Age of Anger
by Pankaj Mishra
(Penguin Books, £9.99)

AGE of Anger is a pessimistic study of global violence, political dysfunction and diminishing faith in progress.

[[{"fid":"3372","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"},"link_text":null}]]Pankaj Mishra’s thesis is that a loss of trust in Western values such as individualism, liberalism and capitalism is responsible for the resurgence of racism, the election of fascistic demagogues and the rise of religiously inspired terrorism.

It’s a claim as bold as the assertion that Pope Francis is “the most convincing and influential public intellectual today.” The decline of spirituality is another of the factors Mishra deems to be fostering chauvinism, isolationism and aggression — an interesting notion but not one for which he provides unassailable evidence.

There are problems with Mishra's thesis — he treats artistic assertion as objective fact and the meticulously crafted stories of Goethe, Zola and Tolstoy are afforded the same interpretative value as the analyses of Marx, Bakunin and Gray.

And there is a tendency to obscure already complex ideas with an incoherent structure. The book begins with the occupation of Fiume by the Italian poet D’Annunzio in 1919, then we’re tackling the rise of the charismatic opportunist Boulanger in late 19th century France, now we’re dealing with Isis, Byron, Wagner and the nazis.

The connections between these historical figures are fascinating, but Mishra risks drowning out his central thesis with the clamour of supporting material on technology, psychology, religion and economics.

He does, however, tease out vital lessons from history. Nietzsche and Heine warned of toxic politics based on “bogus spirituality,” romantic nationalism, philistinism and failed visions of utopia. An example of the corrosive potential of such thinking concerns the political theorist and academic Paul de Lagarde, regarded by Nietzsche as a “pompous and sentimental crank,” but his philosophy of cultural despair steered German politics towards a condition of “messianic nationalism” two generations before Hitler.

Mishra recognises similarities in the psychology of people coming to terms with industrial capitalism in the 1800s and those now coping with the adversities of globalisation. There are the same broken promises of personal freedom, loosening social ties and shattered illusions of social mobility.

Two hundred years ago, the prospect of overwhelming change, coupled with a diminishing sense of personal power, led to bomb attacks on European monarchs and the rise of romantic manipulators such as Boulanger and Lagarde. Today we have Isis and Trump.

This ambitious book assesses the anger and anxieties of people in Mumbai, Tripoli, Cairo and San Bernadino, California. Not all of its arguments are compelling, but it is a provocative and timely work that highlights the dangers posed by disappointed dreams and dashed expectations.