Pankaj Mishra and Benjamin Moser talks to William Dalrymple

Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon has brought to light two competing narratives of the last century: the West’s triumphant account of victory over Nazi and communist totalitarianism versus the global majority’s frequently thwarted version of racial equality.

In his new book The World After Gaza, Indian essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra takes the war in the Middle East, and the bitterly polarised reaction to it, as the starting point for a broad reevaluation of these two narratives.

Mishra talks to historian William Dalrympleand Benjamin Moser Pulitzer winner of Sontag: Her Life and Work, whose book on Jewish anti-Zionists is forthcoming in 2026, about how the world’s balance of power is shifting, and why it is critically important to enter into the experiences and perspectives of the majority of the world’s population. His previous books include From the Ruins of Empire and Age of Anger: A History of the Present.