How Did We Get Into This Mess?
Politics, Equality, Nature
Published on 19. April 2016
352 pages
978-1-78478-361-7 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
More details
Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-78478-361-7 (9781784783617)
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
Book
02/2023
Verso Books
€13.00
Available immediately
Book
04/2016
Verso Books
€24.00
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Person
George Monbiot writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning, The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order, Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding. He is the founder of The Land is Ours, a peaceful campaign for the right of access to the countryside and its resources in the United Kingdom. He was presented with a United Nations Global 500 Award for outstanding environmental achievement by Nelson Mandela.
Content
- Intro
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part 1: There Is Such a Thing as Society
- 1. Falling Apart
- 2. Deviant and Proud
- 3. Work-Force
- 4. Addicted to Comfort
- 5. Dead Zone
- 6. Help Addicts, but Lock Up the Casual Users of Cocaine
- Part 2: Lost Youth
- 7. Rewild the Child
- 8. The Child Inside
- 9. Amputating Life Close to Its Base
- 10. 'Bug Splats'
- 11. Kin Hell
- 12. The Sacrificial Caste
- 13. A Modest Proposal for Tackling Youth
- 14. Pro-Death
- Part 3: The Wild Life
- 15. Everything Is Connected
- 16. Civilisation Is Boring
- 17. End of an Era
- 18. The Population Myth
- 19. The Dawning
- Part 4: Feeding Frenzy
- 20. Sheepwrecked
- 21. Ripping Apart the Fabric of the Nation
- 22. Drowning in Money
- 23. Small Is Bountiful
- Part 5: Energy Vampires
- 24. Leave It in the Ground
- 25. Applauding Themselves to Death
- 26. The Grime behind the Crime
- 27. Going Critical
- 28. Power Crazed
- Part 6: Riches and Ruins
- 29. The Impossibility of Growth
- 30. Curb Your Malthusiasm
- 31. Kleptoremuneration
- 32. The Self-Attribution Fallacy
- 33. The Lairds of Learning
- 34. The Man Who Wants to Northern Rock the Planet
- 35. The Gift of Death
- Part 7: Dance with the One Who Brung You
- 36. How the Billionaires Broke the System
- 37. Plutocracy's Boot Boys
- 38. How Did We Get Into This Mess?
- 39. Going Naked
- Part 8: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
- 40. The Holocaust We Will Not See
- 41. The Empire Strikes Back
- 42. Unremitting Pain
- 43. Bomb Everyone
- Part 9: Holding Us Down
- 44. A Global Ban on Leftwing Politics
- 45. Innocent until Proved Dead
- 46. The Paranoia Squad
- 47. Union with the Devil
- Part 10: Finding Our Place
- 48. Someone Else's Story
- 49. Highland Spring
- 50. A Telling Silence
- 51. The Values of Everything
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Index
