The War Against the Past - by Frank Furedi (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A war is being waged against the Past. Whether it's toppling statues, decolonising the curriculum or erasing terms from our vocabulary, a cultural crusade is underway designed to render the past toxic. It is condemned as enemy territory and has become the target of venomous hate. What is at stake in provoking such a strong sense of societal shame towards Western history?

In this book, Frank Furedi mounts a fierce defence of the past and calls for a fight back against the delegitimization of its ideals and accomplishments. Casting the past as a story of shame has become a taken-for granted outlook permeating the educational and cultural life of western society from the top down. Its advocates may see it as a cultural imperative, but a society that loses touch with its past will face a permanent crisis of identity. Squandering the wisdom provided by our historical inheritance means betraying humanity's positive achievements. Challenging this great betrayal, Furedi argues, is one of the most important battles of our time.

Review Quotes

"While illiberal powers in Moscow and Beijing pose external threats, internal 'decolonizers' undermine the West's self-confidence by blackening its record. This lucid analysis of the Culture Wars' historical front makes a vital contribution to the defence of liberal democracies."
Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and author of Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning

"This book is like a bolt of lightning, a flash that reveals one of the major forces pulling down Western democracies as we face rising competition from other systems: it is the decades-long effort by activists and some intellectuals to poison the past and cut us - and especially our children - off from it. Furedi shows that without a past, it is very difficult to find meaning in the present or hope for the future. Furedi's analysis is brilliant and the need for action is urgent. We must end the War Against the Past."
Jonathan Haidt, NYU-Stern School of Business

"In The War Against the Past, Frank Furedi argues that a strong personal identity depends on the ability of children to inherit a meaningful past. But for over a century, this chain of transmission has been under continual assault from progressives whose aim is to ruin our view of the past and render it hateful and worthless to us. Furedi paints a powerful portrait of the devastation, and offers a haunting meditation on a generation growing up without any past at all."
Yoram Hazony, author of Conservatism: A Rediscovery

"This book is essential reading for anybody and everybody who has an interest in the so-called 'Culture Wars, ' in how a new generation of elites are increasingly trying to reshape and rewrite the past for political ends."
Matthew J. Goodwin, University of Kent, Rutherford College

"In this deeply researched and brilliantly written book, Frank Furedi shines a light on what is at stake in the current war against the past. Young people, deprived of their cultural heritage, are left confused and alienated. The achievements of human civilisation are trashed. What remains, if we do not stop this trend, is nihilism and despair. Furedi gives a clarion call to action."
Robert Tombs, University of Cambridge

"In this important book, Frank Furedi explains and also refutes the abuse of history by all those who are trying to use the past to further their narrow, ideological interests. Covering a wide range of issues in politics, the arts, language, and identity, this is a vital and timely defence of the objective study of the past and will be of relevance to everyone who values evidence and truth in our culture."
Lawrence Goldman, St. Peter's College, Oxford

"This is an important book, which chronicles more fully than any other work that I know the gradual development of this rage against the past."
Jonathan Sumption, The Spectator

"convincing and urgent"
The Conversation

"The War Against the Past, in its size and scope, is a piece of heavy artillery reminiscent of books by Douglas Murray and Nigel Biggar."
First Things

"A furious attack on the extremes of political correctness."
Kirkus Reviews

"I stand with Furedi"
Niall Ferguson, Times Literary Supplement

"[Furedi] rightly argues that abandoning the teaching of Western civilization, rather than reimagining it to include its borrowings, appropriations and crimes, is a mistake."
Inside Higher Ed

"Furedi is right: The time has come to shatter the dogma by demonstrating its spiteful psychopolitical sources and its calamitous emotional effects."
Mark Bauerlein, Compact

About the Author

Dr. Frank Furedi, author and social commentator is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent. Author of more than 26 books, Furedi's studies have been devoted to an exploration of the cultural developments in western societies. In recent years he has published several studies on the impact of the Culture Wars on family life, socialisation, education and public life. His most recent book, 100 Years of Identity Crisis, argues that it disrupts the socialisation of young people and encourages the estrangement of generations from one another.

His research has been oriented towards the way that risk and uncertainty is managed by contemporary culture. His two influential books, The Culture of Fear and Paranoid Parenting, investigated the interaction between risk consciousness and perceptions of fear, trust relations and social capital in contemporary society. His book How Fear Works: The Culture of Fear in the 21st Century (2018) explored the distinct features of contemporary fear culture.