Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, the new book by CNN host and bestselling author Fareed Zakaria, will be released in paperback on November 4, 2025. In this sweeping work, Zakaria explores how great revolutions of the past can help make sense of the polarized, unstable world of the twenty-first century.

Tracing three transformative historical moments—the seventeenth-century Dutch revolution, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution—Zakaria shows how upheaval, innovation, and backlash together shaped modern politics, economics, and society. He then turns to the present, examining four ongoing revolutions: globalization, technology, identity, and geopolitics, arguing that their disruptive effects lie at the heart of today’s populist rage and ideological fracture.

Combining historical depth with contemporary analysis, Zakaria contends that while today’s moment feels uniquely dangerous, pessimism is misplaced. If societies act wisely, he argues, the liberal international order can be renewed and populism pushed to the margins. With its bold arguments and wide-ranging insight, Age of Revolutions positions itself as essential reading for understanding our turbulent age.