The New Puritans

How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World

By: Andrew Doyle

Narrated by: Andrew Doyle

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Engaging, incisive and acute, The New Puritans is a deeply necessary exploration of our current cultural climate and an urgent appeal to return to a truly liberal society.

The puritans of the seventeenth century sought to refashion society in accordance with their own beliefs, but they were deep thinkers who were aware of their own fallibility. Today, in the grasp of the new puritans, we see a very different story.

Leading a cultural revolution driven by identity politics and so-called 'social justice', the new puritanism movement is best understood as a religion - one that makes grand claims to moral purity and tolerates no dissent. Its disciples even have their own language, rituals and a determination to root out sinners through what has become known as 'cancel culture'.

In The New Puritans, Andrew Doyle powerfully examines the underlying belief-systems of this ideology, and how it has risen so rapidly to dominate all major political, cultural and corporate institutions. He reasons that, to move forward, we need to understand where these new puritans came from and what they hope to achieve. Written in the spirit of optimism and understanding, Doyle offers an eloquent and powerful case for the reinstatement of liberal values and explains why it's important we act now.

©2022 Andrew Doyle (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

'A sober but devastating skewering of cancel culture and the moral certainties it shares with religious fundamentalism' Sunday Times

'Andrew Doyle has written a masterful broadside against the woke that will also discomfit the anti-woke, proposing to both the radical notion that rather than being identities, we embrace our status as individuals' Critic

There is Hope

I hope the author’s prediction is correct that this book will be viewed as unnecessary in a generation, just a relic of an illogical time. For that to happen, more of us must stand up in the present.

Woke definition

I was grateful for the precise short and sweet definition of woke. The conclusion was spot on for todays culture.

An excellent antidote to the dissolution of dialogue

This book provides sound analysis of why the trajectory of many of the “new Puritans’” arguments take us, as a society, to very poor outcomes. Indeed, the author notes it will lead to outcomes that the “new Puritans” would say they are against.

A Roadmap Back to Sanity

Doyle takes on the Progressives with clarity, wit, logic and, in the end, compassion. It’s a feast of ideas and language as well.

THIS NARCISSISTIC CRAZE IS HEADING TOWARDS DECLINE

Reclaim the courage to think and speak for yourself.
Learn how to not be cowed into submission by the new puritanical scare tactics and silencing tactics of this minority of witch-hunters who dominate as the Squeaky Wheels in media/politics at the moment.
They are on the way out.

The new Puritans' nature is ultimately cannibalistic, and the narcissistic craze will eventually self-destruct.

So good I listened to it twice

… and took notes. This book is a brilliant argument for free speech, critical thinking and openness to the tragicomedy of humans’ need for approval from the mad crowd.

Sooo good!!

As a PhD student of clinical psychology, whee wokeism and social justice ideology is now replacing individual based psychotherapy and intentionally excluding people of conservative or libertarian beliefs, I found this book to be the key to helping me fight against the new puritans in academia. An absolutely brilliant read for those who do not understand the mind of the woke left and how to best navigate their double standard gaslighting tactics.

Exceptional dissection of woke ideology

Using the analogy of the puritans and the Salem witch trials, the author breaks down in an extremely logical way the extreme and ultimately "faith based" propositions of the illiberal far left, while also making a case for rational discussion and a return to genuinely liberal, fact based critical thinking. A small criticism might be that it drags a bit in the middle, but overall a great book.

An intelligent critique

A thoughtful, insightful and well reasoned look at a topic that is rarely spoken about so eloquently. Well done.

Donny V

One of the best books I’ve come across. Doyle’s prose is easy to listen to and very entertaining for such an important topic.