Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present Hardcover – March 26, 2024

My husband is the one reading it and totally engrossed. As people with "skin in the game" in some areas, we appreciate Dr. Zacharia's fair-minded, open approach to a variety of topics. As his television program, GPS, reflects his ability to clarify subjects articulately, so his writing style accomplishes the same thing. A must read.

Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the weeds of the here-and-now, especially when it comes to politics. With his astute understanding of how the world works--and has worked--Fareed Zakaria grounds us by, ironically, taking us up to the 30,000-foot level so we can see where we are in the weeds and how we got here.My metaphor is inept at best, because if Zakaria's book could be distilled into an easy paragraph or two, it wouldn't be the probative analysis it is. At its heart, *Age of Revolutions* carefully explains how past events in the Netherlands, France, Great Britain and the US inform where we are today, and what we can learn from them given what he considers to be present-day revolutions in globalization, technology, identity, and politics.It sounds deep and heavy and boring, but Zakaria's ability to make the abstract concrete and the obscure relevant, this is a fascinating book. Although some might consider this a partisan, biased narrative, I assure you Zakaria presents the factual, historical background in a straightforward way; you'll see he arrives at his point of view authentically.You'll learn a lot from it. You'll learn things you never knew you MUST know. You'll probably even read it more than once. And you'll be recommending that your friends and relatives read this book, too. More than once.

I happened to see Zakaria on the Stephen Colbert show promoting this book. At first I did not intend to read it because it is not the sort of book that I ordinarily read. However, he had stated something to the effect that the most important revolution was the worldwide revolution in the role of women. When I learned that the college senior thesis of a young female relative gave considerable attention to the current regression of women's rights, I suggested that she might want to read this book. Making that suggestion made me think that perhaps I should read it.I thought there would be a major section of the book devoted to women. After I bought an electronic copy, I was surprised to look at the table of contents and find there was no such section. So I began searching the final parts of the book because it was less clear what their contents were. I found a statement similar to what he had said on TV, along with the claim that this topic had been discussed earlier in the book.I have now read the entire book. There is no such discussion in the book, just a few scant mentions of anything to do with women. The title of my review comes from one of them, a mention that Mao made the rather progressive statement that women hold up half the sky. There is an interesting suggestion that work in the mills of the Industrial Revolution, despite the dismal reputation of such jobs, may actually have been rather liberating for women. There is a rather minimal discussion of the women's movement of the 1960s as a sort of adjunct to the civil rights movement of that period. I told my young relative that she need not waste her time reading this book.I am not sure if Zakaria is completely deluded in thinking he has discussed this topic in a meaningful way. Perhaps he is currently writing another book that will address this feminist revolution if he really thinks it is as important as he said.That said, the book is a worthwhile broad brush treatment of the history of the West (mostly) since about 1500. He emphasizes the economic thread in these historical changes. So, for example, he rather minimizes the significance of the American Revolution because he does not see it as having involved any great economic change. The closing sections of the book give a great deal of attention to China today.Zakaria speaks as an American, a citizen of the US. However I feel he also has a bit of an outsider's view of the US. In fact, I was rather surprised to discover that he is from India, says he grew up in India.I had thought he was probably from somewhere in the Middle East, given his somewhat exotic name and a speaking accent that is not one of the standard American ones.He has a somewhat more positive view of the role of the US in the world over the last 70 years than I do.

I have watched Zakaria's informative show for years, but this is the first book of his that I've read. It turns out he writes the way he talks: he suggests a point or "thesis" on something, then he elaborates and logically builds his case while interspersing quotes or paraphrasing from a diversity of sources, and then he closes the argument by summarizing it while at the same time allowing for some flexibility in thought on his and our part as the listener or reader. The book, as a whole, follows that model, as do the chapters and thoughts within the chapters. That makes it easy - at least for me - to follow where he is leading us.Walter Isaacson's summary and "praise" of the book (can be seen before this review/comments section) hits the mark perfectly, so need to repeat it here. The book is a thorough but focused review of several revolutions - in the broadest sense of the word, i.e., to include societal bloodless revolutions, not just the bloody ones - starting with the Dutch in the 1500's, leading up to today, and why some succeeded and others did not. His position is that the world is currently in a turbulent and revolutionary and counter-revolutionary era with extremes on both sides of the liberal and illiberal spectrum. The way forward, he concludes, is to learn from history on what has worked and move away from the extremes. "Extremism may feel satisfying, but gradual reform more often produces enduring change.", he states, along with "work within the fabric of society, with actual communities and people, to educate, persuade, and convince them of your cause". In essence, he is saying (basing it on his historical analysis documented in the book) that gradual bottoms-up approaches are more successful than directed top-down approaches. And, very importantly, he adds "The greatest challenge remains to infuse that journey with moral meaning."I am in that same camp of thought in terms of the overall "end point" he envisions. The challenge I see is having a viable plan on how to get there. The problem I see is twofold: there is a high level of misinformation and mistrust in our society, and I don't see the group of true leaders - anywhere - that can help lead us to where Zakaria concludes we need to go. If anything, leaders (not just political ones) seem to be getting more and more entrenched in extremes. Perhaps in his next book Zakaria will present his thoughts on some of the elements of a viable plan to get to that "end point".Bottom line: a very valuable read that leads one to use our critical thinking skills.I