Enlightenment's Wake: Politics and Culture at the Close of the Modern Age (Routledge Classics)

In Enlightenment's Wake, John Gray puts forward a critique of neo-liberalism, calling into question the claim to universalism and warning of the fallacy of this ideology. Gray exposes the folly of globalisation and the pursuit of liberal values, arguing that the belief in the inevitability and superiority of western liberal democracy is unfounded. He suggests that the end of history is a triumphalist myth which obscures the diversity of human experience and the complex nature of political change. Gray's argument is informed by an understanding of the limits of rationality, the contingencies of history and the irreducible complexity of cultural and social difference. While Gray's criticisms remain relevant today, his warning about the dangers of imposing a single model of governance on the world has become increasingly urgent in the age of Trump and Brexit. Enlightenment's Wake is a timely reminder of the need for critical thinking in the face of hegemonic ideologies which seek to impose their narrow vision of the world on the rest of us.