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Overview
“A dazzling command of science and relentless faith . . .” —Naomi Klein
A wide-ranging collection of essays from leading environmental commentator on how politics and big business threaten our daily lives, our society, and the planet
Without countervailing voices, naming and challenging power, political freedom withers and dies. Without countervailing voices, a better world can never materialise. Without countervailing voices, wells will still be dug and bridges will still be built, but only for the few. Food will still be grown, but it will not reach the mouths of the poor. New medicines will be developed, but they will be inaccessible to many of those in need.
George Monbiot is one of the most vocal, and eloquent, critics of the current consensus. How Did We Get into this Mess?, based on his powerful journalism, assesses the state we are now in: the devastation of the natural world, the crisis of inequality, the corporate takeover of nature, our obsessions with growth and profit and the decline of the political debate over what to do.
While his diagnosis of the problems in front of us is clear-sighted and reasonable, he also develops solutions to challenge the politics of fear. How do we stand up to the powerful when they seem to have all the weapons? What can we do to prepare our children for an uncertain future? Controversial, clear but always rigorously argued, How Did We Get into this Mess? makes a persuasive case for change in our everyday lives, our politics and economics, the ways we treat each other and the natural world.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781804290439 |
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Publisher: | Verso Books |
Publication date: | 02/14/2023 |
Pages: | 352 |
Sales rank: | 297,658 |
Product dimensions: | 5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part 1 There Is Such a Thing as Society
1 Falling Apart 9
2 Deviant and Proud 14
3 Work-Force 19
4 Addicted to Comfort 23
5 Dead Zone 27
6 Help Addicts, but Lock Up the Casual Users of Cocaine 32
Part 2 Lost Youth
7 Rewild the Child 39
8 The Child Inside 43
9 Amputating Life Close to Its Base 48
10 'Bug Splats' 53
11 Kin Hell 58
12 The Sacrificial Caste 62
13 A Modest Proposal for Tackling Youth 67
14 Pro-Death 72
Part 3 The Wild Life
15 Everything Is Connected 79
16 Civilisation Is Boring 88
17 End of an Era 99
18 The Population Myth 103
19 The Dawning 108
Part 4 Feeding Frenzy
20 Sheepwrecked 119
21 Ripping Apart the Fabric of the Nation 123
22 Drowning in Money 130
23 Small Is Bountiful 139
Part 5 Energy Vampires
24 Leave It in the Ground 147
25 Applauding Themselves to Death 152
26 The Grime behind the Crime 160
27 Going Critical 164
28 Power Crazed 169
Part 6 Riches and Ruins
29 The Impossibility of Growth 175
30 Curb Your Malthusiasm 179
31 Kleptoremuneration 184
32 The Self-Attribution Fallacy 188
33 The Lairds of Learning 193
34 The Man Who Wants to Northern Rock the Planet 198
35 The Gift of Death 203
Part 7 Dance with the One Who Brung You
36 How the Billionaires Broke the System 209
37 Plutocracy's Boot Boys 213
38 How Did We Get Into This Mess? 217
39 Going Naked 222
Part 8 Out of Sight, Out of Mind
40 The Holocaust We Will Not See 227
41 The Empire Strikes Back 232
42 Unremitting Pain 236
43 Bomb Everyone 241
Part 9 Holding Us Down
44 A Global Ban on Leftwing Politics 249
45 Innocent until Proved Dead 254
46 The Paranoia Squad 258
47 Union with the Devil 263
Part 10 Finding Our Place
48 Someone Else's Story 271
49 Highland Spring 275
50 A Telling Silence 280
51 The Values of Everything 285
Acknowledgements 291
Notes 293
Index 333