Some books fall between the
cracks.
That is certainly the case with “Age
of Anger” by Pankaj Mishra, which was published by FSG in February but just came to my
attention in the past few weeks.
I was drawn to this title from
reading Mishra’s essays and book reviews in the London Review of Books.
In short, Mishra puts into
context, through political philosophy, novels and a stunning knowledge of
global current events, the strange Trumpist-like goings-on from Indonesia to
Indiana. Here’s a nut graf, as they say
in my business:
Rousseau had argued that human beings live neither for
themselves nor for their country in a commercial society where social value is
modeled on monetary value; they live for the satisfaction of their vanity, or
amour proper: the desire and need to secure recognition from others, to be
esteemed by them as much as one esteems oneself.
A mark of just how dense – as in
so much more than the single idea that drives most current affairs nonfiction –
Age of Anger is: The Bibliographic Essay spans 25 pages, with literally
countless titles (say, 20 per page on average), with the final reading
presented this way:
“The pope’s encyclical about
climate change is arguably the most important piece of intellectual criticism
in our time. See Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home
(London, 2015).
Wow! This is one must-read book
that might work best if you start from the end !
Next: Running for Your Life: Canada Hey Day
