A New York Times Bestseller The international best-selling author explores the revolutions
past and present that define the chaotic polarized and unstable age in which we live. Fareed
Zakaria first warned of the threat of "illiberal democracy" two decades ago. Now comes Age of
Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present . A decade in the making the book
is based on deep research and conversations with world leaders from Emmanuel Macron to Lee Kuan
Yew. In it Zakaria sets our era of populist chaos into the sweep of history. Age of
Revolutions tells the story of progress and backlash of the rise of classical liberalism and
of the many periods of rage and counter-revolution that followed seismic change. It begins with
the upstart Dutch Republic the first modern republic and techno-superpower where refugees and
rebels flocked for individual liberty. That haven for liberalism was almost snuffed out by
force - until Dutch ideas leapt across the English Channel in the so-called "Glorious
Revolution." Not all revolutions were so glorious however. The French Revolution shows us the
dangers of radical change that is imposed top-down. Lasting change comes bottom-up like the
Industrial Revolution in Britain and the United States which fueled the rise of the world's
modern superpowers and gave birth to the political divides we know today. Even as Britain and
America boomed technology unsettled society and caused backlash from machine-smashing Luddites
and others who felt threatened by this new world. In the second half of the book Zakaria
details the revolutions that have convulsed our times: globalization in overdrive digital
transformation the rise of identity politics and the return of great power politics with a
vengeful Russia and an ascendant China. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jingping see a world upended by
liberalism - and want to turn back the clock on democracy women's rights and open societies.
Even more dangerous than aggression abroad is democratic decay at home. This populist and
cultural backlash that has infected the West threatens the very foundations of the world that
the Enlightenment built - and that we all take too easily for granted. The book warns us that
liberalism's great strength has been freeing people from arbitrary constraints-but its great
weakness has been leaving individuals isolated to figure out for themselves what makes for a
good life. This void - the hole in the heart - can all too easily be filled by tribalism
populism and identity politics. Today's revolutions in technology and culture can even leave
people so adrift that they turn against modernity itself.
