Bøger udgivet af Hurst Publishers

Aristotle claimed that all human beings want to know. Yet our own experience proves that all human beings also want not to know. Today, centuries after the Enlightenment, mesmerised crowds still follow preposterous prophets; irrational rumours trigger fanatical acts; and magical thinking crowds out common sense and expertise. Why is this? Where does this will to ignorance come from, and how does it continue to shape our lives?In this dazzling exploration of our wish for innocence and ignoranceand its consequences acclaimed essayist and historian of ideas Mark Lilla offers an absorbing psychological diagnosis of the human will not to know. With erudition and brio, Lilla ranges from the Book of Genesis and PlatosDialoguesto Sufi parables and Sigmund Freud, revealing the paradoxes of hiding truth from ourselves. He also exposes the illusions that this impulse can lead us to entertain: the belief that the ecstasies of prophets, mystics and holy fools will offer access to esoteric truths; the mythology of childrens lamb-like innocence; and nostalgic fantasies of recapturing the glories of vanished, allegedly purer civilisations.

Who will defend Europe? The answer should be obvious: Europe should be able to defend itself. Yet, for decades, most of the continent enjoyed a defence holiday, outsourcing protection to the United States while banking an increasingly illusory peace dividend. Now, after three decades of reducing armed forces and drawing down defence industries, Europe finds itself close to unprotectedwhile Russia is intent on continuing its war of expansion, and the US is distracted and divided.In this urgent, vital book, Keir Giles lays out the stark choices facing leaders and societies as they confront the return of war in Europe. He explains how the Wests unwillingness to confront Russia has nurtured the threat, and that Putins ambition puts the whole continent at risk. He assesses the role and deficiencies of NATO as a guarantor of hard security, and whether the EU or coalitions of the willing can fill the gap. Above all, Giles emphasises the need for new leadership in defence of the free world after the US has stepped aside and warns that the UKs brief moment of setting the pace for Europe has already been squandered.