Christopher Coker
Alibis of Aggression
The War of the World: History’s Age of Hatred
By Niall Ferguson
Allen Lane The Penguin Press 745pp £25
In Steven Spielberg’s film War of the Worlds there is a scene which is often missed by audiences, but it captures the fragmentation of the Western world (and with it the decline of Western influence) which is a major theme of Niall Ferguson’s book. Rushing back to his home in Brooklyn, Tom Cruise bundles his children into his car. The Martian tripods can be seen zapping everything in their wake. In Wells’s novel, the frightened priest asks: ‘Why are these things permitted? … What are these Martians?’ Cruise’s son asks his father the same question. ‘What are they, dad? Terrorists?’ ‘No son, far worse.’ ‘You mean they are from Europe?’
In Wells’s novel the Martians are so alien that they are quite beyond us. Malevolence has nothing to do with it. All they can do for human beings, apart from exterminating them, is to provide a pause for humanity to consider what makes it human. Nine Eleven too seemed to
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm