The New Dark Age
Why Liberals Must Win the Culture Wars
1st Edition
Published on 20. February 2026
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-1-5095-6832-1 (ISBN)
Description
In an increasingly polarized age, culture wars are everywhere. They are often dismissed as superficial or confected disagreements designed to distract us from more important issues. Is this true, or are they actually more fundamental than that?
In this thoughtful and passionate intervention, renowned theologian and moral philosopher Nigel Biggar argues that the 'culture wars' are in fact political and moral debates that cut to the very quick of some of the most substantial questions of our time, ranging from the welfare of children to the way we conceive and manage ethnic and cultural differences in diverse societies. The fact that these debates are so often characterized by bad faith, lack of scruple and mindless abuse exposes the rot at the heart of the intellectual culture of the West, most especially in universities. The authoritarian suppression and the smearing of isolated dissidents, combined with the intimidation of a conflict-averse majority of bystanders, are alarming symptoms of a dangerous reality: our hard-won and fragile liberal culture of rational truth-seeking and good faith civility is under serious threat. A new dark age looms.
Mixing first-hand experience with broad ethical, political and cultural reflection, this is a powerful and erudite polemic from one of our most respected thinkers. No one who cares about the future of Western civilization can afford to miss it.
Also available as an audiobook.
In this thoughtful and passionate intervention, renowned theologian and moral philosopher Nigel Biggar argues that the 'culture wars' are in fact political and moral debates that cut to the very quick of some of the most substantial questions of our time, ranging from the welfare of children to the way we conceive and manage ethnic and cultural differences in diverse societies. The fact that these debates are so often characterized by bad faith, lack of scruple and mindless abuse exposes the rot at the heart of the intellectual culture of the West, most especially in universities. The authoritarian suppression and the smearing of isolated dissidents, combined with the intimidation of a conflict-averse majority of bystanders, are alarming symptoms of a dangerous reality: our hard-won and fragile liberal culture of rational truth-seeking and good faith civility is under serious threat. A new dark age looms.
Mixing first-hand experience with broad ethical, political and cultural reflection, this is a powerful and erudite polemic from one of our most respected thinkers. No one who cares about the future of Western civilization can afford to miss it.
Also available as an audiobook.
Reviews / Votes
A Telegraph Best Books of 2026 so far"An illuminating expose of the shabby intellectual tactics of modern-day academia, from a principled man who has been at the sharp end, and kept his wits about him to tell the tale later."
Kathleen Stock, author of Material Girls
"A trumpet-call at a time when many people sense that they can no longer openly express their views about society, Nigel Biggar's new book brilliantly exposes the closing of minds in national institutions such as universities, making an irrefutable case that those who disagree with an often irrational consensus have every right to state their opinions without being bullied or cancelled."
David Abulafia, University of Cambridge
"In this hard-hitting, revelatory book Nigel Biggar shows how far universities have strayed from unfettered inquiry and respect for truth. This is much more than an anti-woke polemic. By analysing in rigorous detail the evasions and distortions of his critics, he reminds us of the freedom of mind we have lost, and need to regain."
John Gray, author of The New Leviathans: Thoughts after Liberalism
"Clear, well-researched and useful [...] it's hard to put this book down without a new desire that institutions would wake up and remember that they're supposed to be committed to the collective pursuit of truth."
Nina Power, The Telegraph
"Powerful"
Nick Spencer, Church Times
"Startling"
New English Review
"His latest book displays many of the qualities that have made him so effective a campaigner. Its writing is plain and vigorous. It presses its claims doggedly but without a hint of malice. Its prejudices, which are many, are all on its sleeve."
The Spectator
"[Biggar] fights back with the scholar's ultimate weapon - rigorous stuy.... [His] warnings must be heeded."
David Willetts, Financial Times
"His main argument is simple and direct: the 'woke,' or 'progressive,' left poses a direct threat to open societies, and must be stopped through a recommitment to the ideals of liberalism, particularly in universities."
National Review
"indispensable"
Claire Fox, The House
"Startling"
Theodore Dalrymple, New English Review
"A bracing manifesto for adhering to intellectual virtues and avoiding intellectual vices."
The Critic
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5095-6832-1 (9781509568321)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2026
1st Edition
Wiley
€18.99
Available for download
Person
Nigel Biggar is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford, where he led the 'Ethics and Empire' research project. 'One of the leading living Western ethicists', according to the New Statesman, he was named one of Prospect magazine's Top Thinkers of 2024 and appointed Commander of the British Empire 'for services to higher education' in 2021. In 2025, he entered the House of Lords as a Conservative peer. A regular speaker and columnist throughout the English-speaking world, he is author of the bestselling Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (2023) and Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt (2025).
Content
Preface Introduction: No Phoney Wars
Chapter 1: The Repudiation of Reason
Chapter 2: The Springs of Tyranny
Chapter 3: The Acquiescence of Academics
Chapter 4: The Collusion of Institutions
Chapter 5: The Promotion of Intellectual Vice
Chapter 6: Universities and the Cultivation of Virtue
Conclusion: Recovering Liberal Conviction
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: The Repudiation of Reason
Chapter 2: The Springs of Tyranny
Chapter 3: The Acquiescence of Academics
Chapter 4: The Collusion of Institutions
Chapter 5: The Promotion of Intellectual Vice
Chapter 6: Universities and the Cultivation of Virtue
Conclusion: Recovering Liberal Conviction
Acknowledgements