Book Review: Age of Revolutions

Here’s my book review for Age of Revolutions by Fareed Zakaria. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve read it too. And check out today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.

Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present by Fareed Zakaria is an informative book, dense with interesting tidbits of data and facts. When you finish the last page, you will feel as if you are much better informed about pivotal revolutions that took place throughout history. Although you will also come to a new or updated understanding of what a ‘revolution’ really is and was, and how it differs from revolts, which are often misconstrued as being revolutions.

This book is more an account of liberalism (in the classical sense of the term) than anything else and offers information on how geopolitical events have shaped our understanding of liberalism, as well as the backlash it receives— most notably, the industrial revolutions that occurred over the course of the past three to four centuries. Yet this stance isn't necessarily surprising or, excuse the pun, revolutionary. When there are new innovations, they will be met with as much skepticism as adoption, and they will inevitably cause new issues and concerns to appear both economically and socially. 

Overall, I appreciated Zakaria's moderate approach and voice throughout the book. A book on revolutions could easily become inflammatory, but this book is steady and thorough, and incredibly well researched and thoughtfully structured. Readers from any political affiliation will be able to read this book and walk away better informed about the history that he covers.

At the same time, however, I didn't really feel that a strong consistent argument was made throughout the entire book. And I really wanted to know more about what Zakaria thought about the pushes and pulls of liberalism over the course of history. The conclusion of the book only left me wishing more of his thoughts and stances were sprinkled throughout the book, alongside the data and facts, to give the dense material some personal heft (a narrative, if you will). As it was, the rest of the book was more like a textbook, albeit an interesting one. Still, the conclusion, which was a tad more personalized and subjective, seemed out of place, I am sorry to say, even though it was one of the parts of the book that I enjoyed the most. 

Novice history buffs, and those who appreciate a moderate, fact-of-the-matter voice telling them about history, will appreciate this book.

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Today’s Writing Prompt