Age of Anger: A History of the Present

憤怒年代─當代世界的寫照
歷史進程裡被遺落的輸家們，正以堆疊的怨懟，進行搗毀一切的反撲

　　反體制anti-establishment、仇外的國族主義、種族主義與厭女情結，具體化成為2016年的英國脫歐、川普勝選，以及法國崛起的右派候選人，甚或是伊斯蘭國ISIS。世界瀰漫著一股憤怒，無法抑止，也禁不起任何碰觸，隨時可能掀起衝突。該如何解釋今日世界各地的現象？這股憤怒從何而來？將如何影響世界進程？

　　不從單純的宗教，或者訴諸民族間的對立衝突以解釋。身為評論家與文學家的印度裔作者Pankaj Mishra，回顧了更長遠的歷史進程，認為今日的現狀，早自18世紀便埋下種子。從啟蒙運動開始，從思想、社會、政治各個層面，都對於人類做出了美好的承諾：人人都將過的更自由、更進步、獲得受教權，也更加富足幸福。但這條走向現代的路上，卻並不是每個人都搭上的進步的列車，更不是所有人都享用到了獲利的果實。

　　在全球化走至巔峰的今日，之於作者，正像是這條啟蒙之路的終極境地；相對地，也是歷史足跡裡的失敗者們積累的怨恨，抵達全盛之時。而這股恨意，化為對於體制的反對，寄望於新集權領袖，或是他者的敵視，一股希望世界能重新整頓出發的摧毀力量。

　　這樣的現象在歷史的進程裡並不是前所未見，俄國大革命、法西斯、無政府主義，或者世界各地持續出現的恐怖主義，在根處都是從這股埋怨出發。作者透過歷史與思潮，著眼世界整體的悠長發展，寫出了對於當代精闢的診斷分析。也無怪乎金融時報讚譽：「正是今日世界需要的精準視界…Pankaj Mishra不能停下他的思考。」(文/博客來編譯)

'The kind of vision the world needs right now...Pankaj Mishra shouldn't stop thinking' Christopher de Bellaigue, Financial Times

'This is the most astonishing, convincing, and disturbing book I've read in years' Joe Sacco

'Urgent, profound and extraordinarily timely' John Banville

　　How can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world - from American 'shooters' and ISIS to Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to racism and misogyny on social media? In Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the eighteenth century, before leading us to the present.

　　He shows that as the world became modern those who were unable to fulfil its promises - freedom, stability and prosperity - were increasingly susceptible to demagogues. The many who came late to this new world or were left, or pushed, behind, reacted in horrifyingly similar ways: intense hatred of invented enemies, attempts to re-create an imaginary golden age, and self-empowerment through spectacular violence. It was from among the ranks of the disaffected that the militants of the 19th century arose - angry young men who became cultural nationalists in Germany, messianic revolutionaries in Russia, bellicose chauvinists in Italy, and anarchist terrorists internationally.

　　Today, just as then, the wider embrace of mass politics, technology, and the pursuit of wealth and individualism has cast many more millions adrift in a literally demoralized world, uprooted from tradition but still far from modernity - with the same terrible results

　　Making startling connections and comparisons, Age of Anger is a book of immense urgency and profound argument. It is a history of our present predicament unlike any other.

作者簡介

　　Pankaj Mishra is the author of From the Ruins of Empire and several other books. He is a columnist at Bloomberg View and the New York Times Book Review, and writes regularly for The Guardian, the London Review of Books, and The New Yorker. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he lives in London.