Peter Hughes’ "A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues" offers a thought-provoking exploration of the power of statues to shape collective memory and stir heated debates throughout history. Covering an impressive span of time, from Ancient Egypt to modern-day conflicts, the book focuses on 21 statues that have either been torn down, desecrated, or become symbols of cultural and political tension.

Hughes examines statues not just as works of art, but as symbols loaded with meaning—often controversial and divisive. He chronicles the fates of statues that once represented power, status, or revered ideologies, but eventually became targets of destruction. From Hatshepsut, the Egyptian queen whose statues were vandalized by her successor, to the more recent toppling of Confederate monuments in the U.S. and statues of British colonial figures, Hughes shows how these objects are far from passive; they are symbols that reflect our values, our divisions, and even our desire to rewrite history.

While the concept of exploring history through the destruction of statues is fascinating, the book does tend to feel heavy-handed in certain areas. Hughes is clearly skeptical of the recent statue removals, often emphasizing the dangerous precedent of "canceling" the past. He argues that tearing down statues doesn't erase history but instead risks fragmenting society into warring factions. While this point is worth considering, at times, the author’s language—referring to "social justice warriors" and "virtuous victims"—detracts from the nuance that such a complex subject deserves.

Ultimately, the book serves as a springboard for larger discussions about the nature of public memory, identity, and who gets to decide what (and who) is worthy of commemoration. Whether you agree with Hughes' more skeptical stance on statue removals or not, this book is bound to stir thought and conversation about the ways we engage with our past.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

A contentious read that has a very clear political agenda on statue removal (it is always bad) rather than examining any of these cases with nuance.

The title explains the book well. We learn of the stories behind 21 statues that were either controversial when they were put up, or have since become controversial. The statues seem to perpetuate the controversy becoming a lightning rod for clashing factions and often being attacked, desecrated or toppled themselves. Sometimes the controversy is immediate and sometimes it flares up after years of forgetting and benign neglect. There is a lot of discussion of the nature and power of this violence against statues.

The stories range from the ancient world to the present, but most are fairly recent. The narrative explanations are clearly written and accessible - informative without being fussy. It is a timely topic, following a sudden wave of awareness about the kinds of statued subjects that have been peopling our public places. The ideas of hate and love are explored in ways that manage to be both easy to follow and yet interesting.

This issue of how statues serve as a kind of living presence is discussed in the first story (Hatshepsut from ancient Egypt, whose gender made her a likely target) and directly linked to our contemporary experience. The balance of stories and thoughtful reflections (and between original history and the statues’ afterlives) is neatly managed and the book is pleasantly lively and engaging to read.

Statue-removal has become an often heated subject in the last 18 months or so. This book, which examines the case histories of a number of ancient and more recent statues which have variously survived or fallen out of favour over the years, is thus very timely reading.

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.