In September 1940, Walter Benjamin — philosopher, literary critic, and one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth century — wrote a brief, enigmatic essay called "On the Concept of History" while attempting to flee Nazi-occupied France. Weeks later, trapped at the Spanish border, he took his own life. Michael Löwy, a Franco-Brazilian sociologist and philosopher, offers a close reading of this final text, arguing that it represents Benjamin's most concentrated critique of the idea of historical progress — the belief that history naturally moves toward greater freedom, rationality, and justice. Löwy reads Benjamin through the lens of what he calls "revolutionary pessimism": a refusal to be comforted by the notion that things are getting better, combined with an urgent insistence that political action remains both possible and necessary. Benjamin's essay uses striking metaphors — the angel of history blown backward by the storm of progress, the emergency brake that revolution must pull on the runaway train of history — and Löwy unpacks each one with care, connecting them to Benjamin's engagement with Marxism, Jewish messianism, and the catastrophe unfolding around him. The book situates Benjamin's argument within contemporary debates about environmentalism and climate change, suggesting that his critique of progress speaks directly to a world that continues to treat economic growth and technological development as inherently beneficial. At barely over a hundred pages, the book is a compact but intellectually rich introduction to one of the twentieth century's most challenging thinkers and his most urgent ideas.