THE END OF WOKE
How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution
Published on 29. May 2025
Book
Hardback
560 pages
978-1-4087-2396-8 (ISBN)
Description
A SPECTATOR AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR
'Doyle writes beautifully, trenchantly, near-irrefutably' Richard Dawkins
'Thought provoking and entertaining. Andrew Doyle's intellect dazzles' Jimmy Carr
'A lovely blend of righteous polemic and wishful thinking' Julie Burchill
'A magisterial read . . . divinely inspired writing and commentary from one of the most thoughtful intellectuals of our time' Michael Shermer
'The best work yet by the creator of genius parody Titania McGrath' The Critic
'Andrew Doyle's essential The End of Woke makes it clear: woke is down but it's far from over' Spiked
'A brilliant, timely, highly entertaining book' Allison Pearson, columnist for the Telegraph
A revelatory investigation into the rise and fall of the 'woke' movement and how we can prevent it from happening again.
It is no secret that we are in the midst of a cultural revolution. Activists in the 'woke' movement have claimed to be on the right side of history, and yet their approach has been intolerant, intemperate and, above all, illiberal. Having dominated the western world for the past fifteen years, there are clear signs the woke are now losing their power. The re-election of Donald Trump, the scaling back of DEI initiatives, and a growing awareness of the threats to women's sex-based rights has stirred a counter-revolution. But is this truly the end of woke? Or have the culture wars merely evolved?
In The End of Woke, Doyle skilfully examines the mechanisms underlying the zealous extremes on both the left and the right. He shows that, in a desperate power struggle to re-assert liberal values, some leaders of the anti-woke movement have found themselves adopting a different kind of authoritarian approach - one which also promotes censorship and erodes our freedoms.
Doyle argues that although authoritarianism is common to all political tribes, we must resist its pernicious influence wherever it emerges. After all, replacing one form of tyranny with another will not end the culture wars. But liberalism - true liberalism - might just see the end of woke for good.
'Doyle writes beautifully, trenchantly, near-irrefutably' Richard Dawkins
'Thought provoking and entertaining. Andrew Doyle's intellect dazzles' Jimmy Carr
'A lovely blend of righteous polemic and wishful thinking' Julie Burchill
'A magisterial read . . . divinely inspired writing and commentary from one of the most thoughtful intellectuals of our time' Michael Shermer
'The best work yet by the creator of genius parody Titania McGrath' The Critic
'Andrew Doyle's essential The End of Woke makes it clear: woke is down but it's far from over' Spiked
'A brilliant, timely, highly entertaining book' Allison Pearson, columnist for the Telegraph
A revelatory investigation into the rise and fall of the 'woke' movement and how we can prevent it from happening again.
It is no secret that we are in the midst of a cultural revolution. Activists in the 'woke' movement have claimed to be on the right side of history, and yet their approach has been intolerant, intemperate and, above all, illiberal. Having dominated the western world for the past fifteen years, there are clear signs the woke are now losing their power. The re-election of Donald Trump, the scaling back of DEI initiatives, and a growing awareness of the threats to women's sex-based rights has stirred a counter-revolution. But is this truly the end of woke? Or have the culture wars merely evolved?
In The End of Woke, Doyle skilfully examines the mechanisms underlying the zealous extremes on both the left and the right. He shows that, in a desperate power struggle to re-assert liberal values, some leaders of the anti-woke movement have found themselves adopting a different kind of authoritarian approach - one which also promotes censorship and erodes our freedoms.
Doyle argues that although authoritarianism is common to all political tribes, we must resist its pernicious influence wherever it emerges. After all, replacing one form of tyranny with another will not end the culture wars. But liberalism - true liberalism - might just see the end of woke for good.
Reviews / Votes
Thought provoking and entertaining. Andrew Doyle's intellect dazzles -- Jimmy Carr A magisterial read . . . divinely inspired writing and commentary from one of the most thoughtful intellectuals of our time -- Michael Shermer Written with wit and intelligence . . . Doyle skillfully illustrates how the evangelists of the woke movement were able to gain power. It's society's decade-long psychotic break, written down * Compact Magazine * The best work yet by the creator of genius parody Titania McGrath * The Critic * Andrew Doyle's essential The End of Woke makes it clear: woke is down but it's far from over * Spiked * Informative and entertaining . . . this book is probably the best catalogue of the excesses of the past decade to date * European Conservative * A brilliant, timely, highly entertaining book -- Allison Pearson, columnist for the <i>Telegraph</i> In The End of Woke, Andrew Doyle, pitch-perfect ventriloquist of the immortal Titania McGrath, here writes as himself: writes beautifully, trenchantly, near-irrefutably . . . The chapter on gender wars almost had me rushing into the street to read choice passages to random strangers -- Richard Dawkins * New Statesman, Books of the Year * A lovely blend of righteous polemic and wishful thinking -- Julie Burchill * Spectator, Books of the Year * Doyle writes with the greatest authority and persuasiveness * Spiked *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 237 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 45 mm
Weight
798 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4087-2396-8 (9781408723968)
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
Person
Andrew Doyle is a writer, broadcaster and satirist whose commentary on political and cultural issues is regularly published in the national press. He is the author of The New Puritans, Free Speech and Why It Matters and has also written two satirical books as Titania McGrath - Woke: A Guide to Social Justice and My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism. He is the presenter of Free Speech Nation, a weekly television show on GB News, and was formerly a panellist on the BBC's Moral Maze. He has a doctorate in Renaissance Literature from the University of Oxford where he also worked as a stipendiary lecturer.