Defeat of the West

Historian Emmanuel Todd offers an audacious interpretation of the Ukraine war and the wider crisis of Western dominance. Against prevailing orthodoxies, Todd asks why Ukraine initially resisted so effectively, why Russia absorbed sanctions with surprising resilience, and why the US and its allies struggle to sustain the war effort. He probes Europe's subordination to American strategic priorities, despite the mounting economic and social costs, and examines the growing ideologicalisolation of the Atlantic world.Todd's answers are characteristically original. He situates the conflict within the longue durée of family systems, religious inheritance, and demographic structures. It is these deep cultural formations, he argues, that shape state capacity, social cohesion, and attitudes to authority. Understanding this helps explain both Russian endurance and Western disarray.A runaway bestseller, translated into more than twenty languages, The Defeat of the West is as controversial as it is indispensable.