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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
Updated with a new afterword

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

'
An excellent take on the lunacy affecting much of the world today. Douglas is one of the bright lights that could lead us out of the darkness.' – Joe Rogan

Are we living through the great derangement of our times?

In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray investigates the dangers of 'woke' culture and the rise of identity politics. In lively, razor-sharp prose he examines the most controversial issues of our moment: sexuality, gender, technology and race, with interludes on the Marxist foundations of 'wokeness', the impact of tech and how, in an increasingly online culture, we must relearn the ability to forgive.

One of the few writers who dares to counter the prevailing view and question the dramatic changes in our society – from gender reassignment for children to the impact of transgender rights on women – Murray's penetrating book, now published with a new afterword taking account of the book's reception and responding to the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests, clears a path of sanity through the fog of our modern predicament.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Douglas Murray fights the good fight for freedom of speech ... A truthful look at today's most divisive issues” ―Jordan B. Peterson, bestselling author of 12 Rules for Life

“[Murray's] 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' vogue.” ―Richard Dawkins

“Whether one agrees with him or not, Douglas Murray is one of the most important public intellectuals today.” ―Bernard-Henri Lévy

“How can you not know about
The Madness of Crowds? It's actually the book I've just finished. You can't just not read these books, not know about them.” ―Tom Stoppard

“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, author of five New York Times bestsellers and host of the Making Sense podcast.

“An abomination” ―Titania McGrath, author of Woke: A Guide to Social Justice

“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” ―The Times,
Lionel Shriver

“Graceful and witty” ―
Guardian

“Necessary and provocative” ―
Evening Standard

“Impressive and lively … Murray's comprehensive survey of the prevailing madness will not persuade every reader. But it raises the real questions of our times.” ―Roger Scruton,
Unherd

“Murray's book performs a great service” ―
Financial Times

“Fascinating … Much of what Murray writes is pertinent and hard to disagree with” ―
Sunday Times

“Murray is a superbly perceptive guide through the age of the social justice warrior” ―
Daily Telegraph

“Murray's book raises urgent questions about how people should conduct themselves in today's age of “wokeness”'” ―
Catholic Herald

“Murray's was the third critical interrogation of this subject that I read this summer, and it is the best.” ―
The Times Saturday Review

“A profoundly helpful insight on the hysteria of cancel culture.” ―Saba Douglas-Hamilton,
Scottish Field

About the Author

Douglas Murray is an author and journalist based in Britain. His book The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam, was published by Bloomsbury Continuum in May 2017. It spent almost 20 weeks on the Sunday Times bestseller list and was a No. 1 bestseller in non-fiction. It has subsequently been published in more than 20 languages worldwide and has been read and cited by politicians around the world. The Evening Standard described it as, 'By far the most compelling political book of the year.'

Murray has been a contributor to
the Spectator since 2000 and has been Associate Editor at the magazine since 2012. He has also written regularly for numerous other outlets including the Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Sunday Times, the Sun, Evening Standard and the New Criterion. He is a regular contributor to National Review and has been a columnist for Standpoint magazine since its founding.

His most recent book is
The War in the West: How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Continuum; 1st edition (February 23, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1635579945
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1635579949
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.85 x 8.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 9,270 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
9,270 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book sensational, fascinating, and entertaining. They appreciate the insightful points, good analysis, and arguments. Readers praise the writing quality as well-written, concise, and clear. They also appreciate the humor, authenticity, and pacing.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

118 customers mention "Readability"109 positive9 negative

Customers find the book sensational, fascinating, and entertaining. They appreciate the honest, well-developed arguments. Readers also say it's a good resource and never dull or academic.

"...the individual and a suspicion of mobs everywhere--is powerful and persuasive...." Read more

"...Excellent book! Should be read by anyone (and everyone) who thinks they know the “answers” for society...." Read more

"...Well researched and documented, but never dull and academic." Read more

"...In conclusion, I thought this was a well-argued book and worth reading if you want a critical analysis of identity politics and the “woke” phenomenon..." Read more

105 customers mention "Insight"105 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, with good analysis and arguments. They say it's a must-read for objective thinkers and individuals with an open mind. Readers also appreciate the anecdotal evidence and excellent framework to understand how we got here. The author does an excellent job dissecting the myths behind identity politics. They mention there is plenty of commentary and the arguments seem convincing.

