Hove, East Sussex
Autorentext
Dr. Peter Hughes is a philosopher and psychologist with expertise in how individuals succumb to the madness of crowds. He has studied extremes of human behaviour and contributed to more than 40 broadcast programmes including Addicted to Pleasure with Brian Cox and documentaries on Amy Winehouse, John Lennon, Whitney Houston and Harvey Weinstein. Peter Hughes lives in Hove in East Sussex.
Klappentext
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.
Inhalt
Introduction: Lone and Level Sands
Hatshepsut (Thebes, Egypt)
Nero (Colchester, UK)
Athena (Palmyra, Syria)
The Buddhas of Bamiyan (Bamiyan, Afghanistan)
Hecate (Constantinople, Byzantine Empire)
Our Lady of Caversham (Caversham, UK)
Huitzilopochtli (Tenochtitlan, Mexico)
Confucius (Qufu, China)
Louis XV (Paris, France)
Felix Mendelssohn (Leipzig, Germany)
The Confederate Monument (Portsmouth, Virginia, USA)
Sir John A. Macdonald (Montreal, Canada)
Edward Colston (Bristol, UK)
Christopher Columbus (Caracas, Venezuela)
Cecil Rhodes (Cape Town, South Africa)
George Washington (Portland, Oregon, USA)
Joseph Stalin (Budapest, Hungary)
Yagan (Perth, Australia)
Saddam Hussein (Baghdad, Iraq)
B.R. Ambedkar (Vederanyam, India)
Frederick Douglass (Rochester, New York, USA)
Epilogue: Khaled al-Asaad
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index