"Gripping and unsettling ... Butterworth makes a first-rate addition to the growing list of books dealing with terrorism's origins and history ... Delivering a virtuoso performance, Butterworth adds the hope that history will not repeat itself and that a successful new bloody ideology will not create the next scourge."---Publishers Weekly (starred review)"A narrative taut with intrigue and freighted with contemporary significance."---Booklist (starred review)"Intriguing, provocative and written with a novelist's eye for detail, this book is an engrossing journey into a murky subterranean world---the dark underbelly of the Belle Epoque." ---BBC History Magazine"An amazing book full of incredible people, all of whom turn out to be real, and unbelievable stories, all of which turn out be true. Against a backdrop of late-nineteenth-century Europe and America, Alex Butterworth brilliantly teases out the paths and plots of the dedicated revolutionaries, deadly dilettantes, spies, informants, agents provocateurs, false counts and femmes fatales who made up the international anarchist movement, and its enemies. A genuine toure de force."---David Aaronovitch, author of Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern HistoryA Thrilling History of the Rise of Anarchism, Told Through the Stories of A Number of Prominent Revolutionaries and the Agents of the Secret Police who Pursued Them.In the Late Nineteenth Century, nations the world over were mired in economic recession and beset by social unrest, their leaders increasingly threatened by acts of terrorism and assassination from anarchist extremists. In this riveting history of that tumultuous period, Alex Butterworth follows the rise of these revolutionaries from the failed Paris Commune of 1871 to the 1905 Russian Revolution and beyond. Through the interwoven stories of several key anarchists and the secret police who tracked and manipulated them, Butterworth explores how the anarchists were led to increasingly desperate acts of terrorism and murder.Rich in anecdote and with a fascinating array of supporting characters, The World That Never Was is a masterly exploration of the strange twists and turns of history, taking readers on a journey that spans five continents, from the capitals of Europe to a South Pacific penal colony to the heartland of America. It tells the story of a generation that saw its utopian dreams crumble into dangerous desperation and offers a revelatory portrait of an era with uncanny echoes of our own. Read Less