Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People

Charlie Campbell

Duckworth Overlook, 2012 - History - 207 pages

We may have come a long way from the days when a goat as a symbol was saddled with all the iniquities of the children of Israel and driven into the wilderness, but is our desperate need to find some organization or person to pin the blame on and absolve ourselves of responsibility really any more advanced?

Charlie Campbell highlights the plight of all those others who have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, illustrating how God needs the Devil as Sherlock Holmes needs Professor Moriarty or James Bond needs "Goldfinger."

Scapegoat is a tale of human foolishness that exposes the anger and irrationality of blame-mongering while reminding readers of their own capacity for it. From medieval witch burning to reality TV, this is a brilliantly relevant and timely social history that looks at the obsession, mania, persecution and injustice of scapegoating.

What people are saying

Review: Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People

User Review  - V - Goodreads

An interesting and- considering the subject- relatively light read. Some chapters seemed to end abruptly... I thought there was considerably more to be said on some of those topics. Also, some ...

Review: Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People

User Review  - Tara Lynn - Goodreads

An interesting scholarly read revealing some history of the church and of ancient times I did not know. Towards the end, though, I grew tired of the dryness of the material. The author is somewhat humorous, so that helps. No big new conclusions drawn, however, IMHO.

About the author

CHARLIE CAMPBELL was Books Editor at The Literary Review, where he ran the Bad Sex in fiction Prize among other things, and he continues to write for the review. He works in the publishing industry and lives in London.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People
• Author: Charlie Campbell
• Publisher: Duckworth Overlook, 2012
• ISBN: 1590207165, 9781590207161
• Length: 207 pages
• Subjects: History / Social History; Psychology / General; Psychology / Movements / Gestalt; Psychology / Social Psychology; Self-Help / General