Description

Common Enemies: Their Uses and Abuses by John Douglas Peters

From polio to politics, from the Devil to Donald Trump, Common Enemies explores how real and imagined threats shape human history, societies, and personal behavior. Peters examines the psychology, strategy, and manipulation behind the creation of enemies-showing how leaders, religions, governments, and corporations exploit fear to unite, control, and divide.

Through vivid examples ranging from Hitler's propaganda to modern debates over Covid-19, climate change, and artificial intelligence, this book reveals how "us versus them" narratives influence culture, religion, and politics. Peters uncovers the dual nature of common enemies-as catalysts for unity and survival, but also as tools of scapegoating, persecution, and destruction.

Part history, part political analysis, and part psychology, Common Enemies offers readers a powerful lens to understand past events and modern conflicts, while equipping them to recognize manipulation in their own lives.