A really incredible book. I'm not sure I agree with the premise that the 19th century was necessarily simple to understand -- I suspect this is more the case for Brits, as the 19th century was pretty much their century, and thus must seem like a much simpler time in retrospect -- nor am I totally convinced by his conclusions about the millennial generation (my generation), which strike me as maybe a bit optimistic (he mentioned having a kid who's a millennial in the beginning, so that might explain that), but none of that matters. Everything in between is fantastic. His explanation of relativity actually makes sense, and his run throughs of nihilism, sci-fi, modernism, individualism, capitalism, and everything else are entertaining at worst, and deeply insightful at best.

What's probably most important is that he manages to tie all of these diverse concepts together without straining too hard, and manages to show a general pattern in the ideas of the 20th century. It's also kind of perfect for Alan Moore fanboys like myself, with all of its talk about the fringes of society, Aleister Crowley, comics, and concepts like Solve et Coagula.

Is it perfect? No. Is it the most rewarding book I've read in a long while? God, yes.