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Disorder

Hard Times in the 21st Century
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Disorder by Helen Thompson explores the interconnected geopolitical, economic, and political crises shaping Western democracies in the 2020s. The book provides a comprehensive history of the current political moment, detailing how events before the pandemic combined to create a period of profound disruption. It examines the roles of central bank policies, geopolitical competition, and energy challenges, particularly those linked to fossil fuels, explaining why these issues persist amid the green energy transition.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This insightful work is ideal for readers interested in politics, international relations, and economics, including scholars, policy makers, and informed general readers seeking to understand the complexities of 21st-century Western democracies and global challenges.

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Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century explains the historical origins of the political shocks of the past decade: why politics has been so difficult, why energy and debt are such a large part of these difficulties, and how two rather different kinds of democratic crises exist in Europe and the United States.

Shortlisted for the 2022 FT Business Book of the Year Award

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Getting to grips with the overlapping geopolitical, economic, and political crises faced by Western democratic societies in the 2020s.

The 21st century has brought a powerful tide of geopolitical, economic, and democratic shocks. Their fallout has led central banks to create over $25 trillion of new money, brought about a new age of geopolitical competition, destabilised the Middle East, ruptured the European Union, and exposed old political fault lines in the United States.

Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century is a long history of this present political moment. It recounts three histories – one about geopolitics, one about the world economy, and one about western democracies – and explains how in the years of political disorder prior to the pandemic the disruption in each became one big story. It shows how much of this turbulence originated in problems generated by fossil-fuel energies, and it explains why as the green transition takes place the long-standing predicaments energy invariably shapes will remain in place.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised as brilliant and majestic by critics such as Steven Poole and Neal Lawson, Thompson's analysis is noted for its depth and clarity. Expert reviewers highlight the book as an indispensable resource for understanding modern political tensions and the interplay between debt, energy, inflation, and instability. Shane McLorrain commends it as a uniquely detailed and sober examination free from doctrinal bias, while Michael Laver calls it startlingly relevant and among the best works on current crises.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780198864981

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 24 February 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Oxford University Press

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 35.0mm

Width: 145.0mm

Height: 225.0mm

Weight: 490g

Pages: 384

About the Author

Helen Thompson is Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University. She is the author of Oil and the western economic crisis (2017); China and the mortgaging of America (2010); and Might, right, prosperity and consent: representative democracy and the international economy (2008). Since 2015, Helen has been a regular contributor to the podcast Talking Politics and has written articles for the London Review of Books, The New York Times, and The Financial Times.

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