Helen Thompson

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.

Hard Times in the 21st Century

Disorder

An incredibly dense book that could benefit from more time to reflect and address the core themes, rather than just unloading huge quantities of information on the reader. That said, I found the way Thompson recasts the twentieth century as a history of energy production and consumption to be really compelling, along with the ramifications of a shift from a coal to oil powered world. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t have much hope that a move to renewables will bring an end to our state of disorder. Instead, the boundaries will alter and new centres of struggle will arise. 

Disorder Hard Times in the 21st Century

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