Book Review: Pankaj Mishra's "Age of Anger"

I'm sure this will be a review of one of many books that have emerged to explain 2016, but none of the ones I've considered seem to dig too as far back in history to explain the present as Pankaj Mishra's 2017 entry Age of Anger. Mishra's book goes back to the intellectuals of the tumultuous 18th-19th centuries, whose various theories of how to adapt to the tumult of the onset of modernity, of many nation-states centered on individualist commercialism built upon the premise of equal opportunity, in order to explain today's populist backlash against globalization. Ultimately, Mishra sets out to make the case to the reader that while history does not repeat itself exactly, history rhymes. And quite eerily.

What is the most intriguing and different from many other books that seek to explain 2016 in the context of largely political, cultural, and economic factors is Age of Anger's attempts to probe the spiritual and cultural consequences of today's modern age. From the conception of the traditions of secularism and self-interested, rational individuals in a materialist society that emerged with the Enlightenment in the 18th century, there have been considerable opposing forces that rose with the modernist tide from those excluded from the promise of prosperity. These intellectual and spiritual traditions that arose in opposition to the minority of powerful bourgeoisie (i.e. elites) included the demagogic and revolutionary cults of anarchism, messianism, nationalism and nihilism. {Notwithstanding the fact that nationalism has many positive aspects, like many other ideologies, it can be weaponized to serve more nefarious rather than positive, unifying purposes.} Mishra's main argument for the rise of these opposing forces (both one to two centuries ago to the present) is the persistent inequalities of modernity, in which a small minority accrues the most benefits-economically, politically, culturally and socially-to the detriment of the masses whose labor helps to fuel the system.

These revolutionary minds-from Rousseau, Nietzsche, Fichte, Weber, Herzen, Pushkin and more-pushed an often hyper-masculine, heroic, militant, misogynist and totalitarian ideology on the masses disoriented spiritually and culturally by the universal tide of modern civilization, where "all social, political and economic forces determining their lives seem opaque" and the masses are beset by "a competitive fever" and an accompanying sense of the possibility of the system being rigged against them (Mishra, 2017, p. 19). These toxic conditions of persistent inequality and anxiety not only extend to the masses but their leaders as well, making scapegoating of enemies like immigrants, Muslims, and, often, women, very easy, giving a convenient face to those shadowy forces seeking to keep them down despite the promises of equal opportunity enshrined by most democratic, secularist societies. Having a target to direct their built up frustration, humiliation and anger, masses often reacted militarily against their enemies, bringing great destruction and suffering upon humanity.

In other words, demagogues preceding today's Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Jong-un (and many more) benefited tremendously from their predecessors in Germany, India, and Iran (the prominent cases studied by Mishra), whose economic and spiritual malaise were blamed on myriad enemies (Others against which to redefine themselves in a world of unmoored identity): the imperialist (yet secular) West, a decadent France, Westernized natives, feminists, immigrants (often theorized to be there to drag wages down for everyone), and the financial elites. These enemies were often blamed for the unattainable ideal of continuous expansion and progress that modernity promised for all individuals and the failures of both capitalist and socialist systems to take hold and bring mass benefits. Their resulting wrath was cultivated by demagogues and unleashed in the forms of ethnic cleansing (directed against the Jews in the Holocaust and the Armenians by the Turks in the Armenian Genocide) and two absolutely devastating world wars.

Today's almost universal expansion of Western ideas of an egalitarian and entrepreneurial society post WWII has exacerbated the malaise felt by most of the world's population, while bringing the world even closer together, meaning the destructive ideologies of the (seemingly distant and irrational) past have reemerged and spread incredibly fast around the world. And destruction seems to many influenced by these ideas a legitimate way to gain revenge and a sense of authentic self-expression denied to them by the inability or unwillingness of governments to redress the grievances of economic, social, and political inequality (especially in developing countries, where recent reports by major international financial organizations like the IMF forecast a longer time period than was previously assumed for their catch-up to the West). {Don't forget that today we also have more destructive weapons than those used in the past which we can use to inflict greater harm on each other. And the looming threat of climate change, another consequence and perhaps mirror in the natural world of humanity's growing malaise and disorientation in the modern age.}

At risk of sounding like a member of the smug bourgeoisie, I believe that there must be hope enough to right the ship before humanity self destructs under the twin pressures of unachievable universal development and global climate change (despite the unease and disorientation described by Mishra that tickled at my subconscious as I read Age of Anger that made me pessimistic about humanity's chances). That must start with the recognition that the West's vision of a universal form of civilization is not feasible and that more realistic forms of societal betterment must be pursued according to conditions on the ground in various countries of the world. I don't have all the answers and neither, does it seem, does Mishra.

While many reviews have critiqued that, another symptom of Mishra's sometimes stream of consciousness style of writing in his unenviable quest of synthesizing the past and the present and their common intellectual/spiritual traditions, I believe the unambiguity is a strength. Age of Anger gives us all room to think critically and hopefully come together and work towards a solution (even if the solution is as unattainable as the promises of modernity for all). But, as they say, it's better to try than not do anything at all.

Works Cited:

Mishra, Pankaj. (2017). Age of Anger: A History of the Present. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.