"...a respect for the individual and a suspicion of mobs everywhere--is powerful and persuasive...." Read more

"...While he is a Brit, his research, writings, and works are deep, clear, and solid. He is a voice that needs to be listened to and understood." Read more

"...There is plenty of commentary—some of it biting—to help the reader understand why the world seems to be going mad...." Read more

"...In conclusion, I thought this was a well-argued book and worth reading if you want a critical analysis of identity politics and the “woke” phenomenon..." Read more

83 customers mention "Writing quality"67 positive16 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book well-written and concise. They appreciate the author's intellect and clarity of writing. Readers mention the book is well-thought-out and makes perfect sense.

"...a journalist, so the book is trenchant but also immediately accessible to all interested readers...." Read more

"...While he is a Brit, his research, writings, and works are deep, clear, and solid. He is a voice that needs to be listened to and understood." Read more

"...He has 4 concisely constructed chapters dealing with race, gays, women and trans gender movement...." Read more

"...His book is wonderful, well thought out, and makes perfect sense of the insane policies our medias are screaming at us...." Read more

20 customers mention "Humor"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the humor in the book entertaining, amusing, and pithy. They also say the author makes his points in an entertaining way. Readers describe the author as a brilliant writer and social observer.

"...The book is already quite witty, but his vocals are even more so. One of my new favorite authors. I'll be looking for other stuff from him." Read more

"...He has a sharp and smirking wit alongside a deeply serious caution about where cultural attitudes are going and where claims may go wrong and spiral..." Read more

"...This book is eye-opening, stimulating, funny, and well worth your time...." Read more

"...He was intelligent, eloquent, witty and I immediately bought this book...." Read more

15 customers mention "Authenticity"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book honest, interesting, and thought-provoking. They say the author is brave and speaks the truth. Readers also mention the analysis is incisive, but not mean.

"...The advice that it offers--a spirit of forgiveness, a spirit of generosity and common sense, a respect for the individual and a suspicion of mobs..." Read more

"...Feminism. Race. Trans. His analysis is incisive, but he is not mean...." Read more

"Honest and insightful look at some crazy aspects of society today...." Read more

"...Still it is now out there. The author is brave indeed. Someone needs to stand up and lean back against this trend...." Read more

11 customers mention "Pacing"8 positive3 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book fair, even-handed, and fresh. They appreciate the clarity of thought and balance of arguments. Readers also mention the book encourages sanity and identifies foolishness. However, some say it's one of the more disturbing books they have read in recent memory.

"...It should be read by all. It encourages sanity, and identifies foolishness and the dangerous temptation to go along with a crowd and accept it...." Read more

"This book was fascinating, although it was also one of the more disturbing books I have read in recent memory...." Read more

"...It is a very disturbing read...." Read more

"...This is an even-handed assessment of the pitfalls of the current “woke” culture and identity politics roiling the country...." Read more

10 customers mention "Look"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, stunning, and clear. They say it presents its argument in a concise and dignified fashion.

"...Bottom line: a stunning book which should be the 'common reading' text at all colleges and universities (but never will be)." Read more

"Honest and insightful look at some crazy aspects of society today...." Read more

"...And there's some really beautiful insights here when it's at it's best...." Read more

"...gay or come across as super proud and in your face, but they are dignified and simple and respectful of everyone and have broken the woke mold along..." Read more

10 customers mention "Time spent"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-timed and relevant. They say it's a very needed book on one of the most sensitive, controversial topics.

"Brave, timely and cogent dissection and discussion of some of the most cognitively dissident narratives masquerading as "serious topics" in the..." Read more

"I found this book refreshing and very timely. The author examined how our grand narratives.; such as religion and political ideology, have collapsed...." Read more

"...Thus, Murray’s book is timely and has some interesting observations and analysis...." Read more

"It is a timely and very needed book on one of the most sensitive, controversial and explosive topics of our times." Read more

Excellent Book
5 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book
Douglas Murray writes very clearly and intelligently about issues we're afraid to talk about. I've watched a few of his interviews, and multiple people have recommended this book. If you like reading about the issues we're facing today, Murray very much takes on these issues with a very thoughtful and intelligent way.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2019
This is a wonderful new book by the author of THE STRANGE DEATH OF EUROPE. THE MADNESS OF CROWDS concerns the issues of gender, race and identity and the manner in which they have been weaponized and unendingly politicized, particularly in the west and particularly, as he notes, in those countries (the U.K., the U.S.) where the most progress has been made in countering original forms of prejudice. In contrast with societies where gay people are thrown off of buildings our societies are criticized as being homophobic to a catastrophic degree. How can this be so? How can we be accused of being most retrograde and reactionary when we are, in fact, most 'advanced' and 'progressive'?

