A guide to finding sense in these times of uncertainty from one of Australia's greatest communicators and thinkers.


Day after day, we're bombarded with the drumbeat of news that veers from the shocking to the unfathomable. How do we come to grips with this chaos?

Waleed Aly is known for his ability to make sense of the seeming incomprehensible. He has been doing this for years in regular newspaper columns. Here, he revisits those articles, written in the immediate response to events over a particularly chaotic period, and sees what meaningful story they offer. He has reordered them around the themes of our times – disaffection, violence, technology, free speech, Donald Trump, conversative politics, and yes, amidst all this, what really matters. New essays make plain what story these original snapshots of history tell us about living in a time where the old order is collapsing but the new one is not yet born.

Through the disorder and disorientation, Waleed makes the case that democracy cannot survive the onslaught of endless polarisation, and explains how it develops in our societies. And that rather than seeing others as aliens, we need to see each other clearly.


‘An incisive, elegant thinker, Aly makes sense of the often incomprehensible.’ JULIA BAIRD

‘A masterclass in eloquent, incisive reasoning, and a reminder that seeing the humanity in each other is our greatest hope.’ LISA WILKINSON

‘This collection shows Waleed Aly is the standout, clarion voice of reasoned argument for our turbulent times.’ SARAH FERGUSON

‘No one does nuance better than Waleed. A timely reflection on the age of chaos.’ GEORGE MEGALOGENIS

‘Waleed. The perspective you didn’t expect. And then you sign up.’ BARRIE CASSIDY