Fallen Idols describes a stomach-turning litany of atrocities, but, perhaps surprisingly, it’s not an angry book. It’s a lively, engaging and often witty exploration of why statues are put up, why they are taken down and what this teaches us about history and memory. It’s extremely well researched. The notes stretch to more than 40 pages and von Tunzelmann credits a team of researchers. If it has an agenda, it’s one that urges us to see the layers, the nuance and the different points of view ... If you’re sick of the soundbites in the culture wars, sick of the shrieking and sick of finding yourself torn between binaries, this book will remind you that many of them are false.
This book starts well and ends well, with bumpy patches in between ... many of these stories are fascinating ... An unnerving aspect of these stories, for me, is that the ones I liked best concerned people and places I knew least about...Conversely, the closer von Tunzelmann comes to familiar or contested ground, the more I noticed oversimplification and glibness ... A deeper, recurring issue is her treatment of the long history of race relations in the United States. It’s a main theme of her book, and not one on which she displays great nuance ... When it comes to thorny issues, a sentence that can seem simplistic to the eye can be appropriately suggestive through the ear ... If a book’s purpose is to tell you stories and leave you with an idea, this idea of better styles of commemoration will stay with me.
... [a] thoughtful and fast-paced new book ... a compelling case that scrutinizing monumental statuary is an integral part of what open societies do as they reassess past values and seek new ones to guide their futures ... a convincing, logic-driven argument that cuts through the emotional and ideological static around statue toppling, which often obscures the facts about how and why they were put up in the first place ... Statues are hulking barometers of the values of society around them. In authoritarian countries those values are imposed from above. But in a democracy, von Tunzelmann makes clear, the public has the right to continually reassess and judge them, and perhaps find them wanting.
It’s clear from Fallen Idols that there are many reasons to tear down a statue. Removing Stalin’s statue in Budapest was the start of a revolution. Pulling down Saddam Hussein’s statue was a symbolic end to the Iraq War—a symbol that turned out to be disastrously wrong. Taking down a statue can also be an act of truth telling ... In discussing these and other statues, Tunzelmann invites us to consider all public monuments. What are these statues commemorating? What are they hiding? ... Fallen Idols is an illuminating guide to a much-needed discussion about history and how it is represented.
Historian von Tunzelmann (Blood and Sand) takes a brisk and informative look at 'how societies around the world have put up, loved, hated and pulled down statues in order to make statements about themselves' ... Enriched by accessible history lessons and trenchant analysis of contemporary politics and culture, this is a persuasive call for a 'much wider and more mature engagement with the past.'