This is the broad subject of the book. Some of the answers: when we come closer and closer to solving a problem the lingering existence of some aspects of that problem become progressively more intolerable. This is a fact of human nature. We continue to fight against as yet 'incurable' diseases but when we see individuals die of diseases which are quite curable we are enraged. This is an example of 'physical evil' being transformed into 'moral evil' where, for example, a curable disease kills people because corrupt politicians have chosen to enrich themselves rather than utilizing funds for the delivery of vaccines.

This is not DM's principal answer. The principal answer(s) are that the activities that we are witnessing are ultimately rooted in Marxist principles—the desire to perpetuate warfare and division in order to accumulate political power and personal recognition. All of the demands in favor of creating peace and brotherhood are, in fact, attempts to create and perpetuate division. Division creates jobs and it conveys that thymos or recognition that Francis Fukuyama saw as one of the principal desiderata of failed states.

To politicize everything is to destroy everything but that corrected intersectional polity which some social justice warriors argue for is, for many, a substitute religion. It offers a way to 'belong' at a time when traditional forms of religion and other traditional institutions have failed (and/or been undermined). Eric Hoffer made this point in his 1951 study, THE TRUE BELIEVER. Mass movements are the only way that some individuals can find meaning in their otherwise humdrum lives.

The problem is that the intersectional program is radically flawed, internally contradictory and rife with internal division. We are left, e.g., with a world in which biologically-male athletes who consider themselves to be female can eradicate opportunity for biologically-female athletes. DM gives the poignant example of biologically-male mixed-martial-arts athletes pummeling biological females until they are broken and bloodied, while at the same time the behaviors of men toward women (in, e.g., the 'workplace') are rigidly codified with hitherto-unknown shibboleths. The notion that men who strike women are to be condemned is quickly nullified if the 'man' in question wants to think of himself as 'female'. In fact, the man who 'gazes' at women is to be condemned while the 'man' who thinks of himself as 'female' and pummels his female opponent is celebrated. DM's bottom line is often that we are being asked to subscribe to notions which are patently absurd and offensive to common sense. These notions are not the foundations for a utopian society; they are the foundations for a chaotic hell.

This has all happened 'yesterday' and eons of tradition and experience are suddenly overthrown in an instant, a process exacerbated by contemporary technology which contributes materially to 'the madness of crowds' and creates an ethos of hatred and violence while attempting to create an ethos of brotherhood and sisterhood.

The examples adduced are cogent and telling. The author is both a scholar and a journalist, so the book is trenchant but also immediately accessible to all interested readers. The advice that it offers--a spirit of forgiveness, a spirit of generosity and common sense, a respect for the individual and a suspicion of mobs everywhere--is powerful and persuasive. The sad reality, however, is that it is likely to be principally persuasive for those who are already predisposed to hear his message. "Mad" crowds are seldom fitting vessels to receive the gifts of sweet reason, particularly when their default position is obsession and, ultimately, self-interest.

Bottom line: a stunning book which should be the 'common reading' text at all colleges and universities (but never will be).
35 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2021
The author has written about the death of culture Europe and now he brings a spotlight on four issues raising their ugly bias in the 21st century. Excellent book! Should be read by anyone (and everyone) who thinks they know the “answers” for society.

The author takes a great deal of time to look at how the "tribalism" in America has destroyed our ability to talk across the lines that most Democrats use to separate us. The saddest chapter dealt with the issue of Trans people and how this has been mixed in (hidden within) the gay and lesbian movement. The two are not identical and yet our society seeks to mix them together for discussion. It was appalling to hear about people like Senator Elizabeth Warren clapping for the little child that the mother has already started on hormone therapy when in most places on earth this would be considered child abuse. To also read how trans gender changes are being done to Down's Syndrome children to "better their life." It was hard to read and yet the book is highly research and foot-noted.

