In his new and wildly provocative new book, Bruno Maçães, diplomat, thinker, writer and sage of the Twitter sphere turns history inside out.

It is an essay on world politics – a world where the past seems to have absorbed most grounds for optimism. The book looks at the world of the 21st century, especially the hyper power of the new technologies, such as nano and quantum, and where giant personalities and potentates cavort in their infinite playpens of social media – Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un, Kim Kardashian and Donald J Trump, to name but four.