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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
gabe_jones's review against another edition
4.0
This book looks at 12 figures who were idolized as a statue…and eventually the rejection of the idea that oppression should be celebrated.
zefrog's review against another edition
3.0
An easy and enjoyable primer on the issue surrounding the current removal of problematic statues, which I read in preparation to visiting the newly supine Edward Colston statue in Bristol (mentioned in the book).
As the subtitles makes clear, the book presents the stories of 12 such statues, together with potted histories (each around 10 pages) of their subject and of the erection and downfall of the statues. It's all very portable and reader-friendly.
This only real criticism that can be levelled here, (and probably to most books of similar intent) is that von Tunzelmann is very likely to be preaching to the choir, and that the people who need to read this book and gain some perspective on statue removals are very unlikely to hear her clear and intelligent voice.
In addition to the case studies she presents, von Tunzelmann also provide a handy argumentation to answers the four main constantly recurring objection to the taking down of statues. This can be useful for discussions on social media...
As the subtitles makes clear, the book presents the stories of 12 such statues, together with potted histories (each around 10 pages) of their subject and of the erection and downfall of the statues. It's all very portable and reader-friendly.
This only real criticism that can be levelled here, (and probably to most books of similar intent) is that von Tunzelmann is very likely to be preaching to the choir, and that the people who need to read this book and gain some perspective on statue removals are very unlikely to hear her clear and intelligent voice.
In addition to the case studies she presents, von Tunzelmann also provide a handy argumentation to answers the four main constantly recurring objection to the taking down of statues. This can be useful for discussions on social media...
readersaurusrobin's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating & really worth reading. Spans centuries and continents, and lands squarely in the present. I want to copy the last chapter ("Making Our Own History") and carry it around in my pocket and read it again and again until I can speak of these things with fluency. Highly recommended.
vlnntnn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
ingyingram's review against another edition
4.0
Relevant, clever, and actually fun.
Accessible and informative, but could hold its own against more scholarly books (like others by the same author).
The section on Saddam Hussein and the hyper reality if the Baghdad statue toppling is brilliant. And the Stalin and Lenin taken together are especially good.
BUT needs photos, and lots of them included. Would have been really helpful, as found myself googling while reading. Maybe with cheaper production costs for the paperback edition this extra work can be included.
Accessible and informative, but could hold its own against more scholarly books (like others by the same author).
The section on Saddam Hussein and the hyper reality if the Baghdad statue toppling is brilliant. And the Stalin and Lenin taken together are especially good.
BUT needs photos, and lots of them included. Would have been really helpful, as found myself googling while reading. Maybe with cheaper production costs for the paperback edition this extra work can be included.
sydsnot71's review
5.0
This is the first of the six books on the Wolfson History Prize shortlist. I'm planning to read all of them before the winner is announced.
Fallen Idols by Alex von Tunzelmann is, if I look at the other titles on the list, probably the book most aimed at the general reader. It is also the book that ties itself most obviously to contemporary politics. The impact of the "culture wars" is the background to this book and how that has impacted on how we talk about and study history. As von Tunzelmann says in her introduction, "This is a book about how we make history." *It would link nicely with "What is History, Now?" edited by Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb. A book which features an essay by Alex von Tunzelmann.
The book looks at the removal of the statues of twelve people, starting with the removal of the statue of George III in New York by American revolutionaries in 1776 and finishing with the fall of a statue of George Washington in Oregon in 2020. Each statue is contextualised and their falls are contextualised. Or, in the case of Leopold II of Belgium, why some of the statues haven't been removed.
Two of von Tunzelmann's examples - the statue of George V in Delhi and the various 'imposing erections' of Rafael Trujillo's Dominican Republican dictatorship - are drawn from areas she has written about in other places books: Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire (2007) and Red Heat. Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean (2011). But there's talk of Stalin, Lenin, the Duke of Cumberland, Saddam Hussein, Cecil Rhodes, Robert E Lee and Edward Colston also.
