The Age of Menace: Capitalism, Inequality & the Battle for Dignity

by David Buckham, Robyn Wilkinson, Christiaan Straeuli

Billionaires, Boris Johnson, big tech monopolies, raging inequality, Russian oligarchs, cancel culture, superyachts, spaceships to Mars, Twitter wars, a potentially devastating global inflation crisis…

These may seem like entirely disparate issues, but they are all connected.

Not for many generations has the world been brimming with this level of uncertainty, whether it’s a virus scouring the planet, the threat of nuclear war in Europe or the unravelling of political lies in yet another government scandal. The Age of Menace pulls these apparently disconnected strands together, illuminating the driving forces that have led us to this unique and chaotic point in human history.

From the authors of critically acclaimed The End of Money comes a book that explains the state of the world today. In the words of Michael Avery, it is ‘essential reading for our times’.



“After two years of the plague, inflation at generational highs following over a decade of hitherto unseen money printing by global central banks, and the alarming rise of autocracy, the world feels like it has arrived at a crucial and dangerous inflection point. This book explains why, connects the dots between the discontents and those driving this new gilded age, and forces us to reconsider what we hold dear. Essential reading for our times.”
– Michael Avery, BusinessTech

“A definitive guide to understanding our divided world.”
– Michael Jordaan

“A rollicking read on peak capitalism gone rogue.”
– Simon Brown, Host of MoneywebNOW

394 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 5, 2022

Reviews

[Keith Bain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading: this book resolves to not only summarise many of the key elements that have converged in the form of the out-of-control clusterf*ck that is our current predicament, but to do so in the form of a page-turner. It is relentlessly readable and quite enthralling. Written with incredible clarity, verve and insight, and it refuses to take sides.

[Niclas Jonsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Chapters 20-23, 27-32, 42-45 and especially the concluding part was decisively, eloquently and depressingly eye-opening.

[Adrian Saville · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Age of Menace, David Buckham, Robyn Wilkinson, and Christiaan Straeuli wield a rare ability to decode the forces that shape the world. They unravel the complex interplay of politics, business, institutions, and social forces. History may not repeat itself, but as The Age of Menace evidences, history rhymes. A world led by “men without chests” is destined for predictable fates, such as the factionalism that dominates today. The world finds itself in a place of gross inequality, cancel culture, climate crisis, and political extremism, brought here by Orwellian double speak, failed multilateralism, and a collapse of social discourse. The road out is not paved by more dysfunctional leadership, vague multilateral promises, or heroic ultrawealthy archetypes. Rather, the lessons gathered in the book – richly evidenced and spanning from John Rockefeller to Joe Rogan – justify calls for a new order. David Buckham, Robyn Wilkinson, and Christiaan Straeuli make a captivating case for what that should look like. History gives us a chance to be wiser, to learn the lessons of history, and to build a better place. The Age of Menace gives us a map.

[Eugen Straeuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very readable for me as a layperson. It is not a happy read, but if one wants insights into inequality, which is such a big player, not only in South Africa, but across the globe. I found the Glossary and Notes to be very helpful and point to the extensive researchdone by the authors. Obviously, one would also want to have a happy end of how we get out of this mess, and there are some pointers in this direction. A good read.