Authors don't come much 'bigger picture' than Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History. It doesn't seem to matter for his reputation that as it turned out history was just beginning. And actually, his later book Trust was very interesting indeed for the political science perspective on social capital. Now, out next month, is The Origins of Political Order. I'm sure I'll enjoy reading it whatever he says, having a weakness for the big picture genre. Recently I enjoyed Ian Morris's Why The West Rules for Now. And I'll be particularly interested to see how Fukuyama compares to the stellar Company of Strangers by Paul Seabright.

Meanwhile, here is a feature about The Origins of Political Order in the New York Times. I'm sure there will be a lot of reviews before long.