Fallen Idols

An Economist Best Book of the YearIn this timely and lively look at the act of toppling monuments, the popular historian and author of Blood and Sand explores the vital question of how a society r ...

An Economist Best Book of the YearIn this timely and lively look at the act of toppling monuments, the popular historian and author of Blood and Sand explores the vital question of how a society remembers—and confronts—the past.In 2020, history came tumbling down. From the US and the UK to Belgium, New Zealand, and Bangladesh, Black Lives Matter protesters defaced, and in some cases, hauled down statues of Confederate icons, slaveholders, and imperialists. General Robert E. Lee, head of the Confederate Army, was covered in graffiti in Richmond, Virginia. Edward Colston, a member of Parliament