Photo: Rickard Eriksson
Förgör de falska gudarna
Destroy the False Gods
2023, Non-fiction
Anders Rydell & Jesper Huor
Anders Rydell (b. 1982) is a journalist, editor and author of nonfiction. Rydell, the former Head of Culture at a major Swedish media group, has in his authorial career published several books, such as the much-acclaimed nonfiction works The Looters and The Book Thieves which were translated into over 20 languages. Anders Rydell is one of the foremost voices on the Swedish cultural history scene; he has been shortlisted for the prestigious August Award, and is a recipient of the Wallquist Award as well as the Micael Bindefeld’s Foundation Scholarship for his work on the Holocaust.
Jesper Huor (b. 1975) is a journalist, author, and documentary producer. He has worked at some of the biggest newspapers in Sweden, made documentaries for both TV and radio, and received the Great Radio Award for his documentary The Librarian. He has written books about militant Islamism and terrorism, and his literary debut came in 2006 with The Last Journey to Phnom Pneh – a family portrait of a time marked by revolutionary utopias and violent regimes in East Asia.
Destroy the False Gods: Palmyra and the War on Cultural Heritage is Anders Rydell and Jesper Huor’s debut as a literary duo.
The title also landed them a nomination to the most prestigious journalistic award in Sweden, Guldspaden.
Awards
| Guldspaden Nominee (Literary Category) Sweden – Förgör de falska gudarna Destroy the False Gods |
Bibliography
Related news
Photo: Rickard Eriksson
Rydell and Huor nominated for the Guldspaden Award
Anders Rydell and Jesper Huor’s non-fiction odyssey, Destroy the False Gods, has been nominated to one of Swedish journalism’s most prestigious awards, Guldspaden, in the Book-category.
The prize has been awarded annually since 1991, to “journalists – active in Swedish media – who through committed and knowledgeable journalism have revealed or depicted essential conditions that the public was previously unaware of. The investigation should be an original work, independently carried out.”
The winners will be announced between the 22nd and 23rd of March.
Anders Rydell and Jesper Huor assigned The Swedish Academy’s reward
Anders Rydell and Jesper Huor have both been assigned a reward from The Swedish Academy’s own funds. The authors names will be acknowledged at the academy’s formal gathering on December 20th.
Their latest work is the critically acclaimed Destroy the False Gods.
‘Destroy the False Gods’ published in Sweden
In 2015, the desert city of Palmyra in Syria is stormed by one of the world’s most brutal terrorist groups – the Islamic State. They wipe out the museum, trash antique statues and blow up thousand-year-old temples. A handful of museum officials resist and are forced to pay a terrible price. But why do the terrorists declare war against the ancient cultural heritage?
This is the story of how the remains from the first advanced cultures of humanity, the cradle of civilization, are being erased. By diving deep into the archives and visiting the war-troubled Palmyra of today, Swedish journalists Anders Rydell and Jesper Hour uncover the secret history of the Cultural Heritage War, the conflict between Jihadists and archeologists, and about the hunt for Blood Antiques: from active war zones to the world’s foremost museums. At stake is our common history – which is at risk of falling into oblivion.
Destroy the False Gods: Palmyra and the War on Cultural Heritage is Anders Rydell and Jesper Huor’s debut as a literary duo.