
The Hours Have Lost Their Clock
The Politics of Nostalgia
Grafton Tanner(Author)
Repeater Books (Publisher)
Published on 12. October 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
250 pages
978-1-913462-44-4 (ISBN)
Description
In The Hours Have Lost Their Clock, Grafton Tanner charts the rise of nostalgia in an era knocked out of time.
Nostalgia is the defining emotion of our age. Political leaders promise a return to yesteryear. Old movies are remade and cancelled series are rebooted. Veterans reenact past wars, while the displaced across the world long for home. But who is behind this collective ache for a home in the past? Do we need to eliminate nostalgia, or just cultivate it better? And what is at stake if we make the wrong choice?
Moving from the fight over Confederate monuments to the birth of homeland security to the mourning of species extinction, Grafton Tanner traces nostalgia's ascent in the twenty-first century, revealing its power as both a consequence of our unstable time and a defense against it. With little faith in a future of climate change and economic anxiety, many have turned to nostalgia to weather the present, while powerful elites exploit it for their own gain.
An exploration into the politics of loss and yearning, The Hours Have Lost Their Clock is an urgent call to take nostalgia seriously. The very future depends on it.
Nostalgia is the defining emotion of our age. Political leaders promise a return to yesteryear. Old movies are remade and cancelled series are rebooted. Veterans reenact past wars, while the displaced across the world long for home. But who is behind this collective ache for a home in the past? Do we need to eliminate nostalgia, or just cultivate it better? And what is at stake if we make the wrong choice?
Moving from the fight over Confederate monuments to the birth of homeland security to the mourning of species extinction, Grafton Tanner traces nostalgia's ascent in the twenty-first century, revealing its power as both a consequence of our unstable time and a defense against it. With little faith in a future of climate change and economic anxiety, many have turned to nostalgia to weather the present, while powerful elites exploit it for their own gain.
An exploration into the politics of loss and yearning, The Hours Have Lost Their Clock is an urgent call to take nostalgia seriously. The very future depends on it.
Reviews / Votes
"In a world where the reassuring sweep of the second hand has been usurped by a digital pulse, Grafton Tanner's meditation on looking back may be just what we need to dare look forward again." - Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present ShockMore details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Watkins Media Limited
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
322 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-913462-44-4 (9781913462444)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2021
Repeater
€7.49
Available for download
Person
Grafton Tanner is the author of Babbling Corpse and The Circle of the Snake. His work has appeared in The Nation and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He lectures at the University of Georgia.