A timely and compelling history of the destruction of 21 statues spanning every continent, religion, and era.
A History of Love & Hate in 21 Statues
By Peter Hughes
Aurum / 7 September 2021 / hardback / £20
Statues have become a battleground for identity and culture wars as our collective history fractures and we fight over how to understand our past and shape the future.
A British slave trader dumped in the river.
An Aboriginal warrior twice beheaded.
A Chinese philosopher consumed by fire.
Confederate soldiers hacked to pieces.
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, forgetting that what begins with the destruction of statues, so often ends with the killing of people.
Peter Hughes’ original approach blends philosophy, psychology and history in a meditation on identity which is also a heartfelt plea for tolerance. A History of Love & Hate in 21 Statues is profound and necessary and it resonates powerfully as statues tumble around the world.
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).
The book includes a black and white illustration of each statue and an illustrated map showing their geographical location.
ABOUT PETER HUGHES
Dr. Peter Hughes is a philosopher and psychologist with expertise in how individuals succumb to the madness of crowds. He has a PhD in philosophy from Warwick University and is a member of the British Psychological Society. He has worked with extremes of human behaviour and his combination of academic expertise and real-world experience give him a unique perspective on the statue wars.
A regular broadcaster, he has contributed to programmes including the BBC’s Addicted to Pleasure with Brian Cox and documentaries about Amy Winehouse, Eminem and Harvey Weinstein. Peter is also a successful entrepreneur and his previous book, 65 Roses and a Trunki, a ghost-written autobiography of entrepreneur Rob Law, was shortlisted for the 2021 Business Book Awards.