The opening sentences of the introduction are gripping enough to convince me that there is indeed a war going on against the West, essentially a cultural war “waged remorselessly against all the roots of the Western tradition and against everything good that the Western tradition has produced” (p.1).

In plain sight

Murray asserts that what was at first hard to discern is now in plain sight and that its scale has become clear. The assault is against all things within the Western world; its past, present and future. As such, we are locked in a cycle of unending punishment with no serious effort being made to alleviate this.

The author goes on to recap the main ideas from his previous two books (The Madness of Crowds and The Strange Death of Europe), before going on to explain that the present study is about what happens when one side in a cold war (the West) prematurely surrenders. He asks why critics of Western civilisation venerate every culture so long as it is not Western, and why the West is prepared to open up everything within it to this assault.

Critical race and US history

Murray tackles this through four lengthy chapters interspersed with three interludes. Chapter 1 tackles the issue of Race. Here the author tackles the subject of Critical Race Theory which has emerged in academia over recent decades. Unfortunately for UK readers, the focus of the chapter is the situation in America (odd, given the author is British), but it’s still of much relevance.

To make his case, Murray attacks people and publications that we may have never heard of unless, like him, we are caught up in the academic world. His main point is clear but many of the pages will be a struggle for some readers, though there are certainly some illuminating examples along the way.

Unfortunately for UK readers, the focus of the chapter is the situation in America (odd, given the author is British), but it’s still of much relevance.

Chapter 2 is entitled History, and here a similar trend can be found. The chapter is very US based, and although it is fascinating to discover that there is an attempt to rewrite American history via ‘The 1619 Project’, this may not interest a great many of us in the UK.

Having said that, we need to know this information, for something similar may well be happening here soon; especially if Murray’s general point is true, namely that “In recent years, it has become entirely commonplace to claim that white people are somehow deranged by their history” (p.84). Later in the chapter, he claims that there is now a stampede within the West to rid itself of its own history as though it is something to be ashamed of. We have apparently been doing nothing right and everything wrong.

Religion and woke Church

The following chapter adopts Religion as its topic, making it more interesting to a Christian readership. The author, of course, is not a Christian himself, but he does have sympathies towards our Christian heritage and accepts that faith is important to people. He is amazed to observe that whereas the burning of copies of the Quran can cause uproar and condemnation, when the same happens to a stack of Bibles this is not considered newsworthy at all – there’s nothing of note here, move along quickly. Overall, this sort of thing “serves as a reminder that the West is now willing to protect and revere almost any holy places, as long as they are not its own” (p.155).

Murray also explores how mainstream churches have become woke and have joined in the war on underpinning the West, including our faith tradition.

In this chapter Murray also explores how mainstream churches have become woke and have joined in the war on undermining the West, including our faith tradition. Across the denominations, a decision by the churches has been made to throw their lot in with the anti-Western fashions of the day.

Culture and cultural appropriation

Chapter 4 is on Culture, and is particularly fascinating, certainly to us in the UK. Examples include a mural in London’s Tate Gallery and attempts to decolonise Shakespeare. Murray explains how the British Library joined in the antiracist stampede of 2020, smearing some of the greatest poets in the English language. There is also the curious case of Kew Gardens, where issues included making sure that gardens and lawns were ‘decolonised’ and that certain plants, which had somehow been central to the running of the British Empire and had become beacons of privilege and exploitation, had to be replaced in order to help tackle ‘injustices’ in our society.

Music also comes under scrutiny in this chapter, including the dominance of Western musical notation at the expense of, for instance, the systems of Chinese and Indian music. The composer Handel comes into disrepute for having invested in a company that owned slaves, and it seems that ivory keyboards (such as harpsichords) might also need to be ‘decolonised’.

The final point of the book is that of cultural appropriation – how much the West has taken from other cultures and made it part of its own.

The final point of the book is that of cultural appropriation – how much the West has taken from other cultures and made it part of its own. Apparently, artists and composers should not have done this. Rather they should have ‘stayed in their own lane’. Mozart’s appropriation of Turkish themes, Mahler’s interest in Chinese music and the use of spirituals in works by Tippett are just some of the examples quoted.

Summing up

The three interludes are entitled China, Reparations and Gratitude. These are just shorter chapters and don’t particularly add to the overall impact of the book, though the middle one, which discusses the pros and cons of apologising for the wrongs of past generations and making financial compensation, is quite interesting. As expected in a book of this kind there are many endnotes and a full index.

As we’d expect with someone of Murray’s calibre, the book is very well written and thoroughly researched. Overall, it highlights a highly significant topic, and it makes for a thoroughly enlightening read.

The War on the West (320pp) is published by HarperCollins, and is available from W. H. Smith for £10.00 (RRP £20.00)