The Dragons of Expectation: Reality and Delusion in the Course of History - Tapa dura

This... brilliant and idiosyncratic book is a frontal assault on the pieties of the left. At its heart is Conquest's critique of a deluded idealisation of the Soviet Union and the underestimation of the danger it posed to the West - the focus of Conquest's long and distinguished career... Conquest has thrown down a gauntlet to which we all should respond' - Publishers Weekly 'Robert Conquest is... in this provocative book, a slayer of our dragons of delusion, from politics to history to culture... When you open THE DRAGONS OF EXPECTATION, as you should, be prepared to be challenged' - Stephen F. Cohen, professor of Russian Studies at New York University 'Conquest brings the cool energy of a lifetime's experience to every page. The mind whose powers of analysis gave courage to the reforming forces in the Soviet Union has not lost its talent for asking embarrassing questions' - Clive James 'Robert Conquest... now summarizes his life's work as a critic of totalitarianism and draws some fundamental moral conclusions. A truly valuable and timely book' - Paul Johnson

THE DRAGONS OF EXPECTATION is an urgent call for society to examine the 'brain-blindfolds' that have consistently stifled debate and prevented painful self-examination. It is a landmark defence of civilisation that illuminates the political degradations and intellectual fetishisms of our current world. From the author of The Great Terror and The Harvest of Sorrow comes this long-awaited work of history and philosophy. Aware of the 'primitive delusions' that have attracted people to rogue ideologies over the past century, Robert Conquest, with a deep and consistently compassionate gaze, has devoted a lifetime to exposing the political and mental distortions that have spawned or appeased implacable regimes and led, all too often, to death and destruction. Here, in THE DRAGONS OF EXPECTATION, whether discussing the political thinking of ancient Greece, the corrosive effect of ideological socialism, or the inanities of the European Union, Conquest assesses the ravages of our past, the absurdities of our present, and the pitfalls that lie in our future. Whether discussing the failures of the Enlightenment or the nature of Democracy, Stalinism, and Liberalism, Conquest masterfully examines how false nostrums have affected academe, politicians and the public, showing how their reliance on 'isms' and the destructive concepts of 'People, Nation, and Masses' have resulted in a ruinous cycle of totalitarianism and war. Conquest remains an astute and keenly critical observer of contemporary culture and politics. Devoting more than half of THE DRAGONS OF EXPECTATION to an assessment of the world situation at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Conquest ponders the future of the human race and the future, in fact, of civilisation.