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Our museums are full of pure white Classical sculptures. Over the years, we've ignored evidence that they were originally painted bright colours, 'restoring' sculptures to a gleaming white and becoming heated about the very idea of a lick of paint. Why? Because the stories we tell about our past affect how we see ourselves today. Just one wrong turn in our understanding of history can infect whole areas of thought - as well as how we look at society and relate to others in the 21st century. Exploring some of the biggest myths, mysteries and misconceptions about the past (Columbus didn't discover America, the Vandals weren't vandals, Boudicca wasn't English), David Mountain reveals how ongoing revolutions in history and archaeology are finally shedding light on the truth. We discover how prejudices, hoaxes and misinterpretations have whitewashed entire chapters of history, dismissed and demonised female leaders, and invented entire civilisations. Past Mistakes will make you reconsider your notion of what is and isn't 'history' - and why it matters now

Combining philosophy, science, and literature, Mythic Worlds and the One You Can Believe In examines lingering misconceptions of world history as a continuing source of international tension. Awareness of the natural continuum, currently gauged at some 13.8 billion years overall, disarms sectarian zealotry and, in retrospect, explains some of the difficulties the literary and philosophical traditions have had in accommodating their beliefs to what undeniably exists. To this day, beliefs incompatible with natural history continue to intensify nationalism and support terrorist movements. As a wo

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION -- Chapter 2 MODERN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY: SOME PRELIMINARY ISSUES -- Chapter 3 THE HOBBESIAN HYPOTHESIS: HOW A COLONIAL PREJUDICE BECAME AN ESSENTIAL PREMISE IN THE MOST POPULAR JUSTIFICATION OF GOVERNMENT -- Chapter 4 JOHN LOCKE AND THE HOBBESIAN HYPOTHESIS: HOW A SIMILAR COLONIAL PREJUDICE BECAME AN ESSENTIAL PREMISE IN THE MOST POPULAR JUSTIFICATION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS -- Chapter 5 THE HOBBESIAN HYPOTHESIS IN EIGHTEENTHCENTURY POLITICAL THEORY -- Chapter 6 THE HOBBESIAN HYPOTHESIS IN NINETEENTHCENTURY POLITICAL THEORY -- Chapter 7 THE HOBBESIAN HYPOTHESIS IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THEORY -- Chapter 8 THE HOBBESIAN HYPOTHESIS IN ANTHROPOLOGY -- Chapter 9 NASTY AND BRUTISH? AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE VIOLENCE HYPOTHESIS -- Chapter 10 ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW THAN YOU WERE 12,000 YEARS AGO? AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE HOBBESIAN HYPOTHESIS -- Chapter 11 IMPLICATIONS -- REFERENCES -- INDEX

"From historian and author of the popular daily newsletter LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN, a vital narrative that explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy -- and how we can turn back. In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. The essays soon turned into a newsletter and, spread by word of mouth, its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on its plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America. In Democracy Awakening, Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history they have led us into authoritarianism -- creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation's true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation's future. Richardson's unique talent is to wrangle our giant, meandering, confusing news feed into a coherent story that singles out what we should pay attention to, what the historical roots and precedents are, and what possible paths lie ahead. Writing in her trademark calm prose, she manages to be both realistic and optimistic about the future of democracy. Richardson's easy command of history allows her to pivot effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Reconstruction to Goldwater to Mitch McConnell, highlighting the political legacies of the New Deal, the lingering fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus and birth of "movement conservatism." There are many books that tell us what has happened over the last five years. Democracy Awakening explains how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be"--