back to surface.
"Age of Anger" weaves effortlessly back and forth through world history from about XVII century all the way to Cirque du Trump. Pankaj Mishra is not only very well read but it is obvious that he gives a lot of thought and analysis to what he ingests, from historical facts, philosophical treatises, fiction, poetry to news and social media. He follows concepts and ideas rather than timelines, and I find this approach logical and easy to understand in a global, holistic way.
I am glad I've read this book, but it left me depressed and chilled to the bone. Pankaj doesn't offer any conclusions per se, but presents the facts in such a way that it is very hard to maintain any illusions of enlightement, progress, democracy, freedom; all these concepts we so love to believe in that we became blind to the cruel price tag that is always there. The title is well chosen. The book is well written. I will certainly look up his other books.
"Age of Anger" weaves effortlessly back and forth through world history from about XVII century all the way to Cirque du Trump. Pankaj Mishra is not only very well read but it is obvious that he gives a lot of thought and analysis to what he ingests, from historical facts, philosophical treatises, fiction, poetry to news and social media. He follows concepts and ideas rather than timelines, and I find this approach logical and easy to understand in a global, holistic way.
I am glad I've read this book, but it left me depressed and chilled to the bone. Pankaj doesn't offer any conclusions per se, but presents the facts in such a way that it is very hard to maintain any illusions of enlightement, progress, democracy, freedom; all these concepts we so love to believe in that we became blind to the cruel price tag that is always there. The title is well chosen. The book is well written. I will certainly look up his other books.