THE END OF WOKE: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution – 9781408723982

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A SPECTATOR AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Doyle writes beautifully, trenchantly, near-irrefutably’ Richard Dawkins

‘Thought provoking and entertaining. Andrew Doyle’s intellect dazzles’ Jimmy Carr

‘A lovely blend of righteous polemic and wishful thinking’ Julie Burchill

‘A magisterial read . . . divinely inspired writing and commentary from one of the most thoughtful intellectuals of our time’ Michael Shermer

‘The best work yet by the creator of genius parody Titania McGrath’ The Critic

‘Andrew Doyle’s essential The End of Woke makes it clear: woke is down but it’s far from over’ Spiked

‘A brilliant, timely, highly entertaining book’ Allison Pearson, columnist for the Telegraph

A revelatory investigation into the rise and fall of the ‘woke’ movement and how we can prevent it from happening again.

It is no secret that we are in the midst of a cultural revolution. Activists in the ‘woke’ movement have claimed to be on the right side of history, and yet their approach has been intolerant, intemperate and, above all, illiberal. Having dominated the western world for the past fifteen years, there are clear signs the woke are now losing their power. The re-election of Donald Trump, the scaling back of DEI initiatives, and a growing awareness of the threats to women’s sex-based rights has stirred a counter-revolution. But is this truly the end of woke? Or have the culture wars merely evolved?

In The End of Woke, Doyle skilfully examines the mechanisms underlying the zealous extremes on both the left and the right. He shows that, in a desperate power struggle to re-assert liberal values, some leaders of the anti-woke movement have found themselves adopting a different kind of authoritarian approach – one which also promotes censorship and erodes our freedoms.

Doyle argues that although authoritarianism is common to all political tribes, we must resist its pernicious influence wherever it emerges. After all, replacing one form of tyranny with another will not end the culture wars. But liberalism – true liberalism – might just see the end of woke for good.