Douglas Murray has a perfect finger on the banality of the tribalism, race hatred, and victimhood that plagues America. While he is a Brit, his research, writings, and works are deep, clear, and solid. He is a voice that needs to be listened to and understood.
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2023
I have a hard time finishing books. Many of them wither at the end. But I read and reread this book through and through. Murray has made sense of the four movements in our society: Gay. Feminism. Race. Trans. His analysis is incisive, but he is not mean. I highly recommend this book for anyone scratching their head while watching the news feeds and muttering “what the hell is going on”.

When he exposes the movements and explains their origins and their original intentions, he is as kind as a pastor. But then, as the movement gains steam and spreads, there are plenty of incidents that serve as a parody of themselves. There is plenty of commentary—some of it biting—to help the reader understand why the world seems to be going mad.

Well researched and documented, but never dull and academic.
13 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

D. C. Harold
5.0 out of 5 stars clear eyed and important
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2024
Murray digs into the illogic of identity politics to ultimately propose and better way of getting on as a society. An important book for anyone trying to understand identity culture and it’s hectoring proponents.
Bengt L
5.0 out of 5 stars good to knowles in theselius ESG times
Reviewed in Sweden on September 14, 2024
Thorough review of the mechanisms behind the political correctness frenzy
Peter Bokor
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
Reviewed in Germany on September 13, 2024
Another eye opener from mr. Murray. Great overall picture of the current society.
Amit
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in India on April 4, 2024
This book is an absolute eye opener. Everyone across the world should read this.
Jane A.
5.0 out of 5 stars extremely good read
Reviewed in Italy on January 25, 2024
As a person of a certain age, I have been baffled by the constant decline of the social discourse in recent years.
It has been increasingly difficult of late to understand my fellow man (and woman).

I grew up in the world that Douglas Murray describes: long-due civil rights were being obtained by categories of people who for centuries, millennia, had been treated as second-class citizens, and they were doing so in a world (the Western world) overwhelmingly in agreement that this was right, that reason, goodwill and justice were finally prevailing over bigotry, racism, stupidity.

I have traveled a lot in my life and this has always given me the sense of how incredibly lucky I am. You only have to go to certain parts of the world to see how terrible it must be to be gay in certain countries in Africa, a woman in rural Pakistan, or a black person in parts of the United States. I could return to my expat home in Italy and enjoy a society where all these problems had vastly been overcome.

I grew up in the eighties in a world where the only way you judged a person was by what they brought to the table. Yes, if you were gay you left your small town and moved to the big city, if you were a woman some occasional catcalling would occur (not the drama it is made out to be today and sometimes quite funny really). People of colour never, at the time, faced any particular threat, and in my world, nobody would have even mentioned the colour of someone's skin in a conversation, though in more provincial parts of the country foreigners would be addressed with "tu" instead of "lei", mainly because of the conviction that they didn't understand the language. More a matter of provincialism than actual racism.

Then something happened and the world went completely bonkers.

As Douglas Murray says, we were nearly there. It wasn't perfect, we were collectively working on making it better, we felt heard, one sometimes had to take to the streets, referendums on weed smoking came and went, funds were raised for the AIDS epidemic victims abandoned by bigoted families, but they were raised, and perceptions were changed. And despite the failings, it was the best the world had ever seen.

In this book, the author picks apart the various themes that are the battlefield of discussions today, discussions that inevitably, always, alarmingly, immediately get completely out of hand, take surreal turns, and are hijacked by shrill, shrieking, deranged, aggressive, obsessed people who in a few strokes make it completely impossible to have any reasonable conversation, over anything at all, ever.

Reading the book, I of course didn't agree with everything he writes, but the overall description and analysis of the state we are in today is lucid, and finally gives me a way to interpret what we are experiencing.
He does so with humour (another victim of our age is the terrible, depressing soul-numbing lack of any irony and cheerfulness of the typical millennial social justice warrior) and compassion.

It is an ideology, it is a religion, this fanatical search for a culprit, for someone to blame, for someone to burn at the stake.

And I feel even more lucky today for having lived in a world that wasn't like this, where people were just people, who happened to be gay, woman, coloured, trans, men, heterosexual or whatever, but didn't think that this was the only thing worth mentioning about themselves. You had to try harder than that. And of course, whining and being a victim was so uncool, and we wouldn't have been caught dead being uncool.
O tempora. o mores.

Highly recommend.