The World in Motion

About the Book

The World in Motion (Wrzenie świata) is a collection of reportages by Ryszard Kapuściński portraying the world at a moment of great upheaval — an era in which old orders were crumbling and new states, ideas and social movements were being born on their ruins. The author takes the reader to where history accelerates: into the very midst of revolutions, coups and struggles for independence.

Across the pages of the book returns the world Kapuściński knew first-hand as a correspondent: the decolonisation of Africa and Asia, revolutions and coups d’état in Latin America, the unrest and transformations of the 1960s — together with the atmosphere of countercultural revolt. The author shows people seeking justice and dignity, and at the same time the mechanisms that set great collective upheavals in motion.

It is a portrait of an age of “ferment” — a world that is hot, restless, full of tensions and hopes. Combining the concreteness of reportage with broader reflection, Kapuściński reveals not only the course of events but also their deeper causes and human dimension. The book helps us understand how the contemporary world took shape, and how moments of historical turning are born.

Themes

• Revolution and social change
• Decolonisation and independence
• People seeking justice
• The counterculture movement of the 1960s

Context

A portrait of the world at a moment of turning.