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The War on the West

How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason

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The War on the West

By: Douglas Murray
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SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

‘The most important book of the year’ Daily Mail

The brilliant and provocative new book from one of the world’s foremost political writers

‘The anti-Western revisionists have been out in force in recent years. It is high time that we revise them in turn…’

In The War on the West, international bestselling author Douglas Murray asks: if the history of humankind is one of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it?

It’s become perfectly acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. What’s more it has become acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech. Some of this is a much-needed reckoning; however, some is part of a larger international attack on reason, democracy, science, progress and the citizens of the West by dishonest scholars, hatemongers, hostile nations and human-rights abusers hoping to distract from their ongoing villainy.

In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows the ways in which many well-meaning people have been lured into polarisation by lies, and shows how far the world’s most crucial political debates have been hijacked across Europe and America. Propelled by an incisive deconstruction of inconsistent arguments and hypocritical activism, The War on the West is an essential and urgent polemic that cements Murray’s status as one of the world’s foremost political writers.

©2022 Douglas Murray (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers
Civilization Europe Freedom & Security Great Britain Political Science Politics & Government World Thought-Provoking War Social justice

Critic reviews

‘Murray shows not just how every aspect of western society has come under the iconoclasts’ gaze – from mathematics to music, Kew Gardens to Jane Austen – but how flimsy their case often is.’ – The Sunday Times

‘Murray writes with wonderful lucidity about the many fronts on which the West is waging war against itself. And he writes with a sense of urgency.’ – Real Clear Politics

‘Well executed… a spirited defence against the Left's assault on the Western tradition.’ – The Daily Telegraph

The War on the West is a monumental book leading to several pivotal realisations.’ – Lotus Eaters

Meticulous, measuredThe War on the West is Douglas Murray’s latest blast against loony left wokery.’ – The Spectator

Praise for Douglas Murray and The Madness of Crowds

‘Whether one agrees with him or not, Douglas Murray is one of the most important public intellectuals today.’ – Bernard-Henry Levy

‘This is an author who specialises in expressing what everyone sort of knows already and is afraid to say…Well argued, well supported, and well observed.’ – Lionel Shriver

‘Simply brilliant. Reading it to the end, I felt as though I’d just drawn my first full breath in years. At a moment of collective madness, there is nothing more refreshing – or indeed, provocative – than sanity.’ – Sam Harris

‘His latest book is beyond brilliant and should be read, must be read, by everyone. He mercilessly exposes the hypocrisy and embarrassingly blatant contradictions that run rife through the current ‘woke’ vouge.’ – Richard Dawkins

‘Douglas Murray fights the good fight for freedom of speech… A truthful look at today’s most divisive issues.’ – Jordan B. Peterson

‘Extraordinary. Magnificent. Searing. Necessary. I salute il miglior fabbro. ‘And whether they listen or fail to listen… they will know that the prophet has been among them’ (Ezekiel 2:5)’ – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

All stars
Most relevant
I was minded to think much of this book before I read it, as usual Murray has surpassed my expectations.
The conclusion sums it up for me and I shan't spoil anything here.
I am minded to think that the west needs to pursue an aggressive isolationist stance now. As much as the conclusion wishes for a world of peaceful understanding and acceptance, the chapters before have highlighted in words what I feel already far too well.
We are beset with bad faith actors, entities, countries and continents.

Douglas Murray for PM

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I genuinely fear for the future if this madness continues. Where will this all end?

Ruthlessly Honest.

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I am no cheerleader of the Christian religious and moral abandoning West but I'm even less a fan of the Woke Social Marxism's cultural, intellectual, philosophical war with it. Mr Murray has done our generation an immense service in unmasking this enemy within and without the gates.

Should Be Made Into A Film, Documentary & Syllabus

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I can’t wait to listen to it again! Extraordinary book but also so well read. So entertaining. I am recommending it to all my friends. Best thing ever.

Absolutely brilliant

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Well I finished it.
Did I enjoy it? No I don’t think anyone could possibly enjoy this book except a total masochist. It’s very disturbing, depressing, and expressing a reality that absolutely needs to be stated.
The problem with accusations is that they take seconds to make, and they take days weeks months or years to refute, and still the mud sticks. The whole woke movement, the whole critical race theory, is one big accusation. Like Moscow, they can fire missiles from a distance, and even if many get shot down, they can enjoy the carnage from the others.
What makes this book compelling reading is that it’s expressing what most of us subconsciously have more or less figured out, but it takes someone like this systematise it and put it into words.
The problem is easily expressed. Solutions much more difficult. This is not provided but that’s really not his fault.
Anyway it’s an important book, everyone should read or listen and I will be recommending it to all my friends.

Extraordinary and extraordinarily disturbing

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