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Charlie Campbell
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Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Charlie Campbell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
See all formats and editions
A “brief and vital account” of humanity’s long history of playing the blame game, from Adam and Eve to modern politics—“a relevant and timely subject” (The Daily Telegraph).
 
We may have come a long way from the days when a goat was symbolically saddled with all the iniquities of the children of Israel and driven into the wilderness, but has our desperate need to absolve ourselves by pinning the blame on someone else really changed all that much?
 
Charlie Campbell highlights the plight of all those others who have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, illustrating how God needs the Devil as Sherlock Holmes needs Professor Moriarty or James Bond needs “Goldfinger.”
 
Scapegoat is a tale of human foolishness that exposes the anger and irrationality of blame-mongering while reminding readers of their own capacity for it. From medieval witch burning to reality TV, this is a brilliantly relevant and timely social history that looks at the obsession, mania, persecution, and injustice of scapegoating.
 
“A wry, entertaining study of the history of blame . . . Trenchantly sardonic.” —Kirkus Reviews
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Previous page
  1. ISBN-13
    978-1468306385
  2. Edition
    1st
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    ABRAMS Press
  5. Publication date
    February 2, 2012
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    1241 KB
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"As Mr. Campbell observes in this brief and entertaining book, there might not always be a cure for what ails humanity, but there's always a culprit." --Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Charlie Campbell was Deputy Editor of the Literary Review, where he ran the Bad Sex Fiction Prize among other things.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07RV8F1R3
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ABRAMS Press; 1st edition (February 2, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 2, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1241 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 205 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Charlie Campbell

Charlie Campbell

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Charlie Campbell is captain of the Authors Cricket Club. Their book, The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon, was shortlisted for the Cricket Society MCC Book of the Year Award. He has led his team in over a hundred and thirty consecutive games, facing the might of the Rajasthan Royals, the Vatican and the national teams of Iceland and Japan along the way. He is the author of Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People and has written for the Observer, Wisden India, The Nightwatchman, Big Issue, Time Out, the Spectator and Literary Review. He lives in London. @CCampbell_Agent and @AuthorsCC

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3.6 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

There are 0 reviews and 6 ratings from the United States

Top reviews from other countries

Dr. O. Cadsky
4.0 out of 5 stars Light, fluffy and amusing. Good for a long journey.
Reviewed in Canada on February 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
A delightful, readable romp through all the ways that people have scapegoated others throughout history. Examples and anecdotes only, no attempt to explain or theorise. "Look how stupid they were" oozes from every page. I loved it.
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William Jordan
3.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining essay, but also something of a missed opportunity
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 6, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book starts promisingly with a very amusing story of the islanders of St Kilda holding a Great Auk responsible when its fishing boats are caught in a great storm; and this introduces some of the themes of the book - the human desire to understand the world and to believe that we live in an orderly world; the human reluctance to accept blame; the singling out of individuals to accept blame for wider systemic problems (in his view, Sir Fred Goodwin is an example) and the desire for others to take upon themselves our sins and expiate them.

There is potential much to chew on here, and this is an interesting and unusual subject. But chapters on the use of animals as scapegoats tend to trivialise the discussion - which would have more resonance if it were placed more firmly in a contemporary context (after a Great Auk introduction). And while the discussion ranges widely, it doesn't touch on everything that is relevant theoretically to this debate, notably the psychoanalytical ideas about splitting and projection - which would seem to be tailor made to describe some of the psychological processes involved in scapegoating (the bad is split off from the good; and the bad is project into someone else, or into another life form). Attribution theory and cognitive dissonance are touched on - but very briefly, and the discussion is likely only to be intelligible to someone already acquainted with those concepts...

So while this is entertaining - at least in parts - it is also something of a missed opportunity.
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fred
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2015
Verified Purchase
Not much to say... Read and yawn.
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James-philip Harries
3.0 out of 5 stars Buy it at 10% of the price
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2012
Verified Purchase
This is a lightweight book, a sort of compendium of blame, and not worth the cover price. Quite amusing anecdotes but basically a pretty lazy collection which you could get more of elsewhere. Reasonably amusing if you like half an hour's reading.
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