A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues

by Peter Hughes

From antiquity to the present day, this book offers a fascinating insight into the histories, movements and conflicts which have come to shape our world, viewed through the stories of the destruction of 21 statues. Confederate soldiers hacked to pieces. A British slave trader dumped in the river. An Aboriginal warrior twice beheaded. A Chinese philosopher consumed by fire. 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. But what begins with the destruction of statues, ends with the killing of people. This remarkable book is a compelling history of love and hate spanning every continent, religion and era, told through the destruction of 21 statues. Peter Hughes' original approach, blending philosophy, psychology and history, explores how these symbols of our identity give us more than an understanding of our past. In the wars that rage around them, they may also hold the key to our future. 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. A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues is a profound and necessary meditation on identity which resonates powerfully today as statues tumble around the world.

Genres: History, Art, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Published October 12, 2021

About the author

Peter Hughes was born in Oxford in 1956. After attending local state schools he did stints at Cheltenham Art College, Anglia Polytechnic and Stirling University. He has worked as a teacher and translator, among other things, in the UK and in Italy. He lives on the Norfolk coast with his wife Lynn and a springer spaniel called Great Aunt Maisy.

Reviews

[MookNana · Rating 2 out of 5]

While each essay contained interesting histories about the subjects of various statutes and the circumstances of both their erection and destruction, it became apparent quickly the author had an agenda, or at least a distinct, seemingly inflexible point of view. Statue removal = bad. Statue removal = intolerant and counterproductive and dangerous.

The longer I read, the more uncomfortable I got. The text seemed to include a lot of disconcerting dog-whistling about "elites" and "virtuous victims" and "social justice warriors" and "identity groups". George Floyd was mentioned at least half a dozen times, but never in a way that seemed to convey compassion or even acknowledgment of the horror of what happened to him. Instead he seemed to be brought up almost as a scapegoat or flashpoint, not a murdered man.

I don't know, and couldn't find out, much about the author, but my gut reaction was caution. I couldn't find enough empathy for why people want to remove statues of deeply problematic people to reassure me about the purpose behind this book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

[thewoollygeek (tea, cake, crochet & books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This to me was a very contentious read , one that I wish I hadn’t read as it definitely has a political agenda rather than examining the history of these people, colonialism or it’s affects, never mind how to tackle this issue in any meaningful or constructive way. The language used by the author such as "virtuous victims" and "social justice warriors" says a lot about how the author feels and I felt uncomfortable reading this, especially in reference to victims such as George Floyd who was mentioned several times, but not once in any way empathetic to the fact he was murdered, never mind how horrifically, there was no compassion, he seemed to be mentioned whenever he did to use him as a scapegoat or support for his arguments, definitely not a murdered man, let alone a human being. I do not recommend this book at all

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Joanne, drinker of tea, reader of books, servant to cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waffling twaddle.

[Irina Baciu · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Să nu cunosti ceea ce s-a petrecut înainte să te naști tu înseamnă să rămâi mereu un copil. Căci ce preț are viața omenească daca nu se împletește cu cea a strămoșilor noștri, în analele istoriei?”

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This very erudite book does exactly what you'd expect it to do, given the black history of this current decade. Statues are slightly peculiar things – one to the king rediscovered and reinterred just years ago in my home city still gets gifts of his emblematic white rose every now and again, even when the statue cannot be aware of that and his grave is just yards away. But giving flowers to a lump of metal in honour of the person represented by said lump is little when it comes to the vengeance, bigotry, anger and self-appointed rightness and righteousness of those who demolish them. From frenzied ISIS 'warriors' to hacked-off hoodlums, all are here, and we learn of the statues, the stories behind them, and the stories behind their demolition, defacement and displacement.

I did fear that, after a suitably concise yet classics-quoting introduction, and a couple of these essays, the book might seem fairly repetitive - there are clearly a few lessons to be had from the acts of anti-statue violence of our day and age, and I felt if we had to have them all represented each and every time, for each and every statue, the book would be a labour. But the benefits of such an erudite author is that the story of each statue can lead to different thoughts, a different presentation of a different moral, each time. Hence a head of Nero is the impetus for a history lesson into the man and his tutor, the stoic Seneca, and we see what his philosophy tells us about the issue, only for Athena being demolished (twice) to show us what her standpoint in "The Oresteia" should have told the iconoclasts.

