The Fall of the West

Politics at the turn of the millennium was a story of temporary dispensations mistaken for eternal truths: the definitive triumph of free market ideology; US military supremacy; a rules-based global order. As Jones recounts, these certainties would come crashing down over the next quarter of a century amid a succession of economic failures, foreign policy disasters and political crises... it is bracing to see what was once the news cycle take its place in the sweep of history, and Jones’s focus on free-market fundamentalism provides a compelling through-line. He suggests the second Trump administration, in all its cynical venality, is "the logical endpoint" of that philosophy

Houman Barekat, Guardian

Owen Jones is saying it exactly as it is, with no filter, no limits, and not a drop of fear. He is exposing the inconsistencies in the West that, uncorrected, would ultimately cause its precipitous decline and fall

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Owen Jones delivers a comprehensive deep dive into the state of the dystopian world we inhabit today, with a fascinating, if not perturbing description as to how we got here... Brace yourself for some hard facts from the UK's most supreme political writer, activist and commentator

Annie Lennox

In this fascinating book, with his typical verve, Owen Jones charts the rise and fall of neoliberalism, which has not only led to Western decline but devastated much of the rest of the world since the 1980s. The historical narrative is panoramic in scope but firmly grounded in real human stories, while the analysis is laser-sharp and unflinching. Read this book if you want to know how this bankrupt system can be reformed so that the West can better serve its citizens while interacting with the rest of the world in a decent way

Ha-Joon Chang, economist and author of Kicking Away the Ladder and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Politics at the turn of the millennium was a story of temporary dispensations mistaken for eternal truths: the definitive triumph of free market ideology; US military supremacy; a rules-based global order. As Jones recounts, these certainties would come crashing down over the next quarter of a century amid a succession of economic failures, foreign policy disasters and political crises... it is bracing to see what was once the news cycle take its place in the sweep of history, and Jones’s focus on free-market fundamentalism provides a compelling through-line. He suggests the second Trump administration, in all its cynical venality, is "the logical endpoint" of that philosophy

Houman Barekat, Guardian