The Great Wave

‘A profoundly inspiring and prophetic perspective on the contemporary world … It is an exceptionally rare book’ Ai Weiwei

‘In this dazzling and brilliant book, Michiko Kakutani explains the cascading chaos of our era and points to ways that we can regain some stability’ Walter Isaacson

‘Kakutani’s breathtaking saga is a masterclass through six centuries of world history’ Laurence H. Tribe

’[A] deeply researched book … Useful lines to remember in this year of political choices’ Tim Adams, The Guardian, Book of the Day

‘In this story, history – and hope – must keep on coming, however huge the catastrophe … strangely haunting’ Lyndsey Stonebridge, New Statesman

‘Michiko Kakutani has somehow synthesized all the pain, promise and hope of our wild and dangerous times into a slim but potent volume full of elegant thought and perfectly worded analysis’ Gary Shteyngart

‘If you want to know how we got here, The Great Wave is indispensable’ Joseph Ellis

‘A wise, lucid, beautifully researched and exquisitely written book that will explain it all to you in an effortless and buoyant piece of writing’ Andre Bishop

‘Michiko Kakutani is not only an invaluable literary denizen, but also a brilliant observer of how politics and culture disrupt the mechanics of power and influence’ ELLE, Best Nonfiction Books of 2024

‘Kakutani contextualizes today’s crises—from rampant populism to rising instability to environmental destruction—in the broad sweep of world history and points to ways to move past this era’ Foreign Policy Magazine

‘Kakutani may no longer be the New York Times’ most-feared book critic, but a critic she remains. She brings effortless erudition … a confident and compelling writer’ Minneapolis Star Tribune

Michiko Kakutani is a Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic and the former chief book critic of The New York Times. She is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Death of Truth and Ex Libris.