SMALL MEN ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY

Sub-titled 'The Decline, Fall and Unlikely Return of Conservatism' the book asks what is wrong with conservatism? Why is that, no matter how many elections they win, Conservatives tend to lose almost every political argument? What is it about conservatism that makes it so unpalatable, even to so many conservatives? Since the 1950s, the Western world has gone through a cultural shift comparable to the rise of Christianity during the late Roman period, and the 16th century religious revolution unleashed by Martin Luther. Both of these led to profound changes in public ideas about morality and sexuality, and eventually to the 'culture wars' between two deeply opposed groups. Today Britain is witnessing a second Reformation which is going to be long, painful and boring, with both sides becoming more idiotic and hysterical, just as the religious divisions that once drove Catholics and Protestants into prolonged insanity. Conservatives like the pagans and Catholics before them are very much on the losing side. The future appears progressive and their cultural defeat is inevitable, part of an 'arc of history' that leads irrevocably to a progressive utopia in which they're left in the dustbin. As Obama said of al-Qaeda, conservatives are 'small men on the wrong side of history'. Too many polemics and articles about the Right are tediously shouty and too few of them explore where their arguments have fallen flat, and why people find conservatism so repulsive. In this incisive and witty book, Ed West offers explanations and argues that conservatism is the necessary break on 'runaway liberalism'. He explains the competitive desire to appear 'Woker-Than-Thou' which is driving progressive politics to extremes. West looks at the endless litany of failure from the perspective of one of the losers in a semi-autobiographical, self-deprecating way, sprinkled with gallows humour and also crammed with history, political philosophy and social science behind the dry wit. One reviewer said: 'I particularly enjoyed the anecdote in the Muswell Hill pub and the other about his son inappropriately singing in church.' 426 page handsome hardback.