'THE CLOSEST THING WE HAVE TO A WINDOW-SMASHING FRENCH INTELLECTUAL' Andrew Marr

Our conventional view of history and human progress is wrong. It is founded on a pernicious myth of an achievable Utopia that in the last century alone caused the murder of tens of millions. In Black Mass John Gray tears down the religious, political and secular beliefs that we insist are fundamental to the human
project and shows us how a misplaced faith in our ability to improve the world has actually made it far worse.

'A BRILLIANT POLEMIC ... GRAY'S MOST POWERFUL ARGUMENT YET' J. G. Ballard, Guardian, Books of the Year

'CAUSES VERTIGO WHEN IT DOES NOT CAUSE OUTRAGE' Sunday Times

'EXHILARATING, INVIGORATING' Literary Review

'SAVAGE. GRAY RAISES PROFOUND AND VALID DOUBTS ABOUT
THE CONVENTIONAL "PLOT" OF MODERN HISTORY'
Financial Times

'ROLLICKING, BONE-CRUNCHING' New Statesman

'A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS ... COULD HARDLY BE MORE BONKERS IF IT WAS CRAWLING WITH LIZARDS' Sunday Telegraph

'THE MOST IMPORTANT LIVING PHILOSOPHER' Will Self