The hidden history of our current global crisis. 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? Pankaj Mishra casts 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 fulfill its promises - freedom, stability and prosperity - were increasingly susceptible to demagogues.