Guest Speaker: Pankaj Mishra, Author

Location

Mother Rosalie Hill Hall, Warren Auditorium

Free

Please join USD Humanities Center and Warwick’s books for a lecture by Pankaj Mishra. Mishra will discuss his most recent book – The Age of Anger: A History of the Present.

"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 Donald 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 enjoy its promises―of 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: with 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 nineteenth century arose―angry young men who became cultural nationalists in Germany, messianic revolutionaries in Russia, bellicose chauvinists in Italy, and anarchist terrorists internationally" (Amazon Book Review).

ABOUT PANKAJ MISHRA: 

Mishra has written literary and political essays for The New York Times, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, and the New Yorker, among other American, British, and Indian publications. In November 2012, Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the top 100 global thinkers.

ABOUT ILLUME SPEAKER SERIES

The College of Arts and Sciences is the liberal arts heart of the University of San Diego. Our students and faculty exemplify the power, vitality and value of a liberal arts and sciences education every day. To champion the tradition and future of the artes liberales, we have created the Humanities Center Illume Speaker Series featuring our own renowned faculty scholars, invited thought-leaders and prominent public figures to advance the liberal arts on our campus and inspire lifelong learning in our surrounding communities.