The British bestseller Straw Dogs is an exciting, radical work of
philosophy, which sets out to challenge our most cherished assumptions
about what it means to be human. From Plato to Christianity, from the
Enlightenment to Nietzsche and Marx, the Western tradition has been
based on arrogant and erroneous beliefs about human beings and their
place in the world. Philosophies such as liberalism and Marxism think of
humankind as a species whose destiny is to transcend natural limits and
conquer the Earth. John Gray argues that this belief in human difference
is a dangerous illusion and explores how the world and human life look
once humanism has been finally abandoned. The result is an exhilarating,
sometimes disturbing book that leads the reader to question our
deepest-held beliefs. Will Self, in the New Statesman, called Straw
Dogs his book of the year: I read it once, I read it twice and took
notes . . . I thought it that good. Nothing will get you thinking as
much as this brilliant book (Sunday Telegraph).