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The War Against the Past: Why The West Must Fight For Its History

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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.

Author: Furedi Frank
Publisher: POLITY PRESS
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781509561254
Cover: Hardback
Edition Number: 1
Release Year: 2024

Acknowledgments
Preface

Introduction
Chapter 1 What Is the Past?
Chapter 2 The War’s Long Gestation
Chapter 3 The Ideology of Year Zero
Chapter 4  The Present Eternalised
Chapter 5 Identity and the Past
Chapter 6 The Struggle to Control Language
Chapter 7 Disinheriting The Young from Their Past
Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Frank Furedi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, UK. He is the author of fourteen books including Why Education isn't Educating (2010), The Politics of Fear (2007), Where have all the Intellectuals Gone? (2005), Therapy Culture (2003) and Paranoid Parenting (2001). Furedi's books offer an authoritative yet lively account of key developments in contemporary cultural life, with a particular interest in precautionary culture and risk aversion in the West. He is the UK sociologist most widely cited by the UK media and his books have been translated into eleven languages. He appears frequently on television and radio in the English speaking world and beyond and he publishes regular articles with a range of newspapers. Frank Furedi fled to England in 1956 from Hungary. He was appointed Professor of Social Studies at the University of Kent but celebrated also as a pundit and public intellectual throughout the English speaking world. His most celebrated books include Paranoid Parenting (reissued by Continuum) The Culture of Fear and Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone. His books are widely reviewed and he is on the lecture circuit from Chatham House to Adelaide. Frank Furedi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He is the author of numerous books including Culture of Fear, Invitation to Terror and Paranoid Parenting, all published by Continuum.

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