Books
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Articles
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The Memory of WoundsIt has been said that ignorance of history ensures its repetition. This view surely extends the power of knowledge beyond its limits. If history teaches us anything, it’s that knowledge is in thrall to denial, vengeance, hate, love and there seductions of human emotion: ...
Why is it so easy to hate and difficult to love? When societies fracture into warring tribes, we demonise those who oppose us. We tear down our statues, forgetting that what begins with the destruction of statues, often leads to the killing of people. The world is in shock now with new images ...
In 1936, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra embarked on a controversial tour of Germany. On the morning of 10 November, the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and members of the orchestra arrived at the Leipzig Gewandhaus to lay a wreath at the base of a statue of the composer Felix Mendelssohn. By the
Khaled al–Asaad“In spite of my advanced age,” wrote the French historian Paul Veyne in 2015, “it is my duty as a former professor and as a human being to voice my stupefaction before this incomprehensible destruction, and to sketch a portrait of the past splendour of Palmyra, which can now ...
Interviews
Peter Hughes, what first attracted you to statue debate?I was drawn into writing the book on the history of statue destruction out of a preoccupation with the present and the future rather than the past. As a philosopher and a psychologist, I’m interested in destructive behaviours, how we ...
Peter Hughes, your specialisation in the madness of crowds seems to be the motivating factor in your writing this book – is that right?While the specific issues that stir the madness of crowds, from statues and gender identity to ‘stolen’ elections, may vary, there are a number of ...