Overview

An urgent examination of how disruptive politics, technology, and art are capsizing old assumptions in a great wave of change breaking over today’s world, creating both opportunity and peril—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning critic and author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Truth.   “In this dazzling and brilliant book, Michiko Kakutani explains the cascading chaos of our era and points to ways that we can regain some stability.”—Walter Isaacson, author of Elon Musk The twenty-first century is experiencing a watershed moment defined by chaos and uncertainty, as one emergency cascades into another, underscoring the larger dynamics of change that are fueling instability across the world.   Since the global financial crisis of 2008, people have increasingly lost trust in institutions and elites, while seizing upon new digital tools to sidestep traditional gatekeepers. As a result, powerful new voices—once regarded as radical, unorthodox, or marginal—are disrupting the status quo in politics, business, and culture. Meanwhile, social and economic inequalities are stoking populist rage across the world, toxic partisanship is undermining democratic ideals, and the internet and AI have become high-speed vectors for the spread of misinformation.   Writing with a critic’s understanding of cultural trends and a journalist’s eye for historical detail, Michiko Kakutani looks at the consequences of these new asymmetries of power. She maps the migration of ideas from the margins to the mainstream and explores the growing influence of outsiders—those who have sown chaos and fear (like Donald Trump), and those who have provided inspirational leadership (like Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky). At the same time, she situates today’s multiplying crises in context with those that defined earlier hinge moments in history, from the waning of the Middle Ages to the transition between the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era at the end of the nineteenth century.   Kakutani argues that today’s crises are not only signs of an interconnected globe’s profound vulnerabilities, but also stress tests pointing to the essential changes needed to survive this tumultuous era and build a more sustainable future.

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9780525574996

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Reviews

“The Great Wave by Michiko Kakutani is a fable-style narrative that offers a profoundly inspiring and prophetic perspective on the contemporary world. It is an exceptionally rare book, marked by its deep, sincere, and precise comprehension and portrayal of history and reality. This work, with great wisdom, sheds light on the formidable challenges that humanity faces in the third millennium. What distinguishes this crisis from previous ones is its origin in the realms of science, politics, and outdated systems, with irreconcilable characteristics and the potential to be the ultimate crisis for humankind. It may well be a pivotal turning point, ushering in an era that no longer requires wisdom. The Great Wave is a truly unique book that captivates readers with its vivid and skillful prose. Its content is imbued with both passion and sagacity.—Ai Weiwei, author of 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir “If you’re trying to decide whether the world is going crazy or you are, Michiko Kakutani’s new book should prove uplifting. The Great Wave is a panoramic survey of the various forces pulling us apart, depositing us in isolated camps, replacing coherence with chaos. If you want to know where we’re headed, look elsewhere. If you want to know how we got here, The Great Wave is indispensable.—Joseph Ellis, author of The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents “In this dazzling and brilliant book, Michiko Kakutani provides a sweeping look at the historical and social and technological forces that have crested to create the destructive wave of volatility that is disrupting our times. Drawing lessons from the Middle Ages to the Gilded Age, she explains the cascading chaos of our era and points to ways that we can regain some stability.”—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

“The Great Wave by Michiko Kakutani is a fable-style narrative that offers a profoundly inspiring and prophetic perspective on the contemporary world. It is an exceptionally rare book, marked by its deep, sincere, and precise comprehension and portrayal of history and reality. This work, with great wisdom, sheds light on the formidable challenges that humanity faces in the third millennium. What distinguishes this crisis from previous ones is its origin in the realms of science, politics, and outdated systems, with irreconcilable characteristics and the potential to be the ultimate crisis for humankind. It may well be a pivotal turning point, ushering in an era that no longer requires wisdom. The Great Wave is a truly unique book that captivates readers with its vivid and skillful prose. Its content is imbued with both passion and sagacity.”—Ai Weiwei, author of 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir “If you’re trying to decide whether the world is going crazy, or you are, Michiko Kakutani's new book should prove uplifting. The Great Wave is a panoramic survey of the various forces pulling us apart, depositing us in isolated camps, replacing coherence with chaos. If you want to know where we're headed, look elsewhere. If you want to know how we got here, The Great Wave is indispensable.”—Joseph Ellis, author of The Cause: the American Revolution and Its Discontents

Author Information

Michiko Kakutani is a Pulitzer Prize–winning literary critic and the former chief book critic of The New York Times. She is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Truth and Ex Libris.

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