Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Such interesting ideas, showing that you really have to question everything in order to get a fuller picture of our current global issues.

I DNF’d We Need New Stories Challenging the Toxic Myths Behind Our Age of Discontent by Nesrine Malik, Orion Publishing Group, W&N… It argues that the stories we tell are toxic and that we need to create new ones. I don’t know why I couldn’t finish this book. I may have been in the wrong mood for this work.

<i>Has freedom of speech become a cover for promoting prejudice? Has the concept of political correctness been weaponised to avoid ceding space to those excluded from power? Does white identity politics pose an urgent danger? These are some of the questions at the centre of Nesrine Malik's radical and compelling analysis that challenges us to find new narrators whose stories can fill the void and unite us behind a shared vision.</i>

I had been interested in this book since hearing the Directors of Edinburgh Book Festival talk about it, having named the 2019 festival after the title. It's a well-written analysis with a proper journalistic eye, considering modern cultural myths, and posing an argument to find new narratives that could counter the dangerous realities in giving these toxic ideas credence.

I picked up We Need New Stories, British-Sudanese journalist Nesrine Malik's first non-fiction book, because I like Malik's Guardian columns and her Twitter discussions. We Need New Stories aims to challenge six modern myths, ranging from the idea that there is a 'free speech crisis' to the argument that 'identity politics' is the root of political and social divisions. I read about a third of this book, but eventually found myself losing interest. I agreed with everything Malik was saying, but that was part of the problem; I wasn't sure if this book was bringing anything especially new to the table, given how well-rehearsed these debates have been already. Her writing also doesn't translate well to long-form, becoming much too wordy, with run-on sentences and some misuse of commas. This needed to be much shorter and snappier.

This is a considered and engaging non fiction title.

It’s academic enough to assure you of the authors research and sources, but conversational and relatable, so as to parse out the theory and evidence behind debunking popular myths.

The political correctness chapter is so spot on and throughout, the author manages to capture the frustration and futility you feel when dealing with these myths in conversation and on social media..

We Need New Stories is a book that looks at six myths used across Western culture—particularly the US and the UK—to discredit progressive causes in various ways, and analyses them, how they've come into play, how they work, and what might be done to find new narratives to take hold in place of these. Concepts such as the use of 'freedom of speech' as a tool for furthering prejudice, the danger of white identity politics, and the idealisation of a country's history are some of those focused upon by Malik, who looks deep into some ideas that have become very prevalent, exposing the key proponents of these ideas and the flaws and falsehoods in their arguments.

This is a compelling book that brings together a lot of material, and tries to practically conclude with how these myths can be countered. It is the sort of book that is likely to make people angry at how these myths and frames of reference have become so ingrained in society whilst having flaws and issues that many people have pointed out repeatedly, and unfortunately there isn't a simple answer to any of them, but Malik does focus the end of each chapter with the kind of ideas and stories that might be used to rethink and reframe things. The book doesn't assume too much knowledge and features a number of media figures that people might be vaguely familiar with, but looks in a little more depth at what they've said and how they spread these myths.

We Need New Stories is an analysis of modern cultural myths and a manifesto for arguing against them and finding new narratives that might lessen or stop some of the dangerous consequences of these myths.