Why the Statues Are Coming Down

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 July 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Recent years have seen a spate of statue removals from the toppling of Confederate statues in the United States, the tearing down of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol and recently the removal of statues of Queen Victoria in Canada. Some have been taken down in an orderly manner and others torn down or defaced by activists. For some, the removal of statues is a powerful symbol of the desire for social justice and for remembering the wrongs of the past. For others, the removal of monuments is an attempt to erase history. It is certainly a subject that evokes very strong feelings.

The historian Alex von Tunzelmann is today's guest on the podcast. She is the perfect person to help unpick this emotive topic having just written a book on the subject called Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History. Dan and Alex discuss how and why statues are erected in the first place; how this is far from a new phenomenon; how, perhaps, we should deal with controversial statues and whether statues have had their day?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm really welcome to Dan Snow's history here. The statues are still coming down.
0:05.2	There was a spate of it last year and then we've seen some green victorious get removed in
0:09.3	Canada very recently. It's a bit of a time in his suspicious because the very brilliant
0:13.3	historian Alex von Tundzelmann has just written a book on statues while they go up,
0:18.0	while they come down. And these recent statue demolitions feel like they are timed suspiciously
0:24.4	well for someone who's releasing a book at the moment. So I want to get Alex on this podcast
0:28.7	talk about the issue. This important stuff and to work out how we as a society navigate our
0:34.7	way through these next few years and it's going to be a lot of pressure to put it stuck up,
0:37.8	take them down all sorts of things. Now I'm obviously pretty cautious about just removing things
0:42.6	you happen not to like them. I think there should be a process for it. However, I would turn out
0:46.4	tomorrow. I would join the mob tomorrow to down the section of George the fourth in Trafalgar Square.
0:51.8	There's no business being there. He's useless. Anyway, last year's time, a little personal bug bear
0:57.2	I have. Paul George the fourth. Alex von Tundzelmann, very brilliant, brilliant podcast lots,
1:01.7	brilliant historian and George just to say, if you want to watch history documentaries as well as
1:05.8	the podcast, you can do so history hits.tv. We have got some very, very brilliant documentaries on
1:11.2	that. More going up all the time. We've got a big new release this week. Great fun. Ray Mears
1:16.2	joins the history hit TV channel. It's great fun. It's a great pleasure. Great privilege to have
1:21.1	him on. He brings a lot of knowledge. A lot of survival knowledge to that channel. So it's great
1:26.0	to have him there. Head over to historyhit.tv a month of free. If you sign up today historyit.tv. Check
1:32.2	it out. Watch the Ray Mears premiere tomorrow. In the meantime, everyone, here is Alex von Tundzelmann
1:38.8	talking about statues. Enjoy. Alex, great to have you back on the podcast. Thank you for having me.
1:49.8	Thanks for being here. You've been on so many times but I never thought your dexterity,
	...

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