A History of Love and Hate in 21 Stat..., Peter Hughes
A History of Love and Hate in 21 Stat..., Peter Hughes
List: $26.00 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $13.00

A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues

Author: Peter Hughes

Narrator: Peter Hughes

Unabridged: 9 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Aurum

Published: 09/14/2021


Synopsis

From antiquity to the present day, this book offers a fascinating insight into the histories, movements and conflicts which have come to shape our world, viewed through the stories of the destruction of 21 statues. 

Confederate soldiers hacked to pieces. A British slave trader dumped in the river. An Aboriginal warrior twice beheaded. A Chinese philosopher consumed by fire. A Greek goddess left to rot in the desert…
 
Statues stand as markers of collective memory connecting us to a shared sense of belonging.  When societies fracture into warring tribes, we convince ourselves that the past is irredeemably evil.   So, we tear down our statues. But what begins with the destruction of statues, ends with the killing of people.
 
This remarkable book is a compelling history of love and hate spanning every continent, religion and era, told through the destruction of 21 statues. Peter Hughes’ original approach, blending philosophy, psychology and history, explores how these symbols of our identity give us more than an understanding of our past. In the wars that rage around them, they may also hold the key to our future.

The 21 statues are Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt), Nero (Suffolk, UK), Athena (Syria), Buddhas of Bamiyan (Afghanistan), Hecate (Constantinople), Our Lady of Caversham (near Reading, UK), Huitzilopochtli (Mexico), Confucius (China), Louis XV (France), Mendelssohn (Germany), The Confederate Monument (US), Sir John A. Macdonald (Canada), Christopher Columbus (Venezuela), Edward Colston (Bristol, UK), Cecil Rhodes (South Africa), George Washington (US), Stalin (Hungary), Yagan (Australia), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), B. R. Ambedkar (India) and Frederick Douglass (US).

A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues is a profound and necessary meditation on identity which resonates powerfully today as statues tumble around the world.

Reviews

Goodreads review by MookNana on October 07, 2021

While each essay contained interesting histories about the subjects of various statutes and the circumstances of both their erection and destruction, it became apparent quickly the author had an agenda, or at least a distinct, seemingly inflexible point of view. Statue removal = bad. Statue removal......more

Waffling twaddle.......more

Goodreads review by Irina on March 28, 2024

“Să nu cunosti ceea ce s-a petrecut înainte să te naști tu înseamnă să rămâi mereu un copil. Căci ce preț are viața omenească daca nu se împletește cu cea a strămoșilor noștri, în analele istoriei?”......more

Goodreads review by Theediscerning on November 14, 2021

This very erudite book does exactly what you'd expect it to do, given the black history of this current decade. Statues are slightly peculiar things – one to the king rediscovered and reinterred just years ago in my home city still gets gifts of his emblematic white rose every now and again, even wh......more

Goodreads review by Jim on December 28, 2022

This tripartite title clues the reader in to what will be found in the text. “A History”: it analyzes the impact of human memorials from ancient times to the present. “Love & Hate”: generally, the love of the erectors and hate of the destroyers. “21 Statues”: role of statuary, the people they commem......more


Quotes

'Fascinating analysis. A great read.’ Julia Hartley-Brewer, TalkRADIO TV Breakfast Show

'An enjoyable survey of historical antagonism, and a welcome alternative perspective on a flashpoint in the culture wars'
Dominic Selwood, TLS