The Power of the Periphery

Reviews / Votes

'In this exhilarating romp through history, Peder Anker delivers us the essential key to understanding our present crisis and a magisterial exploration of the catastrophic consequences of our all-too-human attempts to create paradise on Earth.' Jimena Canales, historian of science and author of The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson and the Debate that Changed our Understanding of Time and A Tenth of a Second: A History 'With clarity, empathy and yet a sharp criticality, Peder Anker captures the long train of modern Norwegian ecological thought. Engaging activists from Thor Heyerdahl to Arne Naess, Anker shows how nationalism, internationalism, idealism, positivism and holism collided. Here is a rich, clear-eyed history of how the Norwegians reshaped modern ecological thought, successes and failures included. A terrific book.' Peter Galison, Harvard University 'Peder Anker's thought-provoking perspective highlights how Norway came to be an exporter of environmental values and of the concept of sustainability - in spite of limited adherence to such values at home.' Jorgen Randers, BI Norwegian Business School 'Peder Anker has written a fascinating story about how Norwegian scholar-activists exploited the 'power of the periphery' to showcase Norway as an alternative environmentally-sound nation compared with the rest of the world. This book is an original contribution to the history of global environmentalism in general.' Terje Tvedt, University of Bergen '... this volume is an important contribution to our knowledge about environmental developments of the past century,demonstrating a small nation's place in the age of globalization.' Elena Kochetkova, Technology and Culture '... a very readable book, which is highly informative, clear and at the same time very easy to read due to its high source density in combination with extensive contextualization.' Fabian Zimmer, translated from H-Soz-Kult '... Anker provides a thorough and engaging history of envi-ronmental thought and action in this formative period ...' Jenna M. Coughlin, Scandinavian Studies