Most of us are intolerant of something, whether it is our neighbour’s dog, his politics or the colour of his skin, but we may not always recognize our lack of tolerance. By making extensive use of surviving court documentation from famous - and not so famous - trials, Brian Harris is able to explore several issues that have given rise to deep-rooted divisions within Western society, such as slavery, religion and homosexuality. The result is a highly readable narrative, which often challenges traditional interpretations of the cases concerned, punctuated throughout by the author’s pertinent insights into the personalities, events and legal processes of the day.

The cases include the ‘witches’ of Salem whose tragic story was plundered by Arthur Miller in his play, The Crucible, the execution of a seventy-year-old woman for giving shelter to a man on the run from England’s last rebellion, the prosecution of a schoolteacher for teaching evolution, the persecution of Oscar Wilde and the prosecution of Penguin Books for publishing Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Intolerance: Divided Societies on Trial provides an engaging and thought-provoking account of man’s intolerance to man through the ages.