Jay Winik's book , The Great Upheaval is written in a style that is very readable and in places even waxes poetic. Quotable lines abound. It also comes as close as any history I have read to viewing the birth of the current age in a way that is similar to my views. He covers the American and French revolutions and the resulting upheaval of the autocratic forms of government that had existed without challenge for over 2000 years. His detailed description of in the improbable success of a handful of political idealists who created this wonderful change in the world structure is a joy to read.

I take the view a bit further and include a third revolution (the Russian revolution) and also the coinciding Evolution of Power. That transition of power was a natural result of the upheaval Winik tells so well. As monarchies lost power and wealth, corporations and other capitalistic forms gained in wealth and power. We are now left with a world-wide power structure best defined in a quote that is widely attributed to Mussolini, that Fascism should be called Corporatism because it is the marriage of state power and corporate power.