The Undivided Past: Humanity Beyond Our Differences

“Cannadine does not say so, but he may well have written his book in response to Samuel Huntington’s famous argument about the clash of civilizations. I can only hope that The Undivided Past . . . so authoritative in its coverage of history . . . will have all the impact of Huntington’s work, serving as an important reminder that human beings around the world not only have much in common but also have improved the conditions of their lives over time. His optimism is both refreshing and necessary.”            —Alan Wolfe, The New York Times Book Review“Elegantly written and stimulating. . . . Cannadine is justified in drawing attention to how dangerously politicized history can become.”            —David Priestland, The Guardian (UK)“One of our most provocative and profound historians, Cannadine confronts the brutally populist, crudely polarized Manichean concept of ‘us versus them’ in the writing of history. He affirms, rather, the complexity and diversity of humanity and the connectedness of its manifold identities.”            —Iain Finlayson, The Times (UK)“A spirited case for harmony against the myths of identity politics. . . . The Undivided Past succeeds best as a Swiftian treatise on the ignorance of the learned, and the follies of the wise. While the fetishism of a single, adversarial identity still derails the study of history as much as the practice of politics, The Undivided Past should earn applause.”             —Boyd Tonklin, The Independent (UK)“Highly intelligent, stimulating, occasionally provocative and enormous fun to read. . . . To write about the past, Cannadine concludes, requires the historian to celebrate the common humanity that has always bound us together, that still binds us together today, and that will continue to bind us together in the future. It is noble message and one that historians would do well to heed.”            —Philip Ziegler, The Spectator (UK)“A mediation on the ways in which history has been abused to present the world divided into simple opposing identities of good and evil, ‘them’ and ‘us’ . . . if any current historian might speak truth to power then we should wish it to be David Cannadine.”             —Dan Jones, The Daily Telegraph (UK)“David Cannadine is a distinguished historian; his new book should make him famous. Now at the summit of his career, he brings a message that only a veteran and learned historian could deliver convincingly.”            —Hugh Brogan, History Today (UK)“Persuasive, impassioned. . . . Historian and editor Cannadine constructs a stirring critique of history that questions conventional approaches to narrating the human chronicle. Cannadine, an accomplished writer, details it in fresh and provocative terms…An incisive argument buttressed by millennia of evidence.”         —Starred review, Kirkus Reviews “Cannadine systematically examines the six most pervasive areas of identities across historical periods. . . . Drawing on history, philosophy, economics, sociology, and religion, Cannadine offers a broad and sweeping look at the myriad ways we’ve been at each other’s throats throughout history. Still, he ends with the hopeful prospect that more historians will reexamine the chronicles of group conflicts and offer balanced perspectives.”         —Starred review, Booklist“The Undivided Past offers us a great historian's skeptical and liberating exploration of the ways in which our various social identities do and do not make us what we are. David Cannadine deploys his penetrating erudition through contentious territory, maintaining always an exemplary elegance and civility.”         —Kwame Anthony Appiah, author of The Ethics of Identity and Cosmpolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers  “A complex, thoughtful examination of the fundamental ways in which humanity divides itself.”          —Publishers Weekly