And anyway, the thoughts after each and every statue is demolished are obviously going to be different, for every one is different. It wasn't just their size, age, prestige and the art involved that made us all despair when the Buddhas of Bamiyan were blown up, but what about when the subject is a little less benign, and possibly even contentious? Slave-owners and the Confederacy are possibly harder to memorialise.

Generally, the author is clear that a lot of this history wiping is a bad thing. Loving your enemy is one major step beyond knowing your enemy, and neither can happen if some people demand they are the "us" who must pull down the "them". I am surprised, as a result, the book barely mentions anything else of the heinous cancel culture this vandalism is pretty much in bed with, or the pernicious white-washing of history that leaves people leaving university thinking only white people owned slaves. Instead we get the likes of QAnon and their childish secularism. But for every statue that comes down, and leaves a cloud of dust (and some weed-on fragments to flog on ebay), there is also a statue that comes down and changes nothing. Saddam Hussein toppled to a crowd of dozens, we read – and years later he still had an international poetry competition run in his name, and sold with his mugshot front and centre on the posters I saw in Jordan.

What plinth this sterling academic work deserves is a final question to raise. It clearly covers a lot of history, but in having so many recent examples of statuary demolition to cover, in a book that is chronological in the order they were raised, this clearly talks of modern times, and society. If this were sold on a sociology basis, then, I don't think its lessons would be one bit awry. It is an academic work, methinks, a little too serious for the average browser (well, it lost this average one a couple of times), but it clearly deserves high praise. A strong four stars is my opening donation.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tripartite title clues the reader in to what will be found in the text. “A History”: it analyzes the impact of human memorials from ancient times to the present. “Love & Hate”: generally, the love of the erectors and hate of the destroyers. “21 Statues”: role of statuary, the people they commemorate and the passions, both favorable and unfavorable, they generate.

Each chapter commences with an image of a statue, the dates of its erection and destruction. It follows with an account of the individual commemorated and the circumstances under which the statue was commemorated. The bulk of the chapter deals with the reasons the statue became controversial, the forces that wanted it demolished and the circumstances under which demolition was accomplished.

The statutes span the globe and time from ancient Egypt to modern Syria. Some of the subjects are famous: Nero, Confucius, Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Joseph Stalin, among others. Some are obscure, to me at least: Hecate, Edward Colston and Yagan. Some monument destructions were news items, The Buddhas of Bamiyan, with others buried in antiquity, such as Hatshepsut.

Author Peter Hughes uses the statues to spawn reflection on the roles of statues, why they were built and why they were destroyed. He observes that “Statues do not teach us history in the way that books do, nor are they simply commemorations of the past. They are symbols of dominance, the rising of a particular ephemeral order out of the desert of chaos. The history we celebrate in bronze, marble and stone, is a choice that engages some and enrages others.” The subjects themselves were often “shot through with contradictions’ but “Maturity is about embracing those contradictions.” He warns against a position that ”reduces historical figures to one dimension.” He draws wisdom from Nelson Mandella who observed “Some of their heroes may be villains to us. And some of our heroes may be villains to them.” He warns: “we cannot surrender to tribalism and ideological conformity of the foundations of our open societies are to remain intact…sustaining the fragile democracies in which we live means…accepting pluralism, allowing those who disagree with us to have a voice, talking to the other.

This is a book that teaches history, examines human nature and makes readers think. It teaches as it entertains. Pick up and read.

I received a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine Program.

[Trang · Rating 1 out of 5]

0 stars if I could. I haven't seen a book with good historical information only to have the author come up with the WORST conclusions to it. I agree with all the other reviews that said he associates all statue removals = bad but draws the absolute worst conclusions.

Christopher Columbus statue in Venezuela gets knocked down -> Christopher Columbus was a colonizer that caused the death of millions -> activists knock it down in protest -> Venezuela and its indigenous community is still suffering ergo the statue removal is pointless

Confederate Monument is knocked down and vandalized -> the Confederacy went to war to support slavery -> destroying the statue will only bring back the same resentment today that people had back then about their voices not being heard ergo Confederate statues shouldn't be removed

John A. Macdonald statue is destroyed -> he was responsible for starting schools for indigenous children to be taken from their parents and forcefully assimilated into the culture, resulting in abuse and death of many -> many First Nations groups also fight and kill each other and Macdonald was considered a great prime minister ergo his statue shouldn't be removed

Edward Colston statue is knocked down and thrown into the harbor -> he made his fortune as a slave trader and Hughes also mentioned the horrors of the Congo under King Leopold II -> Hughes then goes on some weird tangent about us lying to ourselves and calling ourselves having "moral ascendancy" and something about dishonesty that I honestly don't know what the fuck he was getting at -> ergo his statue removal was bad???

And it continues on and on like that with 8 mentions of George Floyd sprinkled in according to the index with no expansion on it other than some mentions of social justice warriors and antifa. I got this book because it had some interesting chapters that I had seen like the Buddhas of Bamiyan but overall I hated his opinions on it and how it was written and I regret it.

[Sam Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very interesting read.
Statues can be highly divisive (as evidenced in recent years all across the world), with their raising up and tearing down both causing outrage to the "other" side. Where one sees a hero, the other sees a tyrant. Habit, as Beckett says, is a great deadener. People can get used to things like these, and they become landmarks etc. Statues aim for immortality, and also that of the viewpoint they represent. For some people, they are thus hugely controversial, and this book shows this feeling has been around for millenia,

The author chooses 21 well-known statues in the book, but there are umpteen more that could have equally merited inclusion here (e.g. Nelson's Pillar in my home city of Dublin).

The point of this book, for me, is to illustrate there is not just one point of view, and there needs to be serious, respectful and substantial discussion around what to do with these historical items. Simply smashing them does not eradicate the debate - for me, it just reinforces the Them & Us mentality that perpetuates hatred. The full history of who they were and what they represent should be known. There should be debate around what to do with these statues, with empathy and respect on all sides, and a willingness for peaceable action. However, one could argue that what end does the destruction of the Bamiyan statues serve, and how can you have empathy and respect for that action? This is the visceral effect of the destructive action.

I think this books serves well as an overview, but the subject matter needs deeper thinking and greater input from a sociological perspective. I wasn't overly keen on a perceived lack of objectivity by the author, and possible a book containing a collection of viewpoints may serve better.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me this ARC to read.

[J Earl · Rating 1 out of 5]

A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues by Peter Hughes is an interesting read in some ways but in others, namely his simplistic attempts to justify the status quo under the guise of having a couple of degrees, is not only off-putting but downright ignorant.

When sticking to what happened when some of these statues were erected and/or taken down, the reading is okay. Unfortunately he interjects his faux psychologizing and simplistic pseudo philosophy into everything and makes even the interesting sections read like a right wing justification for continued neglect of any but those who fit the dominant image. In other words, this is a long drawn out, and extremely weak, argument for leaving in place any and all monuments no matter what they signify or how much they serve to subtly enforce the status quo. Well, actually, that is exactly why this character supports this, he supports the dominant at the expense and pain of everyone else.

I would not recommend this to anyone. Period. Those here in the US who support Qanon already buy into this garbage and anyone who doesn't will think I've lost my mind if I recommended such obvious nonsense. Delusional self-righteous people such as Hughes certainly have every right to write this type of stuff, but those of us with functioning brain cells should find legitimate scholars and thinkers if we want to consider the topic. Not this flunky.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Alina Stepan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foarte agila digresiunea care porneste de la fiecare statuie inspre ce a determinat construirea, respectiv distrugerea ei, si ce s-a intamplat intre aceste doua momente. De la rasism la clasa, de la casta la discriminare si de la schimbarea valorilor la comentariul, mai general, legat de faptul ca rescrierea si demolarea trecutului nu ne face mai toleranti ci, dimpotriva, risca sa ne tina in continuare pe pozitii de putere.
Un citat: 'Statuile stau marturie adevarului. Inainte sa poata fi ridicate, trebuie degajate doua spatii: unul din parcuri, piete, strazi si cladiri, iar celalalt, din mintile oamenilor. Primul este usor de gasit. Cel de-al doilea, greu de sustinut. Pregatirea terenului pentru adevar este un demers brutal.'
Alt citat: ‘Daca este ca perfectiunea morala sa reprezinte standardul la care apelam pentru a decide care statui sa ramana in picioare si care sa cada, atunci nu va mai ramane niciuna.’
O bila neagra pentru Baroque Books & Arts (pe langa cea alba ca au ales sa publice aceasta carte) vine din faptul ca 99% dintre notele de subsol au ramas netraduse (inclusiv citate - vezi pg. 334), unele din cartile pe care le citeaza autorul au fost traduse si in romana, si ar fi trebuit mentionate (si) editiile romanesti, iar notele traducatorului sunt cvasi-inexistente.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

As recent history has shown the downfall of many a statue due to the history of the people who were depicted by them, I was curious to know more about these figures.

