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Chain of Ideas
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  • Published: 19 March 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529988499
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 592

Chain of Ideas

Great Replacement Theory and the Origins of Our Authoritarian Age

  • Ibram X. Kendi
Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
24 Mar 2026
Hardback
19 Apr 2026
EBook
19 Mar 2026
Audiobook
19 Mar 2026
Audiobook
13 Jan 2026
Hardback
14 Apr 2026
EBook
13 Jan 2026
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A revelatory account of the racist conspiracy theory that pervades global politics – from the National Book Award winner and number-one-bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi

A revelatory account of the racist conspiracy theory that now pervades global politics – from the prize-winning author of the million-copy bestseller How To Be an Antiracist

Throughout the world, authoritarian movements are radically reshaping our politics and our lives. At the heart of them all lies ‘great replacement theory’, which insists that peoples of colour, migrants and minorities are being deliberately empowered to displace white majorities.

In Chain of Ideas, Ibram X. Kendi shows how this conspiracy theory has mutated from the extremist fringe into a global ideology, embraced by leaders as varied as Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orbán, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, Nigel Farage, Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. He traces its historic roots in slavery, segregation, colonialism and Nazism, and shows how these age-old prejudices have been dressed in new language for a digital age.

But this is not a book about extremists on the margins. From Anders Breivik’s massacre to the chants of the Charlottesville marchers, from Brexit slogans to the Christchurch shooting, Kendi shows how these ideas have crossed borders, inspired terror and are now re-shaping parties of government. Chain of Ideas is a penetrating history of how reactionary ideas have been repackaged as common sense, and how they shape the globe today.
  • Published: 19 March 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529988499
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 592
Categories:

Praise for Chain of Ideas

One of the pre-eminent intellectuals on race

Guardian

A kind, dignified, preternaturally wise teacher ... indefatigable in his quest to set you on the path toward true knowledge

GQ

One of today’s most visible and sought-after public intellectuals

Wall Street Journal

[Kendi] is not a historian fearful of upsetting orthodoxies or questioning fixed reputations

David Olusoga

One of the US’s most respected scholars of race and history

Afua Hirsch

The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind

New York Times on How To Be an Antiracist

An essential framework for parsing current events . . . meticulously researched . . . worthwhile and accessible . . . also offers a modicum of hope

Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian

Kendi narrows his scope to the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory and then broadens it by tracing the theory’s ties to authoritarianism worldwide

New York Times

As anti-immigrant sentiment soars around the world, Ibram X. Kendi, the National Book Award-winning historian of racism, charts the rise of the 'great replacement' conspiracy theory

Foreign Policy

Kendi argues brilliantly that we must work across race and class lines to eradicate social ills and eliminate fascism

Los Angeles Times

[Kendi’s] gift for connecting the dots and pointing out common tactics and talking points in disparate places is eye-opening and sobering ... Readers of Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist and other pathbreaking works will be eager for his salient take on encroaching authoritarian strategies

Booklist

Kendi has a gift for tracing how historical ideas metastasize into present, real-world damage ... Kendi reveals the mechanics behind the myth, and why confronting it is now a democratic necessity

Oprah Daily

An exploration of the arguably premier racist trope of our time ... A well-formed argument against the fashionably fascist thought that houses old wine in new skins

Kirkus Reviews

A rousing call for solidarity across lines of class and race in order to fight fascism

Publishers Weekly *starred review