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The Madness of Crowds

Gender, Race and Identity

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The Madness of Crowds

By: Douglas Murray
Narrated by: Douglas Murray
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Bloomsbury presents The Madness of Crowds written and read by Douglas Murray.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year

Updated with a new afterword by the author

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

'[Murray’s] latest book is beyond brilliant and should be read, must be read, by everyone' – Richard Dawkins

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.

©2019 Douglas Murray (P)2019 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Conservatism & Liberalism Ideologies & Doctrines Politics & Government Thought-Provoking Liberalism Social justice Discrimination Middle East Identity Politics
Articulate Analysis • Witty Commentary • Eloquent Narration • Compelling Examples • Thought-provoking Critique
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An excellent and thoughtful critique of the pitfalls of social justice theory, identity politics, critical race theory, and intersectionality. Over the course of a decade, I've spent a lot of time in groups that would easily be described as "social justice groups", and I've experienced firsthand the sliding of these groups into unreasonableness and counterproductive behavior over the last few years. Douglas brings much-needed clarity to some of the most controversial social and political ideas of our time. I strongly recommend my fellow lefties give this a read and give Murray's analysis careful consideration. His performance on the audiobook is wonderful and entertaining.

An Urgent Read for Our Over-woke Times

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Douglas Murray is indeed a prolific author and commentator on the tribulations of the relationship modern social justice activism has developed with the populous. In this book he offers an insight to the listener into the world of that is constantly outraged. From the pitfalls of elite institutions of humanities in the west in their exercise of affirmative action to the modern activists cannibalizing and outcasting an older generation of activists.
Murray does offer a glimmer of hope at the end, one rooted the Christian traditions of the west.

Although Murray does a great job of jotting down the madness of the twitter verse and offers a sobering insight into the complexities of human sexuality, when it comes to the brewing madness of right-wing populist movements around the world and especially in Europe and America, he does what most politicians do - condemns it has a blot on the providence of the developed world and moves on. Maybe it’s too difficult or degrading a topic to broach for Murray’s genuine efforts to help any young person grow out of or navigate what he calls the trip wires of the social justice mine field and the real-world consequences one might have to face for stepping on them.

Although Murray’s performance is great and the book is wonderful to listen to, it does feel at times a tedious commentary on social media scandals, filibusters that Murray offers and the quite un-relatable schadenfreude on western academics and corporate diversity boards. Murray does end on a note of hope and positivity that really does make the book worth listening to and reading. Kudos to him for writing this book.

Ends on a note of hope.

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Worth it just to hear Murray read lines from a Nicki Minaj song. Douglas goes into great detail to explain the current state of insanity we find ourselves in. A must read (listen?)

Masterpiece tale of the current state of the West-

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best socio-political academia in decades articulated brilliantly. possibly the most important critique of our times, with solutions suggested . if you dont find this thoroughly captivating of interest, then you probably are part of the problems described here ;)

Genius socio-political observations

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Douglas Murray provides an excellent service in his analysis of where the West finds itself in this 2nd decade of the 21st century. The divisive and disastrous ideology behind identity politics is shown to require people to hold not only contradictory points of view simultaneously, but that the end result of such viewpoints will cause us to lose all forward progress that the West has attained thus far in the battle for human rights on every front, and that the whole direction of this Post Modern disaster is completely and utterly dimenting.

Excellent Analysis

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Murray does something that is quite rare these days, he marries criticism with kindness. While he is critical of the four movements covered in the book, he stops short of eviscerating them. He is very cognizant of not succumbing to the same madness of which he is so critical of. He leads the reader/listener down the path, planting ideas along the way, but stopping just short of a final conclusion, allowing the listener to navigate the final steps of the path for themselves. Thus, giving them a richer and more engaging experience, than if he had just stated the conclusion to begin with. This book was written for a broad swath of people geared with an eye towards changing minds, rather than confirming beliefs. Murray does not preach from the pulpit of reason. Rather, he engages in the missionary work of sanity, attempting to convince the masses to pause from their phone screens and twitter feeds and let forgotten things known only yesterday, creep back into our minds. It is a must read for everyone.

Criticism with kindness

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the title of this book couldn't be anymore pertinent to the topic it discusses. Douglas Murray systematically explains each category of the so called social disease crippling western civilization. add to that the fact that Douglas Murray is gay and absolutely unbiased in his writing and you have a rational explanation of emotionally fueled Mob Madness battering our culture! Murray clearly and concisely unpacks the true facts, through history and science mixed with common sense. which brings us back to earth and a civil society. if you've been struggling to figure out how this mess was concocted then this book will definitely sort it out. very well read by Mr Murray and explained in an interesting way. a must read for everyone no matter what side your on..

The Madness And Ignorance of Man.

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I highly recommend this book, in any form, because it lays out the real madness of small, but artificially magnified and highly politicized groups that our society is increasingly becoming controlled by and bowing down to any made up outrage. Observations that we all have experienced or heard is presented in an organized and clear manner supported by facts and evidence. We need to wake up and push back on these dangerous and divisive trends to politicize and racialize everything. We cannot allow the shutting down of dialogue, before those actions are so institutionalized that we cannot reverse it.

Very important for a sane humanity

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An excellently researched depiction of the current state of much of the western world and how it got to where it is at.

An astute analysis on the current culture war.

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Wonderfully illustrated by Douglas Murray. Information and tools to stay alert in this western world.

Nails it once again.

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