This breadth of examples offers up different reasons for their fall and different results, but it allows von Tunzelmann to challenge the arguments presented by those who would use the fall of statues to defend a status quo. She shows how statues represent a 'great man' mythologised version of history that - and forgive the pun - can't be set in stone because how we see ourselves and the world changes. History is a dynamic subject. It is an ongoing debate between what we think we know, what we'd like to think of ourselves and 'what really happened'.
The examples are all stories interestingly told. Von Tunzelmann writes clearly and well. The best reason for reading this book though is that it is a defence of history as a subject and an explanation of how it works:
"Any written history, even the blandest series of historical documents, can only ever be a map, not the actual territory of history, which vanishes as soon as it has happened. History is gone. What we have is the memory of history, and that is always contested. " (p. 8)
It would actually make a good book for teaching history at schools or as introductory parts of university courses. When I did my history degree the first part of our course was 'What is History?' and they used historical 'mysteries' to introduce us to the methodologies and practices of historical study. We looked at things like 'Was there a Robin Hood?', 'Who Killed JFK?', 'What Happened to the Romanovs' etc. It gave you an insight into the subject that opened it up in a fun and intelligent way. That's what von Tunzelmann's book does. It tells the stories of twelve statues to show us what history is, which I can only applaud.
*It would link nicely with "What is History, Now?" edited by Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb. A book which features an essay by Alex von Tunzelmann.
Fallen Idols by Alex von Tunzelmann is, if I look at the other titles on the list, probably the book most aimed at the general reader. It is also the book that ties itself most obviously to contemporary politics. The impact of the "culture wars" is the background to this book and how that has impacted on how we talk about and study history. As von Tunzelmann says in her introduction, "This is a book about how we make history." *It would link nicely with "What is History, Now?" edited by Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb. A book which features an essay by Alex von Tunzelmann.
The book looks at the removal of the statues of twelve people, starting with the removal of the statue of George III in New York by American revolutionaries in 1776 and finishing with the fall of a statue of George Washington in Oregon in 2020. Each statue is contextualised and their falls are contextualised. Or, in the case of Leopold II of Belgium, why some of the statues haven't been removed.
Two of von Tunzelmann's examples - the statue of George V in Delhi and the various 'imposing erections' of Rafael Trujillo's Dominican Republican dictatorship - are drawn from areas she has written about in other places books: Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire (2007) and Red Heat. Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean (2011). But there's talk of Stalin, Lenin, the Duke of Cumberland, Saddam Hussein, Cecil Rhodes, Robert E Lee and Edward Colston also.
This breadth of examples offers up different reasons for their fall and different results, but it allows von Tunzelmann to challenge the arguments presented by those who would use the fall of statues to defend a status quo. She shows how statues represent a 'great man' mythologised version of history that - and forgive the pun - can't be set in stone because how we see ourselves and the world changes. History is a dynamic subject. It is an ongoing debate between what we think we know, what we'd like to think of ourselves and 'what really happened'.
The examples are all stories interestingly told. Von Tunzelmann writes clearly and well. The best reason for reading this book though is that it is a defence of history as a subject and an explanation of how it works:
"Any written history, even the blandest series of historical documents, can only ever be a map, not the actual territory of history, which vanishes as soon as it has happened. History is gone. What we have is the memory of history, and that is always contested. " (p. 8)
It would actually make a good book for teaching history at schools or as introductory parts of university courses. When I did my history degree the first part of our course was 'What is History?' and they used historical 'mysteries' to introduce us to the methodologies and practices of historical study. We looked at things like 'Was there a Robin Hood?', 'Who Killed JFK?', 'What Happened to the Romanovs' etc. It gave you an insight into the subject that opened it up in a fun and intelligent way. That's what von Tunzelmann's book does. It tells the stories of twelve statues to show us what history is, which I can only applaud.
*It would link nicely with "What is History, Now?" edited by Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb. A book which features an essay by Alex von Tunzelmann.