Review: Identity by Francis Fukuyama

I'm trying to get a better understanding of why populism is exploding everywhere—from Trump's re-election to European elections to movements across the globe. Instead of relying on news articles or social media takes, I'm diving into books over websites. Why? Books get fact-checked. Authors usually have to back up their claims. Publishers often make sure the details are right.

Over the next few months, I'll be working through a stack of these books and sharing what I learn.

Francis Fukuyama's Identity was my starting point, and it's exactly what I was looking for. Here's a guy who does something rare in political writing: he tells you when he's stating facts versus when he's giving you his opinion about those facts. Think of it like a good mechanic who shows you the broken part before explaining what might have caused it.

I didn't agree with everything Fukuyama concluded, but I could see how he got there. When I double-checked his claims, they held up. That's the kind of solid foundation you need when you're trying to understand something as messy as modern politics.

The best part? Fukuyama doesn't pick sides. Like Jonathan Haidt in The Righteous Mind, he stays out of the progressive versus MAGA fight for most of the book. He's not trying to win arguments—he's trying to help you understand what's actually happening. He saves his own solutions for the very end, which means you get the full picture before anyone tries to sell you on their fix.

Political movements don't just appear out of nowhere. There are deeper currents at work—psychological, social, immigration (a primary focus in this book), economic forces that shape how people see themselves and their place in the world. Fukuyama maps these currents clearly, without the academic jargon that usually makes these books hard to get through.

If you're willing to have your assumptions challenged(getting outside the echo chamber), this book will give you tools to think more clearly about the political chaos we're living through. It's worth both the time and the money, and it's set me up well for the other books I'm tackling next.