Hughes does give us a good overview of how these statues were taken down, and the history of the people depicted in them. I feel like this book could go into more details about it, however I do feel like this book really is a starting point and the bibliography and notes are a really good place to explore to know more about the history of these statues.

I'm not a big fan of the language used and that felt very confusing to me, I feel like that this book didn't need that and a more objective view would have been so much better. The tone just really irked me alot and wasn't neccesary here and so much more could have been here - I wish more background given to these points and a deeper context to them too, especially around people used in the discussion in the actions that led to the end of the statues.

An interesting read, that made me want to learn more.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC for honest review.

[O J · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important book for us ALL to read.
I'm very surprised by some of the reviews on here. For example:
'The author has an agenda' or 'contentious' - I should hope so, every author has an agenda. We all have agendas. The trick for those that disagree is to read alternative arguments and if they are presented clearly then appreciate them, and perhaps even empathise. This subject clearly is 'contentious', but is that a problem?
That's the key to this book - empathy. The author presents an extraordinary range of historical knowledge from the ancient world to the 21st century through statues. Some are well-known such as Saddam or Colston, but others less so.
Hughes is arguing that we need to bridge the divide and speak to each other. There is a beautiful story that demonstrates this between two people that would appear to be enemies. An African American woman and a Trump supporting MAGA plumber. Once the baggage is discarded, humanity is reached between them. This is something we could all learn to do.
Highly recommended.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst this book could have great potential, for those people who know a little bit about why statues are problematic will not be suited to this book. The book starts a little bit by exploring this concept with references to some UK one and gives you some background on the statue and who they are. The evaluation is too simplistic and doesn’t get to the core issue of it all. This was disappointing but I’m glad I got given the chance to read it via NetGalley

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting history; I learnt new facts and discovered new stories about statues and historical figures. There were some curious diversions within each chapter. For these reasons I've given stars.

However, the author seems to have a clear (and, it seems to me, inflexible) viewpoint that removing statues is always bad, and that those who do so are doing that out of hate. Also, he does not have an understanding of racial justice that correspondends in any way to mine; his antagonism towards racial justice makes this a hard read. There is no sense of understanding, nuance or ambiguity.

[Iadrova Aleksandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although there were a lot of interesting and often brutal stories about historical figures, after finishing the book I remained somewhat oblivious about what the author really wanted to say. His point on that history is important is clear. But it really isn't clear whether he defends or attacks some of the described events. And if so, then what's the argument?

It's a really nice compilation of facts about tyranies, but the book lacks a core point.

[Sophie Constable · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I do think this book does contain some decent arguments, it ultimately failed to impress me and very much boils down to 'people have strong emotions regarding statues' which like... yeah. This is also a very academic book and there are multiple points where the writing is very dense and the arguments difficult to follow. I wouldn't recommend this to the general, average reader.

[Rachel Whitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this on the whole, but I definitely enjoyed the historical aspects more than the philosophical. I thought some chapters were particularly good, such as the chapters on Louis XV, Sadam Hussein and Yagan. Others I found more difficult to follow.
Overall, a good read, if a little beyond me!

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book about statues and the debate surrounding them there was actually very little discussion of the statues themselves and even less on the merits of the various alternatives that are currently occupying many a curator.

[Madii Ivanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very western-centric, very liberal.

[Katherine Baldock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any true historian the defence of Washington is sus. Epilogue gained this book a star.

[Mike Gingerich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book free from AMAZON in exchange for my review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I never really considered the importance of statues but Hughes explains, "Regardless of rather they should stand or fall, statues act as lightening rods for love and hate." The book is about so much more than the 21 statues he highlights. I love the way Hughes tells the stories and skillfully lays out the backgrounds and even analyses the psychology of the men and women portrayed in these 21 statues and those who destroyed them. I appreciate his perspective when he says, "The stability of our societies is predicated on the necessity that these differences between individuals and groups be managed peacefully. It is when this peace breaks down, when we believe our identity is under threat, that we fight to preserve the symbols of our identity group and destroy the symbols of those who stand in opposition to us. Inevitably, we justify the destruction that ensues as an act of self defense."

[Alyona · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't kill your brother.
You don't rape your sister.
You don't destroy your friend's country.

That's why today 26.04.2022 we Ukrainians dismantled the monument in Kyiv once created as a sign of friendship between Ukraine and Russia.

That's what this book about.