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The new pillory

Shame and humiliation in history
by
June 2022, no. 443

The Politics of Humiliation: A modern history by Ute Frevert

Oxford University Press, £25.00 hb, 352 pp

The new pillory

Shame and humiliation in history
by
June 2022, no. 443
French women accused of collaboration are paraded through the streets of Paris (German Federal Archives via Wikimedia Commons)

As I started to read this book, right-wing extremists stormed the US Congress, spurred on by a president who was unable to accept defeat at the ballot box. It has long been recognised that Donald Trump is a narcissist, but, as Ute Frevert aptly points out in The Politics of Humiliation, narcissism and shame are closely related. Trump feels humiliated by his defeat and is therefore psychologically incapable of accepting his loss, on any level. But there is another side to Trump’s behaviour: he has been quite ‘shameless’ in the way he bends truth and humiliates other political leaders.

Philip Dwyer reviews 'The Politics of Humiliation: A modern history' by Ute Frevert

The Politics of Humiliation: A modern history

by Ute Frevert

Oxford University Press, £25.00 hb, 352 pp

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